Take a hike....

This is Karekare beach which is near to Piha where we are currently house-sitting for friends.  My cuzzies came out this avo wanting to go for a bit of a hike.  The plan was to start at Karekare, walk along the beach to the start of the Mt Zion track, then back through the forest to Karekare.  Total walk time around 4 hours.  After about an hour of brisk walking along the beach (sticking to the wet sand which was much easier to walk on than the soft stuff) the walkers headed inland to find the track but were stymied by wetlands so kept walking... and walking... because the map looked like you had to go around the wetland area.  Imagine the surprise when after around 2 hours they all ended up at... Whatipu.  Hmmm.  What to do.  
Total stranger Nick happened to be just about to drive from Whatipu to Karekare and kindly offered the group a lift.  The trip by road takes over an hour - so what are the chances of finding someone going that way just at the right moment?   Thankfully they did and everyone is now at home relaxing.
The plan is to try again in the next few days (and maybe take a different map!)
Photo by Larissa maybe she will come back and take another one soon
:) Moose