Bush walks for you
Bush walk 1 - to the giant bike jumps
Head to the end of my street and park the car. Just past the final house on my side, you will see a wide path (that is the fire trail - also a fun little stroll but not the walk I’m sharing about today). If you go past it just a little bit you will see a little cleared well trodden track. Head down for about 10 metres and turn to the right and you will come upon several very large bike jumps. Not for small kids on bikes but the boys absolutely loved rolling their cars down them. They also used them as slides.
Bring gumboots and clothes that you are happy to get dirty!
Side note: If you go left at the fork and follow it, you will get to a wooden plank over the creek - take this and you can go for a stroll down Tirriki street, cut back through the little break in the houses about 300m down the road, cross the creek again and walk back to the car along the fire trail.
Bush walk 2 - To the smaller jumps
For this one you need to turn into Lena Close (the first street on the right when you turn into Justine Avenue). Head to the cul de sac and park and then walk along Amy Close. Cross into the bush path and follow the line of houses until you get to the fire trail at the back of the estate. You will see a well trodden fire trail on the left - follow that for a few minutes and you will come to yet another series of bike jumps. These are much smaller and suitable for toddlers. There is also a large puddle that kept my two occupied for nearly an hour.
Bring: gumboots and a complete change of clothes - the puddle was there even last week when there hadn’t been rain for a while
Side note: When you’re done, walk back along the fire trail behind the houses and check out the huge tree stump. It must have been an absolute giant when it was alive
Bush walk 3 - A cave, lots of banana trees and glimpses of the ocean
Fire trail between Seacourt Avenue and Bathurst Street
We started this walk from the end of Seacourt Avenue. Park your car near the end and walk to the end of the cul de sac. You will see a grass path that goes between two houses - follow this down a rather steep hill (wear proper runners - we all slipped around a little bit in flat soled shoes with no grip) and then veer to the right. The path is pretty much straight until you get to the Bathurst street end. We may go from that end next time to avoid the steep bit (Valentino was a bit worried about slipping and wanted to be carried which I didn’t want to do in case we both slipped - there was a lot of negotiation). We climbed into the cave which was pretty straight forward using the tree roots. Getting down was easy for James and a bit more challenging for Valentino who got a bit scared.
