South Wairarapa Tramping Club – Tramping at Tutira
6 club members spent 4 nights recently staying at the Tutira Lodge Homestay, slightly north of Lake Tutira in Hawkes Bay. This is a great base for many walks both short and long, so we were spoilt for choice.
Tiny Lake Opouahi Reserve has a Kiwi Creche enclosed in predator fencing, where newly hatched chicks are raised until they weigh 900 gm, after which they are released into the wild. We walked round the lake inside the fence, but as it was daylight we didn’t hear or see kiwi.
At the Guthrie-Smith Arboretum the curator’s wife told us how she and her husband had planted over 20,000 trees since 2002, grouped in countries. We wandered through Australia, China, Himalayas, Europe, Mexico, the Mediterranean and more, marvelling at the huge range of different trees, many completely unknown to us. We just got our international arboreal walk finished before the rain came.
The Lake Tutira Walkway was partly closed due to logging, so we made do with an excursion to a Maori pa site, and walks along part of Lake Tutira and around Lake Waikoporo, with beautiful views.
Shine Falls is Hawkes Bay’s largest waterfall. at 58 m high. The access track runs past castle-like limestone formations and through forest, before emerging at the foot of the falls. If we had been there in spring we would have seen lots of kowhai and kaka beak in flower.
Our last walk was the best, Bell Rock. We tramped up through dense bush, salmon-coloured fuschia bark gleaming in shafts of sunlight, and then further upwards onto open tussock slopes. We passed sandstone outcrops and tomos before reaching the spectacular Bell Rock. From the hilltops we had panoramic views towards Napier, Poverty Bay, Lake Tutira, and the hinterland of the Urewera.
Other tracks still remain for a future trip.
SWTC welcomes new members. Phone or email Ed and Juliet Cooke, 06 304 9497 or efjac@xtra.co.nz. See our Facebook page and website.
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