Redwood Forest 4/4/2016 by Maurice Boniface
We met outside Terry’s place at
Carmel. He, Ken and I went with
Phillip and Isabel in their car. We
drove on the Pyes Pa Road to Rotorua and parked in the Redwood
Forest car park. There were a lot of
people coming and going and to
our astonishment we found that
they had built a ‘Redwoods Treewalk’ high up in the huge Redwood
Trees. I will attach a photo of it. As
tre told Ken that the ground is
owned by the Rotorua Council and
they have let a commercial company build the Treewalk. It costs $25
for adults so we didn’t go on it. We
had a look at all the signs and panels. We passed a mobile coffee
shop near the Visitor Centre and
Isabel was disappointed that it didn’t open until ten o’clock! We set
off on the track through the Red-
planted in the early 1900’s and the
tallest is 236 feet and its diameter
is 66 inches. There were quite a
few other people walking through
too. We came to a boardwalk
across a swampy area. We came
out of the forest and went along a
road to where there was a panel
with maps on it. A group of Mountain Bikers were studying it. The
track then goes up Nursery Road
you can see it runs between the
trees and has a deck around each
tree. It is half a kilometre long and
you can stay up there for quite a
while. The chap at the Visitor Cen-
wood Grove. What magnificent
trees they are, so tall and
straight. In California their life
span is 600 years and they can
grow to 360 feet. These ones were
which is tar-sealed and goes up
fairly steadily. Part way up we
stopped to look at the new BMX
track they have built down the
bank through the trees. There was
noone on it. When we got to the
top we branched off on the Pohaturoa Track which we were going
to follow. We found that the forest
of Pine Trees that used to be here
had all been logged and there was
just a bare area with bits of the
trees they had cut off during logging. There was a huge log across a
gap and Philip said it was a
bridge! We got a good view of Mt
Ngongataha at one point. I was
walking along behind the others as
usual when suddenly I saw something moving near my feet – it was
a Stick Insect! I haven’t seen one
for years. I called Phillip and Isabel
back and they had a
job seeing it because it
stayed still amongst
the sticks and pine
needles on the
ground. He was lucky
we didn’t tread on
him. Several other
walkers passed us. I
got a text from Laurie
asking if we had
stopped for morning
tea and shortly afterwards we found a nice
spot and stopped
there, so I sent him a reply and told
him. I took a photo of the group so
Isabel took one on my camera with
me in it.
road. The track then branches off
and as we were walking along here
a woman cyclist went hurtling past
without any warning. Isabel called
out to the ones in front and they
hurried to the side of the track but
she went that way too and nearly
ran into Ken! She didn’t stop but
went speeding on. However cyclists
can’t keep going on this track and
have to come back the same way
and shortly she came speeding
back, so we kept out of the
way. She must be on a speed trial
or something. I got a photo of her
but it isn’t very distinct. We came
to a Lookout so we went up there.
There were a couple of women up
there looking too. They came from
America, one of them was English
but lives in California and the other
one was a Californian. Their husbands were Mountain Biking in the
We set off again and found some of area while they went walking. They
those orange fungi that often grow had come from the opposite direcnear Pine Trees, on the side of the tion so asked about the way to the
Centre and went on their way. We
had a look at the view which was
spectacular. Down below us were
boiling mud pools and geysers with
lots of people on the paths around
them. Further over was the city
and Lake Rotorua. Mt Ngongataha
was over to the left. We went back
to the track which goes up some
steps with wooden risers which
were a bit tricky to negotiate. In
some places the clay had unusual
colours – red and white etc. We
came to the Upper Lookout which
gave you a higher view. We could
see trucks on the main road south.
We continued on upwards. There
was a sign saying this was a
horse track too
and we had
seen some of
their trade
marks on our
way up. We finally got up to
the Trig where
we got a great
view across the
Pine Forest
down below
with the Waipa
Sawmill in the middle of it. There
was a seat there so we all sat on it
and Phillip took a photo of us
all. There was a red Fungus growing in amongst the blackberry
which looked like a finger poking
out of the ground, which we had
never seen before. We started on
the downward track and went
down a side track to another Lookout with a better view of the
Sawmill down below us. We continued down and passed an old Pine
Tree on the bank whose roots
formed squares on the bank which
did a good job as a retention
wall! A woman passed us with a
black dog. She said its name was
Rosie. We took another side track
to a Mud Pool which had a fence
around it. Last time the mud was
bubbling away but this time it was
very still and had a Ponga Fern in
the middle. It must have cooled
down in the last three years. At
least it didn’t smell like rotten eggs
like it did last time! The track joins
another one and the sign said ‘To
Waipa Mountain Bike Park’ so we
went down there. We passed several exits and entrances for Mountain Bike Tracks, one of them was
called ‘Kids Loop’ and the sign reminded them to put their helmets
on. We crossed a bridge over a
stream to the car park where the
Mountain Bikers start from. We
had lunch here last time and we
were going to do the same. We
found that they had built two hills
with a bridge joining them for bikes
to ride across. The showers and
toilets were built at the base of the
bridge. There were some picnic
tables nearby so we sat at one of
them. Phillip swept all the leaves
off that had fallen from the trees
above them. I sent my usual texts
and got several replies.
After lunch we crossed the car park
and had a look at Mountain Bike
Hire Centre. I will attach a photo of
all the bikes ready to be hired. I
guess at their busy times most of
them will be taken. We had a good
look around and at the maps of the
Mountain Bike, Walking and Horse
Tracks then set off back across the
bridge to continue along the Pohaturoa Track. It goes up a steep set
of steps through a grove of
trees. We came across groves of
various sorts of trees. A couple of
the notices said one was Swamp
Gum another was Japanese
Larch. The track goes up and down
and at one place crossed another
swamp on a board walk. Phillip
came across a Toadstool that
looked like a tiny umbrella with
black spots around its edge. At one
stage the track comes out to an
open area where a girl was lying
along a seat under a tree. We came
to a corner where there was a big
puddle across the track and we had
to walk around the corner to get
across it. At another spot we came
across a Fern with its new furled
top or Koru. Next we saw a stump
with a group of tiny Toadstools
growing on it. It’s amazing where
they will grow. We came to a gravel road and the sign said it was part
of the Pohaturoa Track so we went
along there. We saw an unusual
Pine Tree with its needles hanging
down and they had a silvery look
on top. We came to another corner. The area on the other side
had been logged and replanted in
young Pines which were growing
well. There was a sign ‘Visitor Centre ->’ so we went that way. We
passed another Mountain Bike
track going off on the side and an
elderly cyclist passed us going the
other way. A ute also past us with a
Forest worker driving it. We came
to a corner with another set of
maps so we had a look at that to
see where we had been and where
we were going. We got back to the
road we had come up so went
down there but did not go back to
the Centre. We went on another
track through the Redwoods and
eventually got back to the car
park. We took off our boots, had
another look at the Treewalk and
went into the Visitor Centre. We
then set off for home. I went to
see Betty and told her about our
walk and showed her some of the
photos.