Trip
Reports...
Makatote viaduct walk
January 28 2012
Somewhere behind Makatote viaduct there
is a flat, level, wide, groomed trail to two waterfalls. We
never found where it was though, instead forcing our way
through brush, over logs, into “bush lawyer” to get to the
viewpoint. Unmaintained, ungroomed tracks have some distinct
advantages. They allow one to get closer to nature, for
example. Nature appears to resent this closeness and tries
to injure us in revenge, but getting to hug trees, fallen
logs and occasionally (inadvertently) the muddy track makes
up for the scratches and bruises. The other advantage to
rough tracks over groomed tracks is that you’re not only
working out your legs walking but the rest of your body too
– upper arms, abdominals, and chest muscles. A top-class
gymnast would have made short work of the trail. Lacking
top-class gymnasts, our group took 3 ½ hours to go 3kms.
Going slowly had the added advantage of having lots of time
to look at the gorgeous totara, kahikatea, rimu, matai, etc…
as well as lovely epiphytes and delightful fungi. Going
slowly didn’t stop Peter from getting lost on a couple of
occasions but the scenic detours just added to the
adventure. The view at the end was worth it too, and a
perfect place to stop for lunch. Nobody forgot false teeth,
glass eyes or prosthetic limbs this time, although Murray
almost sacrificed his camera to the trail gods. Thanks to
Murray’s hard work with the secateurs and saw, and Peter’s
reccon a couple of days before, the track was well cleared
and easy to find by the time we were done with it. It would
be a shame to waste all that hard work; another trip should
be organized to take advantage of it as soon as possible or,
as Peter says, “never again!”
Sara
Sutherland
Waitaanga walk
January 21 2012
A beautiful day walk into Te Rerepahupahu
waterfall. We all showed up bright and early at 6am to enjoy
the walk except for Graeme Croy who showed up 5 minutes late
with cries of “what are you all waiting for?” Mark had
promised a rather impressive waterfall cascading into a pool
of black water full of eels and those of us who had not
attempted the trip before were excited to see it. Thirteen
people were able to go on the tramp – our glorious leader
Peter Panton, Graham Cosford, Murray Wilson, Jan Roberts,
Sharrynne Fabish, Jenny Dowle, Graeme Croy, Robyn Croy, Sara
Sutherland, Mark Goodwin, Michael Brueck, Sue Palmer and
Renata. Following much discussion at the last club committee
meeting, Mark purchased a pair of hand-held walkie-talkies
to improve communication on the walk. These worked really
well when they were turned on, and if the two operators
weren’t walking side by side. The first part of the walk was
through muddy farmland along the river. Then the trail
followed an old tramline, walking on hand-hewn timbers and
stopping to look at bits of train machinery, cool trees,
interesting fungi and a very friendly robin (not the Croy
variety). Not long after morning smoko we reached the hut
where Peter searched long and hard and fruitlessly for a
heavy brick to put in Graham’s pack. After the hut the track
started a gentle rise through lovely native bush with
several different species of native trees and at least 20
different kinds of ferns. Everything was going swimmingly
until Jan angered a hive of mutant killer assassin attack
wasps which took after poor Jenny with intent to harm and no
generosity of spirit. We would have left her to die but
Graham and Robyn took pity on her and stayed with her while
the rest of us continued the tramp downhill. The trail got
quite steep downhill at that point, requiring some of us to
descend on hands and knees and occasionally bums to get down
safely. Finally at the end we found the rather impressive
60m waterfall cascading into a beautiful clear pool of water
that apparently had no eels in it at all. We all had lunch
and enjoyed the view, and watched Mark demonstrating that it
was possible to walk around the back of the falls (if you
don’t mind getting wet). Then the more brave and foolhardy
among us had a swim in the pool, at risk of eels, riptides
and hypothermia. After all that excitement we clambered back
up the slope (with a slight detour to avoid the evil mutant
killer assassin attack wasps). By some accident of geography
the tramline part of the walk was twice as long on the way
out as the way in. Apart from hook grass and the evil,
Mafioso, mutant killer assassin attack wasps the trip had
everything a good tramp should have – good company, a bit of
interesting history, beautiful scenery and nobody airlifted
out this time. We were barely stiff and sore (except for
Graham Cosford who was a little tiny bit stiff and sore) and
back to town for fish and chips (over Robyn’s protests).
Sara Sutherland.
Te Peka reserve Update
Thanks
to Robert Simpson. Kim Pond and Peter Panton for regular
work in the reserve where excellent progress is being made
in several areas. Also thanks to all who have attended past
working bees.
On Friday 27th
April Peter and I enjoyed a wet morning burning a small
mountain of vegetation accumulated from on going clearing in
the top west corner of the reserve. A few more days work in
this area will see a large area ready for planting in June.
The track in the “Forest of Hidaka,” has
been extended with a new track to, and across a gully, to
rejoin one of the main tracks to the trig. A large area of
the gully has also been cleared and is ready for planting
with 28 holes being dug. It was hoped that children
attending the April school holiday programme would plant
trees but the wet weather kept them indoors.
In the Cook’s garden area,
below the picnic tables under the largest Totara in the
reserve, a group of 12 fan palms have been felled and
cleared as they were seeding and coming up in the thousands.
Trunks have been used for track edging to extend the ATV
tracks and walkways. On Saturday 28th April Peter
and I had a further working bee to burn another mountain of
vegetation in this area. This was very wet and after using
all our old oil and diesel and still not getting the fire
started we had to recall our scouting skills and start our
fire with dry sticks and wood. Once going, everything we
threw on it burnt. This area will also need more trees
planted in it this season.
The family of Mrs Lorraine
Edwards recently planted a healthy Kauri tree in Te Peka in
memory of Brian Edwards. The tree is on the flat area beside
the main track, about half way down the hill. A further new
track now cuts across from below the vehicle entrance to
this new Kauri tree.
An annoying problem at present is the
regular return of goats into the reserve with damage to some
trees and complete destruction of others. Fencing would be
difficult and expensive. The goats come from land north of
the reserve along from the river bank beside SH 4.
We would like to produce a double sided
A4 side folded sheet, in colour, with information and photos
to promote the reserve. These would be placed in motels and
the information centre. We would love to hear from anyone
who has skills in this area who would volunteer the time but
expenses would be refunded. There are plenty of photos
available but who ever takes on the job may like to take new
photos.
Please contact Stuart Shaw if interested
in this very necessary job.
Te Peka Reserve Landcare Group.
Web master: don.dawson@orcon.net.nz |