Lake Rere Circuit

page 3

Our trip took us up to this point yesterday and on to the Greenstone hut where we spent the night. This morning we have walked back from the Greenstone hut to here, and this is where we take up the story as it were.

We head back downhill

In bush that looks to be thoroughly beech, every now and again at random, and in the absence of nearly all other species, a young lancewood will make its appearance.

There's the bridge, and a little more substantial than I imagined the traffic might warrant.

Ah. that's the reason. It has to take stock as well as trampers

In fact, as we move along the track, on what has obviously once been a well used vehicle route, the signs of stock are minimal, as are the signs of vehicle use. I suspect that this might be another of those DoC projects for propagating Californian thistle and ragwort.

We cross over and head left along a slightly scruffy looking track.

and through a stream crossing, out into a large dry streambed originating high up on the hillside.

As we cross and enter the forest, the birdsong starts, and it stays with us as far as Elfin Bay, a non-stop chorus of bellbirds, possibly as beautiful as anything I've ever heard in the forest. Certainly much, much better than what I've heard coming through the muzak at tourist information centres