25 February 2007

Round the Beeches

The Mavora Walkway

Day 1 page 1 Greenstone to Taipo

The track, to begin with, is benched and easy going through beech forest. Miranda's migraine is manageable at present.

(This is a pic from yesterday, hence, no pack.)

We emerge some ten minutes later into scrubby subalpine vegetation

We can see right back down the valley we came up yesterday

Off to the left a soft green/grey/white carpet covers the ground

Soon, it's back into beech forest with nothing to account for the straightline demarcation

The forest is light and open, without much in the way of floor, and lots of dead trees, but pleasant going. It's still early and difficult to get good depth of field inside the forest. Carol and Mike, being fit, score the luxury of an extra hour in bed.

Even where the track is clearly visible it still isn't all that friendly.

We move around the side of a hill

and out into scrub. Where's that orange marker gone?

Right. Got that one, now where to?

Miranda has better eyes than mine by about 15 years.

This forest is bristling with young trees

We begin to head downhill quite steeply towards the sound of the Passburn. It occurs to me that saying Passburn River is a bit like saying Mt Maunganui. "Maunga" means mountain. "Burn" means river.

Here we are. It looks innocuous, but it's a little deeper than it seems, and there is a four foot bank to lower myself down before I cross. At my size, I'm a little leery of stepping stones in case they throw me, or in case my impetus causes my foot to slip off a wet rock, so I hunt around for the shallowest spot I can find and ford.

photo by miranda woodward

photo by miranda woodward

I also discover something I hadn't consciously realised. The river is flowing back the way we came. We are actually climbing a gentle valley towards a saddle of sorts.