Over the August to November period we had 7 Ad Hoc tramps with 19 different members coming out on at least one of them. We are lucky to have a number of van drivers: to Steve, John S, Simon and Peter thank you very much for driving the van for us and Christine L for driving us to Tutira in her car.
Te Mata Park: 14 Aug
Only Steve had let Susan and I know that he was interested in a tramp so we decided to reschedule for the following week, but as the 3 of us still wanted to do something, we decided to have walk in Te Mata Park. We agreed on an 11 o’clock start so Peter could join us (he had a dental appointment earlier) and all met at the Tauroa Road carpark, including Anne who was a late entry.
Our journey was along Chambers walk, to the Red Track turn-off which we followed to the Big Redwoods enjoying the views out to the snow covered Ruapehu and Ruahines on the way. After a brief spell in the redwoods we carried on along the Red Track, up the valley beside the southern boundary and then zig zagged up to the Peak. More time was spent enjoying the views after which we headed down to the main car park where we had lunch. After lunch we walked back to the cars via the new millennial plantings.
Party: Glenda H, Steve B, Peter B, Susan L, Anne D.
Lake Opouahi and Thomas’s Bush: 21 Aug
Nine of us drove north to Lake Opouahi on yet another fine sunny day. We started walking anti clockwise around the lake, checking out the damage that Cyclone Gabrielle had made as we went. At the far end of the lake we followed the track through to the far gate of the predator proof fence. After a short break there we followed the walkway across the paddocks to Thomas’s Bush and the start of the loop track through the bush.
This time we went clockwise, again noting the damage done by Gabrielle – in particular the small creek that runs through the bush has been gouged out. Markers were few and far between after this stream and we lost the track for while, joining it again just past where the turn-off to the lookout used to be. We had lunch in a grassy strip beside the bush and then continued on down the grassland to where the track heads back into the bush and returned back along this track and the rest of the Opouahi Track to the van.
Party: Glenda H, Peter B, Susan L, Steve B, Liz C, Christine L, John S, Anne D, Graeme H,
Apiti Track: 18 Sept
The Apiti Track is in the hills behind Norsewood and was once going to be part of a road between Norsewood and Apiti in the Manawatu. On-line it seems to be an area that DOC has forgotten as you can not search for it to check for alerts or any other information. This is a shame as this is a pretty track with lots of variety in the small section that we walked. At the car park there was another big white van as well as a couple of cars, the Manawatu Tramping and Mountainerering Club were also there for the day. The remaining car parks were too muddy for the van so we parked beside the road. A short walk across a paddock and you are on the track which over the 40 years I have been tramping there has changed from sparse scrubby vegetation to a proper bush. There was also lots of Ourisia (Mountain foxglove) beside the track, very photogenic. Some stopped in the clearing below high point 880, others carried on into the beech forest while Simon and Steve went even further hoping to get to the turnoff to Makaretu Hut (they didn’t).
We all had lunch at the clearing and then retraced our steps back to the van and drove to the end of Manawatu River Road. This area is the upper most section of the Manawatu River Leaders’ Accord which,first implemented in 2011, aims to improve the in-stream values of the river. At the road end sits “ Whare 1” with information boards explaining the scheme and along side the river is extensive riparian plantings which started there in 2013. After a good look around it was time to head back to town.
Party: Christine L, Karene F, Simon W, Steve B, Selina C, Anne D, Glenda H
Puketitiri Reserves: 16 Oct.
We had nine out on this outing and left Pukahu at 8.30 with a pickup in Taradale. Our first stop was the newly reopened William Hartree reserve which is now managed by DOC. The lodge there can be booked and holds around 10 people. We tried to walk the two loop tracks there. The short loop by the lodge has no issues but a second loop track that leaves this track has a large slip across it. It didn’t look safe to cross so we headed up hill and followed the boundary fence back to a clearing that we had previously crossed lower down and retraced our steps back to the van.
We stopped at Hutchinsons Reserve hoping to do a walk there but it appears to be infested with black berry and did not look very tramper-friendly so we carried on to Balls Clearing. Balls Clearing is always a delight and according to DOC is the best place in Hawke’s Bay to experience a lowland podocarp forest.We started on Ramages track and carried on through to the clearing on an anticlockwise circuit finishing off with the Bathgate Track.
After lunch at the carpark at Balls Clearing our final stop was the Napier Forest and Bird’s Little Bush Reserve at the end of Little Bush Road. This is another example of a fine podocarp forest with many rimu present. There is just the one loop track which took a less than an hour to walk around at a leisurely pace. It was then time to return to town with just a quick photo stop at the Rissington Redwood sculpture.
Party: Anne D, Glenda H, Selina C, Steve B, Christine L, John S, Lou C, Susan L, Janice L
Trelinnoe Park: 28 Oct
There was no Labour weekend tramp so on the Monday 8 of us drove up the Taupo Road, turning right on to The Old Coach Road just before Te Pohue. Five km along this road is Trelinnoe Park our destination for the day. In 2019 the gardens at Trelinnoe were split off from the farm and sold to Michael, an Auckland man, while the remaining farm (which was pretty good farm land) was sold to an entity who are busy planting it all up in pine trees. With Covid and Cyclone Gabrielle Michael’s timing couldn’t have been worse and he had to return to a full time job to keep the place afloat. Michael met us soon after we arrived and walked with us through part of the property before disappearing to do some work on the property, of which there was plenty to do.
