Tramp Reflections 830 - Waitotara Forest

23 October 2009 TO 26 October 2009

John and I went down with the others on the Thursday night and spent a pleasant night in the only double bed - thanks Anna and Michiel. On Friday morning we were up with the others and only had our cereal for breakfast as we didn't want to be cruel with the enticing smells. We dropped them off at the track end and drove back along the road until we came to a spacious area where we stopped and cooked our bacon and eggs. Yummy. While eating, we were entertained by some farmers attempting to bring ewes and lambs in for docking. Their dogs weren't working too well and they left half the flock behind. The farmer came along to check us out and we offered to help for the day, but they had enough manpower.

After breakfast we went into Stratford and did a bit of shopping, prowled around the town and explored a bookshop. Then we drove onto Eltham where we perused an antique shop and a car boot sale. It was quite nice playing tourist while the others were slogging uphill. We did give them a passing thought. We decided to cut across through Kaponga to Opunake where we had lunch beside a lovely lake and watched some children play. From there it was down to Hawea and onto Patea where we stopped and looked at a garden that we had wandered through a few years ago at a Rhododendron Festival. The owner was a little older and busy preparing for the next festival the following weekend. The garden was still beautiful and worth a visit.

From Patea, we went out to the coast at Waverley where it was howling a cold gale. We admired the sandstone arch and resident seal and then had a doze in the van for a while. By then it was time to our camping spot for the night. Michiel had arranged for us to stay at Basil Hooper's farm at Ngutuwera. We turned down a double bed with an electric blanket for our tent pitched in a paddock amongst the sheepsh. Basil and Tracey made us very welcome. We went for a walk around the farm and admired their animals and plantation. We cooked and ate our tea with them before turning in for the night.

The dawn chorus was lovely. There were resident Wood Pigeons, Kakariki, Tui, Kingfishers and many blackbirds. We were amazed at the fruit trees they are able to grow - Pawpaws, tamarillos and babacos - as they have a warm microclimate there. At about 8am, we went off to join the rest of the Wanganui Tramping club for a day's walk. Basil and John were a bit late getting there as they discovered one of Basil's bulls had died and went to check him out.

There were 11 on the walk and we were well covered medically with 2 doctors, 2 nurses and a physiotherapist in the team. It was obvious that Tracey worked at the hospital and had done bit of recruiting. We walked into the Mangawhio lakes (one dark and one red) and then around some old roads visiting the site of an old homestead. This area has been farmed in the past and is now regenerating bush. Basil showed me some of the orchids in the area that I had never seen before. The rain started gently at lunch time and remained steady for the afternoon as we returned on the same track. The mud was soon rather sticky and slippery. I thought I would wash the mud off my boots in a small drain, but slipped in and got far more mud all over me. Good grey Papa mud. Once we got out of the area, the rain stopped - Murphy's Law.

We had planned to drive up to Waitotara to camp at the road end, but decided to have another night enjoying the pleasure of Tracey and Basil's company. It really is a beautiful place to stay and we couldn't have wished for better hosts. It was interesting comparing tramping clubs. They have a membership of about 180, have their own clubrooms, 2 vans (kept at the clubrooms) and 2 PLBs and tramp weekends, Wednesdays and alternate Thursdays. The club members can use the vans for private trips. They work out the cost each trip - our day cost the members $8 each- and that cost pays for the upkeep and replacement of the vans. Basil did some sums and came to the conclusion that a van was uneconomical with our membership.

We were all up early the next morning as Tracey and Basil were taking another tramp and we were walking into meet our fellow HTC members at Trains hut. It took over an hour to drive to the end of the Waitotara Road where we loaded our packs and walked in along a newly formed road. The place was full of old farming history and we passed an old homestead site on our way in. In the mid afternoon, John had just said how funny it would be if we met up with the others, when there was a shout from across the river. There they were grinning away at us. The little hut was pretty full so we decided to pitch our tent for a change! We spent a pleasant evening catching up over a bottle of wine and the next morning all walked out together.

For us it was a wonderful 4 days of R & R, making new friends and some great tramping thrown in for good measure. Thanks to Michiel and Anna for their excellent planning.

Written by Val Hollands - Trip 2