Duke of Edinburgh group going through Piha on Hillary Trail, 20 January 2011

Snapped this young group doing Duke of Edinburgh Courses on their way through Piha today. In all I saw about 30 in several groups on their way to the next stop-over at Craw Homestead. Their leaders told me they were all doing different parts of the course, so doing trips of different lengths.

Just about every day I’ve talked to groups I’ve met on the Piha Road, Anawhata Road and through Piha. Boy, are they laden up and I don’t tell them what’s ahead with the relentless uphill steps of Whites Track, but they’ve got young legs. Piha is pretty well in the middle of the Trail by length. Groups that arrive at Piha have come from Pararaha. This group told me the big improvement needed there is attention to the mosquitos!

A couple of young fellows I met up in Te Ahuahu Road told me they were trying to see how far they could get in two days, all the time they had off work. They’d got to Whatipu on the first night and would make Piha on the second. The Hillary Trail is designed to have walkers reach Pararaha on the second, so not bad going when carrying a good sized pack.

The Hillary Trail was developed by Auckland Regional Council to provide a do-it-yourself multi-day treck in the outdoors that is accessible to the people of Auckland and will encourage young people and families to overnight in the wildreness. . It was launched last year at North Piha by the Governor General Sir Anand Satyanand on the anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary’s death.