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Mt Auckland (Atuanui) p.3
This fellow is a big taraire. When we were kids walking to and from school across farmland at Waiuku, we often stopped to feed off the bright purple black berries that fell from these trees. There was a thin layer of flesh around a big central pit. I was horrified later to see them described as poisonous. Nobody told us and none of us was ever sick.
On Mt Auckland, there are no grand waterfalls or fairy glades or thundering surf in the background. The attraction here is in the smaller delights. This is truly a naturalist's walk. Many of the trees have trunks that are covered in rata vine (Metrosideros perforata or M. diffusa)
When you take the time to look closer to home, there's much to see. Here are the remains of a hollow punga stump which has provided ideal germination conditions for a few random seed.
In the general dark green and brown, any splash of colour stands out.
Here is part of a bird's nest.
About an hour and a half in, there's a small glade with a substantial tree root for sitting on and snacking and some glorious punga.
The path climbs steadily for some distance, sometimes sharply, before going briefly downhill, only to head upwards again on a sometimes steep and often slippery final section to the summit.
It seems to be implicit in tramping mores that the ultimate reward is an impressive view,
and somewhere to view it from. Personally, given my own fear of heights, I am rather in favour of all the tall flax that (I presume) has been planted between the path and the almost sheer drop right beside it along the last little bit. I like being in the landscape, not on it. "I think I feel an ache coming on."
There is a formal announcement for those needing reassurance.
This piece of pre-metric history has sadly fallen victim to vandals, along with the cupboard that used to house the visitors book, and pieces of the sign are now (061210) scattered in the surrounding scrub. It's taken us just under two and a half hours including a stop for a snack to get up here. It will take us about two hours including five minutes up here and a number of short breaks to get back down. OK, let's go
Put one in front, then put the other...
From the viewing point at the top there is an alternative, and steeper route which takes you back to the Kaipara Coast Highway, but you need to co-ordinate a couple of cars, as the two ends of the track are separated by several km, and a steepish hill. This route is not available in spring, during the lambing season, as part of it passes across farmland.
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