Whirinaki Forest Park
N.B.: In my last post, I accidentally said that the next post would be about White Island, but that's the one after THIS, in case you were wondering.
On the morning of March 23rd, I got a call from White Island Tours saying the boat trip was cancelled yet again due to weather conditions! The mainland was warm and calm as it was the day before, but the island was still experiencing awful winds. The night before, I had decided that if it was cancelled again, I would go somewhere else overnight and try for the day after that. That somewhere else I had in mind was Whirinaki Forest Park, about 1.5 hours south of Whakatane and described as containing "New Zealand's forests at their best".
I had enough light left in the day to do a one hour walk upon arrival, so when I got to the park, I headed over to the start point for a little loop track. You can imagine what I THOUGHT this sign said when I first saw it, haha!
The "loop track" ended up having an unmarked intersection in it and I went the wrong way, which I only discovered when I walked an extra kilometer and found a map at another intersection. So I had to backtrack to get back on the loop and by that time, it was starting to get dark. As I walked the last section of the trail, I heard trashing in the bushes below me! I panicked for a moment and then remembered that my brochure had said there were red deer and wild pigs in the bushes here! For all my talk about gleeful skipping through the bushes without fear of being attacked by anything, I guess I should mention that a boar could tear some nasty holes in you with his tusks. Pig hunting dogs here are often injured in the chase, but then I'd be running in the OTHER direction if I saw a tusked pig! Of course, the trail just HAD to have a switchback in it up ahead, meaning that I had to walk through the area that I had heard the noise from, in the near darkness... but I didn't see or hear anything else. Phew. I didn't take any pictures on that walk due to the fading light.
I got back to the car and headed for the free basic Dept. of Conservation (D.O.C.) campsite I planned to stay at, called "Recreation Camp". There was a sign pointing me in the right direction, which I was thankful for, as sometimes it feels like the D.O.C. is saying "You're welcome to stay in our free campsites... if you can FIND them! Muahahaha!". The campsite booklet gives very little details on how to find said campsites, rarely quoting distances or landmarks. It is very easy to drive past them, and unfortunately that is just what I did this night. I had no idea how far down this campsite was, so I just kept driving... and driving... but when I started entering a logging area and the road started turning into two tracks with a grassy strip down the middle, I knew I had surely gone too far. It was pitch black by now and so I turned around and pulled off in a small grassy meadow that probably looked exactly like the D.O.C. campsite anyway (the basic campsites are usually a meadow with a toilet -- yup, that's about as basic as it gets!). Now the next day, I stopped in at the local D.O.C. office to discuss something else with them that I'll write about shortly, and I also asked the guy where this so-called campsite was. When he described it, I realized I had, in fact, driven past it, as it was on an ANGLED road that you had to look BACKWARDS to see from the main road! And it had a gate on it with no sign as far I know, because I was looking carefully when I was driving. Ugh.
I woke up in the morning with a healthy dose of ambition and picked out two walks that would take me the good part of the day. My "warmup" walk was a 1.5 hour round trip to the enchanting Waiatiu Falls. The forest was filled with birdsong, including what I think were Kaka (brown parrots), squawking away noisily and swooping through the canopy -- but strangely, I could not catch a glimpse of them.
The waterfall sprayed out about two meters from the base with great force.
These small subsidiary waterfalls were just gorgeous too.
I was quite lucky to catch that sole sunspot on the centre of the foreground plant!
I framed one of the waterfalls through some foreground trees.
I wanted to get a better view of the little falls, so I naughtily went off
the trail... but I was quickly put in my place when I stepped in a bog, haha.
I don't think I've shown a photo of the underside of a tree fern yet... so neat!
My lonely, miniaturized car upon returning to the car park.
The giant trees surrounding my car and in the following photos are known as podocarps, of which there a five main species in Whirinaki Forest Park: Tortara, Kahikatea, Maitai, Miro, and Rimu. These trees are ancient, and like so many natural treasures in the world, humans saw profit in them and started cutting them down from 1928 on. It took until 1979 for a group of protesters to become successful in having the area designated as a forest park and protected, although logging of more common trees is still allowed in some parts, based on what I saw. One of the available walks provided examples of all five of the big species, and took 3.5 hours for me to complete the 9.3km (half an hour under par -- woo!). Not much explanation is necessary beyond this point, except for one scary incident I will write a bit about. As usual I was mesmerized with taking pictures of the trail, so step into the photos and walk with me through this forest wonderland.
