Woodhill Diary

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Tuesday 19 February 2008

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Prescript

Carter Holt Harvey and the legacy of Harold Holt

During November I was visiting with Lesleigh and Dakin in Napier after we'd trekked around Waikaremoana together, and in their bookcase I found a volume called Hawkes Bay for the Happy Wanderer, by Sheila H Cunningham. (What I was really looking for was a book called Hawkes Bay for the Happy Wanderer and His Dog, but that's another story)

On pages 29-31, I found the following account of Harold Holt, who expanded the family business of Robert Holt and Son, and was the original Holt in Carter Holt Harvey.:

"Holt Forest Trust: Rakautanu was registered as the Holt Forest Trust in 1960, by which name it is now known , "to be held in perpetual trust for the benefit of the people of New Zealand." At the same time, a generous sum of money was donated by Mr Holt for its upkeep.

The hardworking Mr Holt helped build the family business of Robert Holt and Son into a substantial company which later merged to become Carter Holt Harvey.

The forest at Waikoau provided the perfect weekend foil for Harold's intense business acumen. From it he derived both contemplative relaxation and hard physical exercise. Although he continued to live in Napier after retirement, he would drive to Waikoau each Wednesday to work on his forest. One autumn day in 1987 he died there, near "the acre", quite peacefully, at the age of 87.

The Trust is a quiet place to wander, to absorb the magnificence of the tall forest trees, to admire the patient re-creation of native forest in a land where much has been ruthlessly destroyed, and to enjoy the beauty of spring flowers and later the brilliant colours of autumn. And perhaps above all to admire the tenacity of purpose and love of growing trees which enabled two people, almost entirely with their own labour, to create something truly beautiful."

I tell you, I choked on my gin. My experience of Carter Holt Harvey over the last several years would likely have Harold revolving in his grave at considerable speed. The neglect and decay of the Carter Holt Harvey forest recreational resources, at Woodhill and elsewhere over the last several years, has been documented already in these pages. It is abysmal.

Perhaps we really do need to "call a Holt" to this bottom-line sinking-lid policy of neglect and decay.

The walking track facilities which were shut down during harvesting in mid-2006 have been closed, the parking area fenced off and plastered with towaway signs, and access to the walking track littered with debris, ever since then, at least until my last visit some 8 months ago.

The care of the walking tracks was ceded to Bikeparks whose policy seemed designed, and still does, to prevent any car parking out of sight of its advertising billboards and other commercial activities.

However, when I decided it was time to have another look at the Woodhill walking tracks today, I was pleased to find them open again and available to the public.

It was a highly qualified "pleased" however. Maybe somebody gave a youngster a pruning saw and a pair of secateurs and said "Clean up those tracks." Maybe somebody believed that a thorough job would be an insult to the self-sufficiency and resourcefulness of the New Zealand tramper. Who knows?

Here's an example:

June 2007 (below):

February 2008
(below)

and

From the top of the first rise to the next marker post the scattered debris are not actually insurmountable so have been left intact for us to pick our way through.

Somebody has actually been around the track recently as a number of small sawcuts testify:

but anything other than minimal pruning has been left in the too-hard basket.

All of these shots were take more or less straight ahead at eye-level.

So, is it worth the effort of getting out to Woodhill. A qualified yes. It's incredibly dry at present, as the kidney fern demonstrate,

and in the native bush reserves you can see for 50-100 m and a carpet of crisp grey-brown leaves rustles under your feet, where once the greenery at the edge of the track closed you in.

Where the old carpark had you within ten minutes of the bush track, there's still about 30-40 minutes of fatman time walking through

and

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before you can start on the native bush section. And when you do get there, well, there's no such thing as a bad walk through native bush, but perhaps I'd wait until there's been a bit of decent rain.

And the towaway signs have disappeared from the carpark area, though it's still fenced off, but I saw a couple of vehicles parked by the side of the road there. Maybe there's a quiet de facto return to the old ways. We are not bikers. We do not require the forest to be commercialised and sign-slathered, and bulldozed into hideous conformations that enable cyclists to fly.

All we would like is our parking place back. Nobody touched my car in two and a half years of regular visiting, even when I left the key in it a couple of times. Security is a minimal issue and with all of the bikepark traffic dust-clouding past I doubt anybody would be tempted to break in, in full view of the road. Seriously.

Anyhow, it's open again. But take your tomahawk.

Cheers

Dave