Our tramp to Lake Wainamu

We have driven past the carpark at the trail's head for Lake Wainamu every time we've visited Bethell's Beach. It's a very small carpark and we've always noticed that because of it's limited space, the overflow of cars that stop there spreads along both sides of Bethell's Road for quite a distance in both directions. It is clearly a desireable destination. Still, the lure of the surf and caves of Bethell's has always called us past it and to the very end of the road.  

Today however, our goal is Lake Wainamu itself. Amiri has joined the Cub Scouts here and his pack is tramping (hiking) out to the lake. Families have been invited to come along. 

Grammy is planning a nice nap this afternoon, but Arram and Grandpa are joining Amiri and his Mum on the trail. 

This post will take you along on the adventure. The trail to the lake should take less than 1/2 hour to complete. On Google Maps, a 'giant dune' is indicated as part of the trail. Hmmmm. I wonder just how giant it is?  We'll find out, won't we?

Here we are at the carpark, waiting to get started. 

The woods trail portion of the hike is only about 300 meters long. We are stating up the giant dune in this shot. Does it look like we are lagging behind? We are not. Middle of the pack for sure. Take a look at the next picture.

I've turned the camera around in this shot to see who's behind us. 

Looking ahead again, Allie is taking a picture of the first sight of the lake from the top of the dune. 

Wainamu lies just over a mile from the ocean. Steep hills surround the lake. 

Very few kids were allowed by their parents to get into the water. It gets over-your-head-deep in only about three steps. 

The scouts are assembling here for a little activity of some sort. I decided to get a head start on climbng the dune again and I took the following video from a higher vantage point. 

Heading back across the dune again. We adults were telling the boys stories about the movie Dune and the giant sand worms that lived on that planet.  

 We are again entering the woods trail portion of the hike. 

It is actually only about 3:00 pm, but you can see that the sun is getting low already. 

The carpark is just out of sight ahead now. It was a relatively easy walk. The dune's black sand was firm and easier to climb than you might suppose. Total time hiking was about 45 minutes and that included looking around every now and then during the return trip for sandworms. None were sighted.     -djf