Round the Beeches

The Mavora Walkway

Day 1 page 2 Greenstone to Taipo

Tell the truth, we're having bugger all to do with the valley. The track takes a marked turn uphill

and soon we're back on top. About here we catch sight of Carol and Mike on the other side of the valley, and within a few minutes they've caught up. Beneath the scrub the plantlife is fascinating.

photo by miranda woodward

Ah, there it is.

Looks like a good place for a packs off, a snack and a cuppa.

Ah, well, fingers were made before forks...

Across the valley, the clouds are gathering and coming down low. The weather report this morning was pretty foul, and we thoroughly expect to get soaked at some stage today, but our grasp on the weather gods seems to be holding. It's all across the valley.

We're back in the forest again, and picking our way towards the next marker.

This is the sort of thing most of the visitors book griping was about. No big deal.

This small plant is new to me. I'm not sure whethyer it's a small subterranean creeper or a fern of some kind

Where it matters, the chainsaw has been applied.

It's pleasant forest to walk through, open and airy and while there isn't a lush understorey, the mossy carpet is just about worth it. We do have to pick up our feet a little, but today there are no fierce time constraints on us, and we are on the sunny side of the valley. I'm starting to realise just what that means - at least to me - in terms of walking moods.

Untidy, yes, but nothing we can't live with.

There are lots of these little streams to cross, each with its little down and up reminding me somewhat of Cannibal Gorge on the St James, but the difference is that today I have several days walking behind me and a good rest the day before and my legs are in good shape.

I have a small giggle to myself and wonder whether the DoC ranger with the chainsaw has a tape measure and a DoC policy specifying what size tree gets sawed through and which gets left.

Some of the small streams are quite boggy. Others are bedded in rock. I am enjoying myself and starting to get an insight into the minimal intervention policies that shape the identity of this track, even though I'm not even aware of them as such at this point.

I was starting to get it with my comments about the Greenstone Hut being a home from home for office workers, and the slight incongruity and discomfort that engendered.

With plenty of time, it just feels more "right" somehow to make my way through a forest that bears few signs of "civilisation", and yet is perfectly safe to traverse.

Hello! What's this?