We spent over 4 hours enjoying the grounds, some rhododendrons were still blooming but unfortunately we needed to be there a month earlier to view the magnolias. Steve was our walking encyclopaedia, naming most of the European trees we couldn’t identify. We had lunch in one of the sunny grassy clearings after which we carried on with our wanderings. My Topomap ap. told me we had walked 4.3 kilometres over the 4 hour period and the path taken resembled 4 interlinking loops. We all had a good time and reckon we will be back .
Susan L, Steve B, Anne D, Judith M, Janice L, Christine L, Anne C Glenda H
Lake Tutira and White Pine Bush: Nov 6.
A Boots on Bikes tramp to Sunrise Hut scheduled for this day had been cancelled due to a perceived lack of numbers so we organised an Ad Hoc one instead. As it was forecasted to be wet at Sunrise we decided to head north to Tutira which meant we lost 2 starters cause they really wanted to go to Sunrise Hut. In the end there was just 4 of us and Christine kindly offered to take her car.
Our first port of call was White Pine Bush – both loop tracks are open again but the damage from Gabrielle was still obvious in places. We enjoyed our time walking in amongst the magnificent trees and too soon were back in the car heading for Lake Tutira.
At the lake there were signs indicating that most tracks, except for Table Mountain, were closed due to forestry operations and damage to the tracks. Initially we followed the anglers track beside the lake as it did not appear to be closed and that lead us to a gate onto the Kahikanui Track. There was no sign of logging nor slippages so we decided to follow this track to the peninsula where Shelia Cunningham’s memorial seat is. This required walking through knee high grass, which will be a fire hazard in a drought, obviously no stock had been there for some time. However we could not find the seat (I later heard it was closer to the lake than I thought) so we returned back to the campground for lunch. Also at the campground having lunch was a group from the Hastings vintage car club so we were able to admire their cars while eating lunch.
After lunch we made our way up the Table Mountain track which leaves from the campground. While it was an overcast day, the humidity was around 100% and it was very hot walking up hill. Gabrielle and Selina made their way to the trig (after a short detour in the wrong direction) while Christine and I were happy to watch them from a vantage point about 200 m short of the trig. Looking down on the forestry area it was obvious that there had been little forestry operations since we were last there in February so why were the tracks closed? After regrouping we went back to our cars taking a short detour through the planted bush on the Valley track.
Since this tramp I have heard that the farmer no longer grazes the land because of a fall out with the Regional Council, hence the long grass. Also a recent notice states “Logging operations in the Tūtira Regional Park pine forest will resume in late November/early December…..The campground and walking tracks located safely away from the logging area will remain open to the public. However, all other tracks through and around the pine forest will be closed for safety reasons”. This implies that signage at the lake that stated the tracks were closed early November was incorrect and we should have been able to walk the tracks. This is a Regional Park paid for by our rates, surely the Regional Council should be facilitating recreation there as much as possible.
Party: Selina C, Gabrielle S, Christine L, Glenda H
Sunrise Hut/ Swamp Track: 20 Nov
Since we didn’t go to Sunrise Hut last time we decided to go this day even though a small amount of rain was forecast to arrive about 11 AM. Eight of us started walking at 9 AM, firstly stopping at Triplex Hut. It appeared to be a lovely sunny day. At Triplex we split into 2 groups, one headed for Sunrise Hut while the others would go up to the seat at the Waipawa Saddle Hut turn-off and then return and walk the Swamp Track.
The second group made their way sedately up to the seat stopping often to use Christine’s ap which names the plants along the way – we now know what a Pokaka looks like in its juvenile and adult forms. Unfortunately we were too early for the mistletoe flowering. We also enjoyed the bird song; the Tui, Bellbird, Whiteheads, Shining Cuckoo, Fantails, a Robin and the not so tuneful Longtailed Cuckoo.
On our downward journey from the seat it started to spit a bit – “that’s fine” we said “YR said 0.1-0.2 mms per hour for the next few hours”. No so! Just after we passed about 40 kids and adults from Havelock North Intermediate heading for Sunrise Hut it started to rain quite heavily so it was on with the coats before we got too wet.
We had our lunch at Triplex and as it appeared to be not quite so wet we walked around the Swamp Track botanizing as we went. Back at Triplex we had about a 15 minute wait for the bedraggled Sunrise Hut group to arrive, about 2 o’clock. They had got to Sunrise Hut about 5 minutes after it started teaming down, about 11.15. They ventured out past the hut to experience the strong wind they would have encountered had they wanted to carry on to Armstrong Saddle (they didn’t), had a leisurely lunch before heading back down.
We all walked back to the van together and were just starting to drive home when the first of the school kids arrived back.
Party: Denise & Lindsay D, Selina C, Christine L, Susan L, Glenda H,Janice L, Peter B
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