Rangemore Track

page 3

It's still predominantly tunnel.

Just along here a little I catch sight of the most unlikely looking moss you've ever seen, looking like a small pine plantation: Dawsonia superba; and, I believe, the world's tallest moss.

Here's a close up

We continue. I am starting to flag a little. Alice is too. When I stop for a photograph, instead of racing around and exploring along the path she just lies down and waits for us to move on. I dig out a small plastic dish and offer her some water, and have a swig myself.

We pass a solitary karaka seedling and as always I get a slight shock at seeing this tree in the middle of the bush. It's just a bit too glossy and coffee-table to fit. I look around for a parent tree but see none. then, a few hundred metres further on, suddenly I'm seeing karaka seedlings everywhere.

We continue, and no, I'm not just recycling the same tunnel shot.

If your legs are bare, prepare to be tickled.

and we do have some pieces of track that are wide enough to permit breathing.

This fern, the hound's tongue, Microsorum pustulatum, is calculated to brighten up any dark patch with its milky yellow green fronds. Pity about its unpleasant sounding name, which just means "blister-like". It also boasts not just Maori name, but two: Kowaowao or Paraharaha

We're right alongside the stream now and sure enough,

that moisture-loving plant, parataniwha makes its appearance.

Alice has perked up a little. We can now hear the occasional car in front of us, and she is quite possibly dreaming of curling up on a pillow in the back of the van. At any rate, when I stop for a photo, I am getting the message we should hurry up.

In a minute or two, sure enough, we emerge onto the Scenic Drive, into bright, bright sunshine, just across the road from Greenwood's Corner.

I shorten Alice's lead considerably and we make our way back up the road to the van and a cuppa. The left-over hot water from lunch I had put into the thermos and it's a matter of seconds to make tea. Alice gets a dish of water and a liver treat, and promptly goes to sleep until we get home.

See you again.