B3 is about 50 metres further on, and if you want to you can detour briefly to H24 on the right as you pass and take in the remains of several kumara storage pits.
At B3, we hang a right and coincide with the history trail for a little.
B4 is missing its label and we carry on around the rim to B5 and B6, passing another little pocket of rock forest.
Up at the top there are some spectacular views, especially of the sky today over Puketutu. Down below I can also make out what I believe to be the lines of the the old oxidation pond dividers.
Somewhere in here, out of nowhere the rain arrives, thick, with large wet drops that leave me soaked in 10 seconds. I barely manage to get the camera back in its bag in time.
We head across to B7. Isn't nature wonderful.....
Most of this part of the trail seems to be just footwork.
Is that B8? Way up there? Hang on. There's a green marker stone to the right a little
Ah, there it is, over by the fence
Here's another patch of rock forest.
That's tough ground.
There's B10 up ahead.
The wall along here is quite spectacular, over 2 metres high in places.
There's a mahoe hanging over the wall. In deep bush, these leaves are large and supple and soft. Out here they are small, hard and windbeaten.
I show Alice the sign, and she nods. It's one feature of the place that seems to be fully functional.
At B10 we head away from the wall. On an almost bare rock, a small smilax is just beginning its career.
From here, it's mostly just covering ground across pasture, and skirting the remains of the quarry. I am walking a little faster now in wet clothes and evening is approaching. It's getting colder. We arrive eventually at B14, and just across from here
and over the rise you can see, from a distance, one of the few remaining wild mawhai plants in existence.
Around to the left and we're almost finished.
Through the gate and up to the hill to the van. I text Bonny to say that we're on our way. I'm getting slack. When I was on the ball there would have been a thermos waiting for me in the van. About an hour fatman time with the odd detour.
