Search & RESCUE!

Kerre and her mum go bush, then can’t see the wood for the trees

It was the perfect afternoon for a walk. These autumnal days are just right − not too hot, not too cold, clear and fine. I’m very aware of making the most of every sunny day with the prospect of winter looming.

I rang Mum to see if she’d like to join me because as much as she’s enjoying her apartment in her new home, she does like to bust out of the retirement village when she gets a chance, especially on Sundays, which can be a bit quiet.

“You bet!” Mum said. “Shall we try that walk through the woods I was telling you about?”

Mum had met a lovely woman at bridge who’d given her a lift home one afternoon and pointed out a copse of trees at the back of Onewa Domain in Auckland. Terri had told Mum it was a gentle loop walk on a wellconstructed boardwalk with native trees and plenty of bird life. I was keen.

We drove to the domain. Smiths Bush Nature Reserve, it was called. I could see the trees at the back, but there seemed to be a fence around the wee forest. “Hmm,” I said, as I turned into a carpark.

“We can’t get in here. There must be another entrance.”

We drove down a busyish road and saw a pathway blocked off by a wire gate.

“Oh,” said Mum. “That’s a shame. It must be closed because of the floods.”

“Maybe there’s another way in,” I replied.

I turned down a side street and there, at the end of a cul de sac, was a sign that read, “Bridge Entry to Smiths Bush Scenic Reserve”. Mum and I made our way across the bridge like two out of the three billy goats gruff, walked up some stairs – and found ourselves in a big patch of overgrown grass ringed by trees.

“I don’t think this is what Terri was talking about,” said Mum.

“No,” I said, doing a 360-degree turn. “Hang on – there’s an open patch into the trees over there. Maybe that’s the pathway.”

We swished through the long grass, but nope, it was another dead end. There were trees – but we couldn’t get to them.

We wandered around the glade, then another one, like a couple of old ewes with the staggers, before conceding defeat and heading back. Swishy swashy, swishy swashy, down the stairs, across the bridge and back into the car.

I put “Smiths Bush” into my Maps app and it came up with directions to Papakura.

“You’re sure it’s on the

North Shore?” I asked Mum.

“Absolutely!” she replied, in the tone a woman in her eighties uses when her daughter appears to be doubting her mother’s capabilities.

“You’re right,” I said. “It must be here. I remember googling it. Let’s try another carpark.”

So we drove around the corner, on to the main road and turned into the carpark next to the Takapuna District Cricket Club. And there it was. “Welcome to Smiths Bush Scenic Path”, said the sign.

And who should be coming through the gate, but the lovely Terri and her husband?! The woman whose words we’d been invoking as we wandered like babes in the woods, lost and forlorn... What are the odds?

We exchanged pleasantries, they went their way, we went our ours and a lovely stroll was had by all. Perseverance paid off.

But here are the directions should you visit the Shore and feel like a walk: 10 Akoranga Drive, Northcote, with parking next to the Takapuna District Cricket Club. You’re welcome!

We wandered around the glade, then another one, like a couple of old ewes with the staggers