447 – 485 Omaha Forest
Actually this is a bit of a Roundup.
After Ashley dropped me off to join up with Ken we walked back to Mangawhai which was roughly 6kms and then met Emma and Harry at the Wanderers Rest where Emma made us a delicious lasagne and I stayed up until 11ish playing guitar with Allen and Lisa (who knows Kate Paris and Manuka as well I think...small world). Anyway, a fantastic time was had by me!
Next morning we walked down to Mangawhai Beach, over the south point and onto Pakiri Beach. Due to a mix up with the tides we managed to arrive roughly 1hr before high tide and spent the next 11kms slogging through soft sand until we reached the estuary which was still too high to cross until 1:45pm.
Still 2pm was to early to stop and Ken convinced me that we should start crossing Omaha Forest.
We have started. And I can assure you that any previous drought conditions have been alleviated by the copious amount of sweating I have done.
Still, we are now about three days out of Auckland proper so progress is being made.
Emma's Vegetarian Lasagne
- Half a large crown pumpkin
- 2-3pm large orange Kumara (orange is important)
- 2 Brown onions
- A few garlic cloves
- 1 can of tomatoes (can use Mexican if you want spice)
- 1 can of corn
- Quite a lot of cheese hahah
- Lasagne sheets
- Milk
- Butter
- Flour
- Spinach
- (Mushrooms optional)
So you make cheese sauce with butter in a pan, heat up milk, sift some flour in there or itll go lumpy, add truck loads of cheese (just taste until you like the intensity)
You'll need a full pan of the sauce.
Then start with a base layer of the sheets, pumpkin and Kumara mix on top of that, slice the onions lengthwise so they just come out in little c shapes, that's hard to explain sorry but instead of dicing them slice them so all the layers in the onion just pop out, throw the onion and garlic cloves on top, then half a can of tomatoes, another layer of sheets, a layer of cheese sauce, more pumpkin and Kumara mix, spinach, half a can of corn, lasagna sheets, half tomatoes, more pumpkin and Kumara mix, onion etc, more tomatoes, more cheese sauce, then I throw in a mixture of herbs (best if fresh) oregano, some basil but not too much, chives, layer of pastry again then cheese sauce on top (important for all sheets to be covered or they will go hard) then grated cheese on top.
Hindsight
- Wanderers Rest is perfect for T.A. walkers. I don't know if they advertise but they are at 4 Insley Street, Mangawai Village.
- Emma makes seriously good lasagna.
- Don't mix up your tides. It turns a nice walk on the beach into a long slow slog in the sand getting wet at every estuary.
- There is a holiday park at the end of the beach. Stop there, the next hill is very steep and there isn't any water at the top for a while.
- Guthooks T.A. app can be a little iffy when it comes to campsites.
Omaha Forest Map
