Bush Walk with the kids

[Ianab]

Nice sunny autumn Sunday. so Lil says "lets go walking some place"

Taylors just turned 4 so she's old enough now to handle a decent hike, so we went up to the National Park to check out some of the shorter walks.

From the viewing platform at the Visitors Centre


Heading up the walk to Wilkie's Pools. It's one of the main walking paths, so it's pretty much a footpath. Probably wheelchair accessible even.


Candidate for the Gnarliest Tree competition.  :D This is a Kotukutuku or NZ fuchsia. Related to the regular garden fuchsia, but grows into a small tree.


Checking out the view


And looking back down the valley


At the Pools. This is solid volcanic basalt that's been worn away by the water over the years.


And looking down from top.


And up a dry creek bed towards the Mountain.


Take our picture Dad.


We took a different track back down, past some cool waterfalls.




And some more gnarly trees


Taylor pretending she can read the track signs, while I double check with GPS on my phone.  :D


More "Goblin Forest". This is what we call a Sub-alpine temperate rain forest. It gets regular snow, so the trees are hardy stunted things, but massive rainfall up on the side of the mountain, so it's lush with moss and ferns etc.


Mountain Totara. Very slow growing, so one like this could be 800 years old?


Another taller Totara, but with a thick crop of epiphytes and moss.


Getting back to civilisation again.


Bridge crosses the same river downstream form the pools, which is new a decent stream, and more waterfalls


Double check of the directions.  200 metres back to the car park. 


And the weather has changed. Clouds have rolled in and you can't see the peak at all. Did i mention it's a RAIN forest.  :D


Hope you enjoyed our little walk.

[thecfarm]

Yes,I enjoyed it. Thank you.
Like the Ft. Worth Texas t shirt too.

[LIL]

Like the Ft. Worth Texas t shirt too.

Thanks My sister went to America August 2014 with some of my Aunties, Uncles and Cousins.  My Uncle James wanted to visit Nashville and my Uncle Joe wanted to visit Grease Monkey in Texas.  They ended up at Fort Worth because it was close. I was very lucky because my sister went to Ft Worth and all she brought back was this tee shirt ;) But seriously, she come home with so many great memories, photos and stories to share.  They also made it to New York, Las Vegas, Miami and Hawaii

LIL

[Savannahdan]

Nice start for a Monday morning.  Thank you for sharing.
Dan

[sandhills]

Thanks for the walk, it was much easier on my end  ;).  Those girls are going to remember that forever and they're getting prettier every time you post pictures! (In other words, you're gonna have your hands full, don't ask me how I know)

[Magicman]

Thanks for taking us along on your hike, but what happened to the sweater?   ;D

[Ianab]

Thanks for taking us along on your hike, but what happened to the sweater?   ;D

Ended up in my back back with the others once the going got a bit steep.  :D

[Texas Ranger]

You folks from down that way seem to like Texas, my guess is we are a bit alike.  Ausies come through and seem to have a good time, so I guess you keewees are about the same.

[sprucebunny]

Thanks for the pictures  I just love seeing forests/trees that are so different from here.
Looks like a really well done 'path' !!

[Den Socling]

Ian's walk reminded me of one we took on the South Island a few years ago. I don't remember the name but I believe it was near Hokatika.



 



 

Huge lichens.



 



 

Those ferns always knock my socks off.



 



 



 



 



 



 

Is That awesome?



 



 



 

Can't you just see the velociraptors?



 



 



 



 



 



 

I passed a stranger on the bridge who said to me "are you from Pennsylvania?" He had drunk Yuengling in America.



 



 



 



 



 

[Ianab]

Sure looks like the Hokitika river area, with that swing bridge over the river.

You can see how at the lower altitude the trees are full size with the big old Rimu and Beech. While a few miles away, higher up the hills you get the more stunted rain forest. Massive amounts of rainfall on the West Coast of the Sth Island. Checking on-line, Hokitika gets an average 111" inches per year, and has rain around 195 days per year. That explains the ferns and moss.  :D

[Den Socling]

Here's a little story about Hokitika. At the airport, there was four passengers and one taxi. Yes, it is a giant airport.  :D  Along with Garrett, Patti and me there was an Aussie. We shared the cab and the Aussie was to get out first but he didn't have any Kiwi money so Patti paid his fare. After that, the cab driver drove us all over the place giving us a tour and history of the town. It was a nice way to start our visit. Hokitika is on the Tasman Sea. That's no place to go swimming! A river dumps a lot of wood that becomes awesome driftwood.



 



 



 

We obviously lucked out with the weather.