Lagoon track a jandal friendly summer walk
South Taranaki reporter Kris Boult tries out his new jandals at New Plymouth’s Barrett Domain.
It turns out the domain is a pretty amazing place to explore.
It’s not a summer walk if you can’t do it in jandals.
So on a sunny Thursday I put mine through their paces at the lagoon bush walk at Barrett Domain in New Plymouth.
Considering the last time I went on a walk in the bush it was dark, I was blindfolded, in bare feet, tied to another 11-year old and told not to let go of the rope - yes I cried - I haven’t set foot in anything that resembles a forest since.
So it should come as no surprise that when tasked with doing another I wasn’t keen at all.
As I have never lived in New Plymouth and had never been to the domain before I had a quick look at the walking track board to check if my decision to don the jandals may have been foolhardy.
While the domain is just on the outskirts of the city what surprised me was just how quiet the place was - and green.
The only one that wasn’t green was the iconic Kiwi Christmas tree the po¯ hutukawa, its distinctive red flowers on show through the lush thicket.
I saw lots of trees, most of which I didn’t know the names of but it wasn’t too long into my walk before I came across one I recognised.
The bush asparagus, supplejack, which I remembered from another school camping trip (which was far less traumatic) you could eat - so if this all went pear shaped at least I wouldn’t starve. If I had one complaint it would be signage is a bit confusing.
I found myself standing on one path trying to figure out where on earth I was meant to be going. Not that getting lost would have been a bad thing. But it turns out the domain is a pretty amazing place to explore and really worth taking the time out to do.
However, one friendly person out walking their dog soon showed me the way to go and even knew a shortcut. And before too long we were at the lagoon.
What a pleasant surprise that was, there were all sorts of birds out floating around and an amazing view.
The jandals had survived this part of the journey and as yet had been largely untested. Feeling like I’d defied the laws of tramping and was winning I pushed on.
After a quick fence scaling the normally sedate walking tracks gave way to the more root jutted variety and the gradient increased - the jandal test had now begun.
While it was touch and go at times the jandals stayed firm and just as well, a blowout here would have meant a very sad and long walk back to the car.
The rest of the trip largely involved more trees I didn’t know the names of and before long the tracks slowly returned to normal.
The jandals survived the test, and gladly so did I. This walk through the bush is one I remember fondly and one I’ll bring my own children to - just not in the dark.