Montana Heritage Trail

Section 6: Back to the Carpark, the Upper Kauri Track continued...

I'm not sure whether this section is an extension of the Upper Kauri Track or the Lower Kauri Track. It is by no means clear from the topo sheet. Alison Dench and Lee-Anne Parore refer to it quite clearly as the Upper Kauri Track in their very useful handbook, Walking the Waitakere Ranges, so we'll let that stand unless authoritatively contradicted.

What is clear and very quickly is that this is a much steeper descent than the last bit. We did it yesterday, going up and going down, so it's familiar territory, but when you're tired, any steepish descent has the potential for problems. However the descent is even steeper going the opposite way around the track, and slippery to boot, and for that reason we did it this way.

(Against the slipperiness, this route is heavily boardwalked and I dislike both boardwalks and steps.)

photo by miranda woodward

Having said all that, I got down to the bottom without incident, but truth be told it was a somewhat neurotic descent, with Alice lying down and pretending to be tired whenever the briefest opportunity presented itself, and both of us short on conversation .

photo by miranda woodward

The kauris are the saving grace. Once you stop to take in the presence of these huge trees something changes in your spirit. It's hard to be tired.

I am reminded of a time many years ago when I coached a secondary school hockey team. We had been away at an August national tournament down country, and we were driving home to Auckland via Wanganui and the Gentle Annie road. I had been driving all day and was tired out when at length we passed through Jerusalem and saw James K Baxter with a group from his commune walking beside the road. We pulled over a hundred yards or so up the road, and got out to say hello.

I had taught several of the boys to love Baxter's poetry over the years, and it was a marvellous opportunity. We chatted for several minutes, declined his kind invitation to dinner - there were fourteen of us - and headed onwards. But as I started up again, I noticed that the tiredness had gone, the tension in my shoulders from the day's driving had vanished, I felt peaceful and excited at once.

As I did among these huge trees.

photo by miranda woodward

Miranda captures beautifully the delicate tracery of the rata against the massive trunk.

photo by miranda woodward

There's a fallen giant along the way, and Miranda's attention goes to the root formation.

photo by miranda woodward

We pass the carving of Tiriwa and make our way quietly along the last couple of hundred metres of the Auckland City Walk

With so many bumshots of Miranda scattered through these files, it is inevitable that sooner or later she will want to even things up a little.

photo by miranda woodward

Miranda stops at the steps down to the stream and encourages Alice to swim some of the accumulated mud and clay off.

photo by miranda woodward

I head on up to the van where the fridge contains gin, lime, and ice cold tonic. I pace myself up the last little hill. Cold gin, cold gin, cold gin.......

Thanks for coming along with us. If you want this section in more detail and facing the other way, I have written it up in my account of the Lower Kauri Track.