My granddaughter comes down for the weekend while her mother works, this weekend my wife is working in Auckland, and her aunty has overseas visitors, so it's my job. Her mother told her to ask me to take her up the ranges for a good view...I asked does she know what we have to do for a good view ? She's up for it...but am I ?
First, we have to clean our shoes. This is leaving, but same the other way...Volvo in the car park.
We have a problem with Kauri Die Back, kauri trees are dying from a bacteria in their roots, carried by footwear. We have to clean our shoes entering, and leaving. It's so bad that in the Waitakere Ranges close to Auckland all walking tracks have been closed...a rahui. The Maori name for the town I live in is Rahui Pokeka, when the lakes were overfished, there was a ban on fishing for eels (tuna), the Tohunga called for a rahui, and put a stick, the pokeka into the ground, which wasn't removed until eel stocks were back up. Early conservation.
This is a really long steep track, and requires a few rest stops, no matter how fit you are. I'll take a photo at the stops...Looking back to town, on both sides of the Waikato River.
It's very steep, this is looking down, back the way we've come.
What we call bush in NZ, is pretty thick rain forest, you need a track, very easy to get lost if you loose the track. The tall skinny trees are nikau palms, the ferns ponga, pronounced punga...also known as the Silver Fern, our National emblem.
At the top, after a 30 minute climb. Looking down the river to town, on both sides, and you can see the chimneys of the power station and some lakes.
We come back down on the loop track, and through a Kauri grove...but this is a Rimu, they grow taller than a kauri.
This area was cleared in the late 1800's, and this is all secondary growth, but there were a few left standing for some reason. This is the biggest, but not full grown, it's 30 metres high, they grow over 50 metres tall. Not a tall tree, but the only trees with a bigger girth are Redwoods. A Kauri forrest has a cathedral roof.
I haven't done this track for a few years, at 64 for obvious reasons...but the 11 year old was lagging behind a bit...although she recovered quicker than me. I'm going to have sore legs for a couple of day...
First, we have to clean our shoes. This is leaving, but same the other way...Volvo in the car park.
We have a problem with Kauri Die Back, kauri trees are dying from a bacteria in their roots, carried by footwear. We have to clean our shoes entering, and leaving. It's so bad that in the Waitakere Ranges close to Auckland all walking tracks have been closed...a rahui. The Maori name for the town I live in is Rahui Pokeka, when the lakes were overfished, there was a ban on fishing for eels (tuna), the Tohunga called for a rahui, and put a stick, the pokeka into the ground, which wasn't removed until eel stocks were back up. Early conservation.
This is a really long steep track, and requires a few rest stops, no matter how fit you are. I'll take a photo at the stops...Looking back to town, on both sides of the Waikato River.
It's very steep, this is looking down, back the way we've come.
What we call bush in NZ, is pretty thick rain forest, you need a track, very easy to get lost if you loose the track. The tall skinny trees are nikau palms, the ferns ponga, pronounced punga...also known as the Silver Fern, our National emblem.
At the top, after a 30 minute climb. Looking down the river to town, on both sides, and you can see the chimneys of the power station and some lakes.
We come back down on the loop track, and through a Kauri grove...but this is a Rimu, they grow taller than a kauri.
This area was cleared in the late 1800's, and this is all secondary growth, but there were a few left standing for some reason. This is the biggest, but not full grown, it's 30 metres high, they grow over 50 metres tall. Not a tall tree, but the only trees with a bigger girth are Redwoods. A Kauri forrest has a cathedral roof.
I haven't done this track for a few years, at 64 for obvious reasons...but the 11 year old was lagging behind a bit...although she recovered quicker than me. I'm going to have sore legs for a couple of day...
