Bushwalk a bonus

Keen bush walkers can explore tracks that are usually off limits in the Waitakere Ranges for the Oxfam Water for Survival Nihotupu Tramline Walk.

The walk features waterfalls, dams, bridges, historic tunnels and bush along with a sausage sizzle and cake stall.

This is the 6km walk’s 21st anniversary and it will be held on November 22 from 8.30am to 1.30pm.

The track follows part of the Rainforest Express tramline from the Upper Nihotupu Dam and it is the only day of the year it is open to the public.

Money raised from the admission fee, which is $7.50 for adults, and $2.50 for children or $15 for a pre-purchased family pass, assists water sanitation programmes in some of the world’s poorest countries, helping to prevent diseases such as typhoid, cholera and dysentery.

People can park at Oratia School and take one of the free buses that run from 8.30am through to 1.30pm.

People will be dropped off at the beginning of the walk and picked up again at the end.

To buy a family pass online, go to www.oxfam.org.nz.