Matietie Track, Waiheke Island

 This story was recently published in Wilderness Magazine: www.wildernessmag.co.nz

There are over 100km of walking track on Waiheke Island and the Matietie Historic Reserve Track is a good example of what the island has to offer.  We chose the track because it started beside the ferry terminal, which is regularly serviced by the island’s busses - handy when using public transport – and found it a perfect one to two-hour circular walk.

The tide lapped against the rocks of Matiatia Bay as we ducked under the pohutukawas lining the beach.  This ten minute section of the walk is not accessible (or would be a paddle) at high tide but we kept our feet dry and knew the tide was on its way out so we’d be okay on our return too.  A sign marked our turn off the beach and we set off along a wide track through a valley, then uphill, before spotting a marker showing our route leading off through a short area of bush.  This took us to a ridge top road with our track, well-signed, on the other side.

Steps led down from here to Owhanake Bay.  The track was marked as a tramping track, and the DOC website describes the track as being ‘mostly unformed with steep, rough or muddy sections’, but we found it to be well-formed, with wooden stairs on the steeper parts. The track had obviously been up-graded recently.  It was summer and we walked in sandals, not boots as DOC advises, though the track may well be muddy in places during wet periods.

We turned left at Owhanake Bay and the walkway wound around clifftops, giving us peeks through the bush of yachts at anchor below.  As we got closer to Cable Bay our view was of the waters and islands of the Hauraki Gulf.  Cable Bay was memorable for a strange, large, dog-on-wheels sculpture, sitting on a section of railway track.  Sculptures were a feature of the next section of the walk too, as it took us past a number of large properties complete with manicured gardens and interesting and impressive examples of garden art.

As we followed the path southwards it took us through native bush and past hills punctuated by shingly beaches.  Kereru flapped noisily in pohutukawa that clung to the hillsides surrounding these little bays.  Kayakers had pulled their craft ashore in one place and were enjoying a break.  We could have been a million miles away from anywhere when, unexpectedly, the ferry from Auckland appeared and sailed into what looked like another tiny inlet.  Matiatia Bay was revealed around the next headland, the ferry tied up at the jetty.  The track took us down one final slope to the beach and we followed it around to our starting point.