28 April 2007

Piha Valley Track

page 3

A tiny kowhai branchlet emerges direct from the trunk of a big old kowhai. These are typical streamside trees, but can often be found some way from natural water.

It's been raining here overnight and parts of the track are still quite slippery where the clay is exposed.

I commented earlier about old pungas. Here's a magnificent example.

Another constant companion along the track is Coprosma grandifolia, kanono.

Flowering is pretty much past by now, but this Coprosma is unusual for it's autumn flowering habit.

Rangiora is for the most part conspicuously absent along this track.

We've reached the junction with the McKenzie track. We're a third of the way to Black Rock Dam, according to the sign. We carry on, picking up the pace a little.

We carry on up the valley for a bit, still gentle walking.

A small maidenhair (Adiantum sp) sits quietly to the side, its green tending to blue rather than the occasional lime which can light up a clay bank.

The Waitakeres hosts a juvenile form of mingimingi with much larger leaves than the adult form. Here's an example. On the ground you can see fallen tanekaha leaves - kanuka is no longer the predominant canopy.

Over the track a huge old trunk hosts a city of epiphytes

Off to the left is an opportunity for the more intrepid to make their way up the streambed to the Black Rock Dam. You can follow that route from your armchair on the 3D topo map.

Just along from here is a small clearing containing a couple of large canvas containers filled with empty plastic bags, and a little further still an obvious worksite.

Here we go...

On the way back I counted these. As occasionally happens in these endeavours, I wound up unsure whether there were 268 or 368 steps to be negotiated. But certainly lots.

Someone's had a lot of fun getting these curves into place.