29 August 2007

Huia Dam Rd —

from Dam to Dam

page 4

The road dips suddenly. So do my spirits, just a tad. There's a lot of climbing to do yet and the lower we go the more we have to climb.

Not as bad as it looks. Part way down we hit the turn off to Smith's Rd and we head round to the left and a more gentle descent.

Right in front of this sign is a carpet of a type of moss that is showing signs of being invasive, Selaginella. Pity, as it's quite attractive in its own right, but it displaces natives.

A burst of white beside the road and it's a small manuka. From the time it's about 150mm tall, this plant has the ability to flower and seed.

Young rewarewa stand out against a background of kanuka.

and shortly afterwards we hit the bottom. From here to the Upper Huia Dam it's all up hill, gentle and inexorable up hill, just like the first day of the Heaphy and about the same gradient.

My eye is caught by a drainage ditch taking water underneath the road. It obviously goes back a few years, when precast concrete wasn't an option. It's been put together carefully out of cement and local rocks. There are several more of these along the way, a lovely example of craftsman stonework sited where it probably rarely gets the kind of appreciation it deserves. I wonder if there's anyone anywhere who can say "My dad - or my grandad - did that", or was it all just in a day's work.

Years ago, as a student, I laboured during the holidays on a bridge just outside of Waiuku, and I still get a buzz out of driving over that, as I do when I see the wharf down near Henderson shops that my son Charlie helped to build.

It's still lush bush on either side, with here and there a deep cutting, the sides covered in moss and ferns.

Dawsonia superba, the tallest moss in the world, so I believe.

Onward. The sun is getting up a bit, but the bush is getting taller. The result is a dapple light which is very pleasant.

Eventually it opens out a little, and I pass the remains of a large fallen kanuka which has been cleared away to the edge of the road. I find myself muttering stuff about "decent burial" and so forth. Anthropomorphism gone mad... But I think you can sense what I'm about.

Suddenly I'm in familiar territory. The Crusher Pipeline Track heads off to the right, and I have traversed this section of road some time back en route to the Christie Track.

The Crusher Pipeline Track looks in somewhat worse condition than I remember.

We're just a little over half way, so we keep going.