From the northern gate we head right towards Selwyn Rd along a sandy track shared with horses and quad bikes.
There's an opportunity along here if you're stil interested in plants, to catch some Korokio (Corokia cotoneaster). At first glance you'd spot it for one of the small leaved coprosmas — C. spathulata, perhaps — but it has a slightly more bluish cast to the leaves than most coprosmas. If there's a flower or berries, no more doubt.
You'll also find these with yellow or orange berries from time to time. The variations in branch direction after each node are also characteristic of Corokia, not of Coprosma.
A few hundred metres along, a track to the right passes the eastern gate of the reserve and heads on to the main lookout where we stopped for a cuppa.
We head straight on, up a narrow gut.
The official CHH short loop track crosses Selwyn Rd and heads off on a long journey into the pines. It's not all that interesting — you've seen one pine, you've seen 'em all, and all that — though there is an advanced cyclists' aerial course along the official route, if you're into bikes. I'm not.
At this stage I prefer to walk quietly down the long gentle slope of Selwyn Rd with the sun on my back.
What on earth is that noise?
Well, earlier, I mentioned the possibility of hiring a quad bike for a day's exploring. You might even like to make up a party:
Let's just wait until they're past. We still have a way to go downhill before we turn off.
By the bottom of the hill I'm ready for a little more effort and we turn off to the left for a final wander through the pines. It's a big wide turnoff, with, usually, a huge puddle you need to walk around, and it's right at the bottom of the hill on Selwyn Rd.
About twenty metres in, our track heads off to the right and a long gentle curve to the left brings us to a junction where we hang a right. (The photo below is now a piece of history. All the trees to the left, and beyond the turnoff have now been felled, right across to Walker rd and beyond.)
We wind through the pines, passing a number of side turnings but keeping for the most part straight ahead, until there's a brief, stiffish climb to the water tanks at the top and left back to the car the way we came.
The interest through this part of the forest is in the small population of native species that appears to thrive under a pine canopy. Small leaved Coprosma - I think C. rhamnoides and C. rotundifolia, but I'm still not 100% on these - muehlenbeckia, kaihua (everywhere you look) and mapau, with kanuka slightly less common than you might expect.
I'm not very knowledgeable - yet - about our fern population but several varieties seem also thoroughly at home here.
There are the water tanks:
and back to the car and home.
Hope you enjoyed the trip.
