25 May 2007

McElwain Loop Track

page 2

On the day, I headed down Quarry Track and returned via Pole Line and the Anawhata Rd to here later in the day to cover the remaining section of this track. From this point there's a gentle uphill stretch to the lookout platform and then another gentle drop to the van.

We start up here towards the viewing platform.

Someone's been having some fun with a flax plant

As far as I am aware, this is a white maire, a Nestigis cunninghamii, though I haven't confirmed it. If so it's a genus that has attracted much discussion. It was formerly Olea, and then Gymnelaea before picking up its present name.

We head on up the hill.

We're heading up a bit of a valley at present, or at least up the edge of a valley, and on the whole it's a bit drier, but every now and again a bank of palm leaf fern springs lush from the edge of the track.

Where the light increases, so do exotics like gorse.

Here's a cousin of the common flax. This is Phormium colensoi.

It's leaves are somewhat less rigid than the common flax and it's faded flowers are thin and papery compared with those of P. tenax.

This is rather beautiful - a koromiko.

Here we are at the lookout platform.

It's one of those marvellous tramping weather days, cool and overcast, but that usually does not bode well for photography, especially long distance. Nevertheless the views from here are rather wonderful.

We head back to the van. Along the track is a beautifully marked rock.

It's all gentle downhill from here, an easy walking track surface.

An exotic looking group of mushrooms sits at the side of the track. The complex marking on the hood is simply a function of the brown skin splitting as the mushroom grows.

Almost there. This section from the road direct to the lookout is a useful miniwalk if you're just looking for a good all round view on a clear day. It's simple street-gear territory.

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