18 March 2007

Whatatiri Track

page 2

The canopy is always light and there are a number of small clearings

There's a lovely big pool where the creek makes a sharp turn

and Alice is entranced.

She has a good old wade around, no apparent purpose in mind, before returning to my side. We move into a large clearing and then back again into light bush

becoming more tunnel-like as we head towards the stream crossing

I imagine this could be tricky if not impossible after rain. Some of the track notes speak of rises in this stream of several metres after a storm, but the wealth of vegetation near the stream banks suggest that those are rare occurrences.

We head on up towards a paddock adjoining the golfcourse, in which Alice is much taken by an unexpected and unsuspecting pukeko, and the pukeko is almost taken by Alice before I get her lead back in my hand.

Almost there. This is the golfcourse. You do need a degree of caution here, by the way. I was driving in last week and had a golfball bounce on the road a yard or two in front of me and across onto the grass.

Speaking of caution, when I arrived here this morning around 8 am there were three vehicles in the carpark, one of them a pretty new looking ute, of the kind that does amazing things to your larynx, with its side window smashed in and the cab cleaned out. There is a ranger in residence just up the road, and the golfers start here around 6 am, but you are still vulnerable. Take your goodies with you or leave them at home.