The Pinnacles at last and a tale of 2 dams

The second walk of the weekend was to the spectacular Pinnacles volcanic stumps near Thames at the base of the Coromandal peninsula.  DOC track the pinnacles

We set off early as it was a 2 1/2 hour drive each way with about 25km on dirt roads, arriving at the base car park just before 11am. The first part of the track is very steep with steps cut all the way. We didn't realise until the info boards at the top that these steps had been cut in the late 1800s early 1900s for the horses which were used to bring supplies up to the Kauri logging camps up on the plateau. The start of the trek was through lush jungle and bush with many small rivers to cross on wobbly rope bridges where each plank was hinged to the next for extra bounce!

 

After a long haul up through the trees we came out over the rim into the plateau where we could see the huge volcanic plugs which make up the pinnacles, they are all that remains of the once huge volcano in this area - it is probably all still active way down deep though!!

 

 

 

 

DOC the Department of Conservation have build a 'Bothy' type bunk house hut up here - you do have to bring all your own stuff but it is much more luxurious than the majority of bothies! So many folk stay overnight to climb the last bit early morning. In fact the mountain had been full on the Saturday night with 80 people staying up in the hut and camp sites! - we met a lot of them on their way down as we were struggling up (or Shona was!!)

 

Near the DOC hut there is the second dam of my tale! This is a Kauri dam built in 1929 by the loggers - 4 years after the hydro one which is still working - a bit different in style and longevity!

The idea was for the dam to build a head of water to wash all the huge logs down to the valley, the one Malcolm is standing next to is a tiny example of the size of these trees. You can see the vertical planks were hinged so that they could release the water and not get washed down themselves. This is one of last built and very few surviving Kauri dams left of what was a huge industry in NZ. The landscape across northern NZ must have looked very different with these forest giants dominating the land.
A quick lunch at the dam then onwards and upwards - yet more steps! - can you see the path??

It is official - DOC are amazing - their step building is awesome! See Malcolm on the ladder - there was also metal rungs on vertical boulders to scramble up - high adrenaline stuff!

The views from the top were a just reward for the effort - it was great to see places we have seen along the Coromandal coast from below and from the water and now from up on high.



A superb but very long day - 11 1/2 hours later we got home!

Jurrasic park?? no a Kiwi Sanctuary mountain.

The sailing season had a bit of a delayed start, so we had another free weekend. Shona had been invited up to the Auckland Literary Festival but what with sorting dentists and expensive options for tooth repair she never got it organised to go!

So we had two lovely walking days. The first was to Sanctuary Mountain in the Waikato where there is the Maungatautari Restoration Project, it they have put a Jurassic Park style fence around a whole mountain to eradicate pests and allow native birds including the Kiwi, Kaka and Korako to thrive.
Sancturary Mountain  . We did see a Kaka but otherwise it was very dense bush and quite cold and damp! I'd like to go back sometime though as this is the only place in NZ where you can actually help in the monitoring of the Kiwis and may even get to hold one of these amazing birds.

On the way to the mountain we visited a pretty spectacular rope bridge to a 1924 Hydro Dam which is still operating - 80 years on! The bridge was built for workers to get to the station from Arapuni village. Arapuni_Power_Station

Penguin alarm clock at 4am!

Malcolm's Winter Sunday Racing sailing season has started again this month so we are still packing in away trips every other weekend. After a lovely dinner party with 6 friends on the Friday evening, we decided to pop out to the East Cape again to stay at the quirky backpackers we saw when we went out there last year.

The Maraehako hostel really looks as if it has been put together with driftwood and old sailing rope but is a wonderful place for a break away from everything (no wifi etc!!) Maraehako backpackers.

Our room was on the ground floor behind where Malcolm is sitting, we were told that small Blue Penguins often came out after dark to 'roost' at night in caves at the back of the beach or in the log piles of the huts and then went back to sea before dawn. We did see one penguin at dusk in it's cave then at 4am we were both woken by very loud penguin calls as they gathered together before heading back out to sea! perhaps next time we might get up to see them too!

In the evening we had a lovely fire in this patio area and just listened to the noises of the sea and the night and watched the blazing Milky Way - what a privilege.

Autumn Harvest and Colour

Autumn really is showing her colours and bounty this year, we did not seem to notice it as much when we first arrived last year. Although the majority of native fern, pine and other trees here are not deciduous and stay the same all year there are many stunning imports which are glorious at this time of year. We went back to the McClaren Falls park where we took some lovely 'spring' photos to repeat the experience in autumn.

The season has also brought a bountiful harvest of Malcolm's favourite fruit - fejoas. People here all share their extra fruit so we often get collect or given fejoas, avocados, kiwi gold and green, mandarins, lemons, rhubarb, walnuts, apples, chocos ( a knobbly pale green veg with no particular taste but good in stews) etc etc. Shona also 'works' as a volunteer at the environmental charity Envirohub and gets 'paid' in super fresh garden veg, including white carrots, kumakuma, marrows, silver beet, spinach, chard, green beans and lots of herbs etc etc which is wonderful as well as being a bit of an adventure in cooking with all these things you've never heard of!

So far we have frozen fejoas, made fejoa crumble, fejoa chutney, fejoa vodka, fejoa fool and now fejoa jelly - all new adventures! As well as all the many many fresh ones consumed!

ANZAC 100 years commemoration of Gallipoli

The media is completely taken over here by the commemoration of the Gallipoli ANZAC commemorations, a bit like the media at home being full of the forthcoming election. Last year we attended a very evocative dawn service at the cenotaph by the sea at Mt Maunganui - hearing a loan piper as the sun came up is a memory I won't forget.

This year the commemoration we attended was the special Haka, remembrance prayers and 2 minutes silence before the Chiefs and Crusaders match in Hamilton  - very different but both moving.

The Chiefs went on to win!

We then went over to climb the lone volcano - Mt Taranaki, near New Plymouth, but again we were beaten by the stormy Autumn weather!! - this time torrential rain! This is a view from the visitor centre window with a diagram below

 

showing what we should be seeing!!

We will just have to try again another long weekend - it is a 5 hour drive but New Plymouth is lovely and the whole area has lots of great walks. We did manage the White Cliff walk (supposed to look like Dorset!!) and saw the volcano with snow on top from a distance but it was covered in cloud after that!

The wet did show up some interesting animal and bird footprints - is this a Kiwi???

We did manage a blustery walk along the coast to the beautiful Rewa Rewa bridge.

Then on the way home through the pouring rain we stopped at New Zealand's 'shearing capital'  Te Kuiti, where they celebrate all things shearing!