A Bonnetful of Bees

This is the second of two tracks recommended to us for a brief walk by the staff at DoC Kaueranga Valley. Neither on their map, nor on any signpost did we see a trace of its name, so we have given it one, as a passing botanist provided a name for a small iris that had flourished in the public eye in California for many many years, all the while totally nameless and unknown to science.

It begins just inside the gateway of the Whangaiterenga Campground, and loops around to the left, returning to the road we came in by, about a kilometre back down the road.

It’s got some OK stretches but basically this one is exercise for the legs rather than the spirit, though in ten years’ time there may well be a very different degree of regeneration to observe.

The first part of this track is again, motorway, but through somewhat raffish scrub and wilding pines. It’s a slightly steeper grade than the Edwards track, but that is not saying a lot.

The Kaueranga Valley is one of the more popular tramping destinations in the north, and DoC has put a lot of work into creating tracks that will stand the kind of wear that results from this. At 80 beds, the Pinnacles Hut is one of the largest in the country, and in the peak of summer, it hardly qualifies as getting away from it all. But right now, it’s all peaceful.

An excellent all weather walking surface, which is something worth remembering when the Waitak tracks are often knee deep in bog.

A nice young rimu overhangs the track.

Miranda has arguably the most photographed bum in tramping.

The mist is still hanging around the valleys. Yesterday we did not get to do any walking at all; it was all heavy drizzle and low cloud, so just to get out and stretch our legs today is good.

Still we wind up the hill, scrub and gorse alongside, pine plantation up ahead.

It’s not all radiata pine, though. Even through the mist there are a million different greens in the New Zealand bush and I love every one of them. I wonder whether anyone has done a study on the colours to be had in our bush.

Plonk any exotic, like the pine tree in the photo immediately below, in the middle of it, and it jangles.

Is there a consistent factor, present or absent, in the coloration of endemics that causes this? Or is it just something we are used to seeing?

This landscape is only a few miles, relatively, south of the Waitakeres, and yet it already bears some of the marks – and species – of a colder climate bush.

We’re leaving the scrub and pines behind us as we climb, still on motorway.

Here’s a ramarama with it’s mottled leaves and green seed capsules. It bears a small white flower, but an exceptionally beautiful one, around Christmas or New Year, up our way.

This is more like my preferred surroundings. A pleasant walking track in which time has taken the opportunity to soften the man-made edges.

It’s levelling off a little now.

Here’s a venerable punga with its huge bole, hosting a multitude of small rata. It’s a fascinating exercise from time to time to stop and count the number and variety of seedlings that have taken root in the trunk of one of these ferns.

I stop to change batteries, and lose a few metres

We reach a junction, and again, instead of a track name on the sign, it simply indicates the destination.

We swing round to the left and begin heading downhill.

It’s still pleasant walking, and the rich variety of small plants on the clay banks is well worth taking in.

And now we reach the real feature of this track. From here to the end we are seldom further than 2 – 3 metres from a set of steps. Now, I’ve never seen a set of steps in DoC territory that can be comfortably walked for any distance. DoC does not have good step designers on the whole. Enthusiastic, yes, as is the case here, but that’s as far as I am prepared to go. They could learn much from the ARC in the Waitakeres.

Down and around….

One of the nice things about steepish descents is that they often provide very attractive windows out through a frame of light bush.

Here’s a bit of a roller coaster….

All I can say is that it is probably a good deal more manageable than what was here before.

Scruffy, as we get a little lower. Still, no steps for a few metres.

Here we go again. “

Are you coming? I’m getting hungry….”

Wheeeeeee…….

Now, lean into the bend…

and one last swerve before we reach the road

Lunchtime!