Time: 1 hour and 25 minutes (approx 20 minutes from the car park to the beach)
Distance: 3.2 km
Start: Car park at the end of Hickory Bay Road
Finish: Same place (it's there and back)
Date: Friday 19th January
An excursion to Hickory Bay today - comprising a short walk across farmland to a stunning beach, followed by a refreshing swim on a hot hot hot Canterbury summer's day. A high of 30 degrees was forecast with gusting nor'west winds to boot - the sideshow of an atmospheric river currently smashing the West Coast/Te Tai Poutini.
We threw togs, towels, sunscreen, sunhats and drinks in the car and headed through the Lyttelton tunnel, taking the scenic Gebbies Pass route to Bank Peninsular/Te Pātaka-a-Rākaihautū. Winding around the bays is always beautiful. Today the hills were starting to look pretty parched though, giving "That Damn Square" (a square plantation of pine trees on a hill) a "mesmerising quality", whilst simultaneously "harmoniously complementing and enriching its surroundings". Traffic was light, so we were able to stop in the middle of the road and photograph the graffiti tunnel. I have wanted to do that for a long time. Then it was a quick visit to the wobbly (and fortuitously not over flowing today) Little River port-a-loos, before heading up and over Hill Top and around the picturesque bays of the Akaroa Harbour.
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| That Damn Square a.k.a merkin |
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| Graffiti tunnel |
Shortly before Akaroa townshp, we swung a left and climbed the steep Long Bay Road to the cab stand at the top and the intersection of five roads. No roadsigns to be seen (park that thought), so we turned onto the wrong road. Kim whipped out her phone and, aided by Google Maps, put us right. We had to back-track a bit. It would have taken a 100-point-turn to do a "U'ey", so we reversed back to Hickory Bay Road. This road is an experience in itself: long, gravelly, narrow, steep, windy and down to one-way much of the time - with sweeping views of Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa. Normally we talk non-stop but suddenly we were all quiet. Terrifying and wonderful all at the same time.
At the end of Hickory Bay Road, we parked in a small carpark which already had a few cars there. The name for the bay in Te Reo Māori is Waikerakikari which means "Bay of Angry Waters". Hickory Bay is a well-known surfing spot and home to the Hickory Bay Surfing Resort, a working farm and whose property the track runs through to the beach. Included in their online gallery was a photo of the "Hickory Bay Surfing Institute" - some quaint farm buildings but to the side I noticed a wooden pole with the missing roadsigns nailed to it. Gosh. [See red arrow below.]
We exited the car and started to walk -up through the gate and across the paddocks. It is only 25 minutes to the beach. Once past the pine trees, you get the most amazing view of the bay. A white sand beach with perfect waves rolling in, vertical 100-meter-high cliffs on both sides of the bay and a couple of rocky stacks to the northeast at Poutākaro Head. I checked out the topo later and on the south side of the bay is a cave called "Ana-kai-nehu" which, according to the tale related here, means "Hold tight to the fish dust!" - the indignant reaction of a Ngāi Tahu rangatira to a meal, cooked by their hosts, of dried barracouta.
The track took us past a herd of black and white cows who stared at us and chewed their cud. We stared back and took photos because they were adorable. Each cow had a white triangle patch on their foreheads. In some cased, the triangle had been cleaved and looked almost like a loveheart. The track dropped down to the bay, past a letter box filled with surfboard wax for the surfers, to a small river which could only be marginally crossed without getting feet wet. Two oystercatchers and their fluffy chick were walking amongst the rocks. We tried to sidle past without disturbing them but the parents freaked out - especially when the chick started heading our way to check us out.
We decided to walk to the other end of the beach towards what looked like a seal lounging in the distance but which turned out to be a rock. A couple of surfers were catching waves and a family were walking along. Linda picked up the most perfect of virgin paua heliotis virginea for her shell collection. Random factoid: paua eat seaweed. We returned to the middle of the beach and a pile of driftood which was our base for the swim.
The day was starting to swelter but the water was absolutely FREEZING. Fabulously refreshing though. We lingered for a lot longer than a nanosecond. I caught a couple of glimpses of a small black seal-like shape playing in the waves beyond.
Back on the beach, the wind picked up and hit our faces and strewed our things about and got into all our nooks and crannies. We gathered everything up and made out way back to the car via a grassy dune path so as to avoid the oystercatchers. Somehow Jane got herself on the other side of the electric fence but managed to crawl underneath without anything shocking happening.
More surfers were arriving as we got back to the carpark and we convinced a group not to leave their dog locked in their car. I reckon we saved it from certain death as it was probably already 28 degrees by this stage. We did a 100-point-turn to exit the car park and headed back up Hickory Bay Road, crossing fingers and toes so as not to bump into anyone.
We headed to the The Common Cafe & Garden Bar in Akaroa for victuals and caffeine [highly recommended] followed by retail therapy and a quick visit to the historic St. Peters Anglican Church at 10 Rue Balguerie (1863).
Time to reign in the long and short leashes and return to our rock collections. The journey back to Crikers, somehow felt quicker - our passage eased with the help of the aircon blasting and Sub Focus pumping. Sick beats.
