13 May 2007

Christie's Track

page 3

The ridge begins another gradual rise.

The path is narrower now, and not always full width where an occasional slip has removed part of it. I imagine that it doesn't get heavy use simply because its location means you'd need to walk some distance either to it or from it, and it's not your everyday family walking track. I like the sense that the ridge side track gives me of the deep Waitakere valleys, but it's not conventionally scenic.

It's also a bit darker, more enclosed, as we get closer to the top. The occasional big one bares its roots for us where it has fallen, its nursery function for small plants and trees already well begun.

Recent winds have covered the ground here with fern litter. It has a peculiarly rich shade of brown which I rather like.

Upwards. Alice wants to know why I'm not travelling faster? Do we want to finish in the light of day or don't we?

Just what I needed. From here on the track means business.

Just past here I meet a couple of walkers who have done the trip in the opposite direction. From the appearance of their boots and legs, there's some challenges ahead.

Along here, the track has doubled as a drainage channel, and as there's not a lot of it, it requires a certain agility not to slip into the middle.

No way round that one folks. First time in the Waitaks I'm over my boots in mud. Smelly mud. You'd swear there were old tramping socks buried in it somewhere.

A big old nikau rears itself above the crowding epiphytes to the side.

Back to some (relatively) civilised track again.

The grade picks up a touch more.

Have you ever noticed that just when your boots are wettest and muddiest and most slippery, you need to scramble over something. This is where being large and carrying a pack are not compatible. The gap is just too small.

I rise, silently, to the challenge, and reward is not far ahead

Another 50 metres to the dam and a few kilometres of smooth gravel road, and there's there's the van. The tonic in the fridge is splendidly cold, and I add the requisite amount of gin and lime, spread a large towel out on the seat for Alice to sit on, and relax for ten minutes. A longish day.