21 September 2008

Every Step a Work of Art

Holdsworth Lookout Track

Mt Holdsworth

page 1

We'd done an overnighter up to Atiwhakatu Hut and a walk the previous day to Mountain Hut, and this walk was basically just dotting i's and crossing t's before heading off. However, it turned out to be possibly one of the highlights of our week. If you're among the elderly and stout, a few days preparation is probably essential, and you'll definitely need sticks.

For me it was one of those descents where two legs and a stick provided stability while the other stick located the next anchor point, then two sticks and a leg, etc etc. Not difficult, and you're not going to fall and break your neck thousands of feet below, but you do have to pay a little attention in the steeper sections. My son would probably jog down.

It's steep, by my standards very steep, i.e., using handholds at eyelevel to pull yourself up at times, but the view from the top is magnificent, and it's short enough to be easily manageable.

memory-map graphic

We head out from the carpark at Mt Holdsworth Reserve, past the lodge, and over the bridge. Just past there about 50m is the turnoff, to the left

Ah. A real tramping track, not one of those motorway jobbies.

There's a young rangiora, but kind of hugging the ground.

River crossing....

We pass a beech stump. Looks as if it should be home to something. Maybe I could photoshop a pair of eyes into the niche. (One of the things I enjoy about tramping is the freedom for one's mind - as well as one's feet - to wander all kinds of totally improbable routes.)

Another small stream to cross. I'm trying to figure, while I'm writing this up, what I'm doing with the camera that has the light changing so dramatically from blue cast to yellow.

An anonymous track meanders off to the left and an orange DoC triangle points us to the right.

Another spot for a pair of photoshop eyes. Reminds me of the Mavoro Lakes walk where we photographed a stoat, head and shoulders peering out at us from his hole, about 2m from the track where we were standing.

There's a tune in my head, Beatles or something, "The girl with the photoshop eyes...."

Nonsense!

Now, why have they removed the rails from this bridge? Not that I need them, I'm just curious.

For me, used to Waitakere streams, the water is remarkably clear. The Atiwhakatu hut depends for its water supply on the stream alongside of it. I'd be a lot more wary of using stream water in the Waitaks.

A wonderfully symmetrical Crown fern. In about fifteen minutes I'll have a good deal less attention to spare for small details.

It's pretty much a standard mix of shrub trees, the ones I refer to as the usual suspects. Coprosma grandifolia, the raureku, features strongly.

Miranda stops to grab some shots of a large beech trunk she's going to photoshop babies into, and I grab a rare shot of her coming up behind me. The track is beginning to show its teeth a little, but nothing serious.

Already we're high enough to get some good views out down the valley, and we stop a moment to enjoy the sun.

This plant I don't recognise and I grab a pic for later research, but no luck so far.

We carry on uphill, and the forest is beginning to change, with more substantial tree s along the way.

The track pauses to remind us that from here on we'd better start paying attention.

A piece of history. We keep something of an eye out but it would need a background in archaelology to make human sense of what remains.