Despite hours of terror lost in the tangled bush of Karekare as a child, I’ve always returned to it | Charlotte Grimshaw

I remember intense fear and despair, and the objectively correct understanding that we could die

• Guardian writers and readers describe their favourite place in New Zealand's wilderness and why it's special to them

Karekare is a wild, beautiful area of the Waitakeres, west of Auckland. It's the place I dreamed about when I lived in London, the landscape I yearned to return to. It was the location of my most intense experiences as a child: fear, euphoria, exhilaration, joy.

Our parents' bach was built on a hillside with a view down the valley, surrounded by dense bush in all directions. There was always the risk that if we went too far off a track, even close to the house, we'd quickly get disorientated and lost. The bush was so thick you couldn't get a clear view out of it, and the only way to escape was by standing still and shouting.