Anyways, John's had the last two days off and we were hoping to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, but the weather just hasn't cooperated--cloudy and rainy for most of this week. However, the forecast says it's supposed to be lovely and sunny on Christmas Day--let's hope! Also, the other day I was gifted with yet another beautiful sunset:
Seem to get a lot of these here.
So, we weren't able to make the 3 hour drive out to Tongariro, but yesterday we were blessed with a brief respite from the cloudy, drizzly dreariness, and so we decided to take advantage of it by going on an impromptu tramp! We chose to go back to the same area where we visited Shine Falls--Boundary Stream Reserve--as there were other, short walking tracks that we had not yet visited. Plus, it's a quick hour-drive away. One of our roommates, Gaupal, had the day off and asked to join us. So the three of us set off for a tiny town in the middle of nowhere called Tutira, where the reserve is located.
We thought it would be a nice, two hour walk, and it was, though there were parts that were much steeper than anticipated! However, it was a nice way to break-in my new (and cheap!) hiking boots I bought for when we do more strenuous tramping (like the Tongariro Crossing). We walked through mostly forest, where we encountered a lot of ferns and a variety of birds (John's favorite things!). Along the way we encountered some nice views:
However, the one thing that attracted me to this particular track was the 800 year-old tree, called a Matai, that was situated on the track. We didn't spot it until the end of the tramp, as there was an informational panel identifying it and giving information about it--and indeed it was huge! Here are some pictures of us standing near the base to give you some perspective:
I'm not sure this picture does it justice, but it's 82 feet tall.
The panel located near the tree gave some fascinating information about it that I will pass on to any who are interested (though I know some of you just like to look at the pictures rather than read my highly praised written entries :P )
The Mighty Matai: Looking at this 800 year-old 25 meter high matai tree, you will understand how this ancient forest once pulsated with life. Dripping from its branches is a forest within a forest. This mighty matai nearly ended up as timber for the Tutira Hall. Luckily it was too big to handle at Manson and Clarke's Mill. This tree survived fires 100 years ago which swept by close enough for it to taste the smoke and feel the heat. It withstood the 1931 earthquake and 1938 flood. It has weathered drought, snow and storms like Cyclone Bola in 1988. This matai has seen species pass to extinction. Moa once trod over its roots and huia rested in its branches. The massive New Zealand Eagle would have sat high on a lookout perch. Little wrens and bats would have sought shelter in its huge limbs. Massive clumps of perching epiphytes with their long sword shaped leaves and drooping stalks of sweet-scented flowers have made their home in its branches. Imagine how many birds have perched, preened and nested here, how many millions of insects have scuttled about in this tree.
To put into perspective, this one tree has been around since 1200 AD. Much longer than anything existing in our own country (EDIT: Ok, so I looked up the oldest trees in the world and there are a few in the U.S in the thousands age range, but still, this tree is older than our country itself). It's amazing and hard to image that long of a life. And who knows how many more years the tree will stand? No thanks to the efforts of John and Gaupal, who "attempted" to push it down:
Needless to say, they did not succeed.
On our way back to Hastings we encountered a bit of a shower, but the sun was still shining and thus we were greeted by this beautiful rainbow over Napier and Hawke's Bay:
You can see part of a double rainbow if you look close.
I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays! (And if anyone has fantastic cookie and/or pie recipes--I'm not partial--then let me know!)
No comments:
Post a Comment