The trail narrowed at one point with sandy cliffs to the left and a 2m drop to the right. I was cheerfully striding along when suddenly, my foot slipped as the ground I stepped on broke away! My right leg hung over the drop and my left leg was now bent as I scrambled to grab something to stabilize myself. There were no roots, but with my hands placed flat on the trail, I was able to heave myself back up. I made arrows with sticks and put a pile of rocks by the damaged part of the trail in hopes that it would alert other hikers. If I had fallen, I suppose I would have rolled down the embankment and into the creek, perhaps hitting my head on a couple trees on the way down for good measure! Later, on my way back to Whakatane, I stopped in at the Dept. of Conservation office to let them know that the trail needed attention.
The Whirinaki Waterfall was half-way along the trail, but the bridge went right OVER it,
so there was no way to get a picture of it other than the downstream view.
The creek that the trail followed much of the time.
A fascinating hollow rotting log. Looks like a keyhole, no?
Horses were here! Wow, can you imagine RIDING these trails? Now that would be pure pleasure.
Annnd I just posted a picture of manure on my blog... I must be missing my boys!
A tiny waterfall coming down the hillside.
The last half hour of the walk was starting to get painful... my feet were starting to hurt with every step. I'm not sure what possessed me to walk five hours straight when the most I had been doing was two hours, but I was glad I did it -- even if I walked like an old lady for the next two days, hahaha!
Logging on the way out. :(
I think this is the first ugly NZ pic I've posted...
I drove back to Whakatane afterward and stayed with Wayne and Helena again, with their invitation. We watched some Dancing with the Stars and they told me stories about how they used to do competitive dancing... it sounded like so much fun!
Next up... White Island finally becomes a reality (for real this time, I promise!)
On the morning of March 23rd, I got a call from White Island Tours saying the boat trip was cancelled yet again due to weather conditions! The mainland was warm and calm as it was the day before, but the island was still experiencing awful winds. The night before, I had decided that if it was cancelled again, I would go somewhere else overnight and try for the day after that. That somewhere else I had in mind was Whirinaki Forest Park, about 1.5 hours south of Whakatane and described as containing "New Zealand's forests at their best".
I had enough light left in the day to do a one hour walk upon arrival, so when I got to the park, I headed over to the start point for a little loop track. You can imagine what I THOUGHT this sign said when I first saw it, haha!
The "loop track" ended up having an unmarked intersection in it and I went the wrong way, which I only discovered when I walked an extra kilometer and found a map at another intersection. So I had to backtrack to get back on the loop and by that time, it was starting to get dark. As I walked the last section of the trail, I heard trashing in the bushes below me! I panicked for a moment and then remembered that my brochure had said there were red deer and wild pigs in the bushes here! For all my talk about gleeful skipping through the bushes without fear of being attacked by anything, I guess I should mention that a boar could tear some nasty holes in you with his tusks. Pig hunting dogs here are often injured in the chase, but then I'd be running in the OTHER direction if I saw a tusked pig! Of course, the trail just HAD to have a switchback in it up ahead, meaning that I had to walk through the area that I had heard the noise from, in the near darkness... but I didn't see or hear anything else. Phew. I didn't take any pictures on that walk due to the fading light.
I got back to the car and headed for the free basic Dept. of Conservation (D.O.C.) campsite I planned to stay at, called "Recreation Camp". There was a sign pointing me in the right direction, which I was thankful for, as sometimes it feels like the D.O.C. is saying "You're welcome to stay in our free campsites... if you can FIND them! Muahahaha!". The campsite booklet gives very little details on how to find said campsites, rarely quoting distances or landmarks. It is very easy to drive past them, and unfortunately that is just what I did this night. I had no idea how far down this campsite was, so I just kept driving... and driving... but when I started entering a logging area and the road started turning into two tracks with a grassy strip down the middle, I knew I had surely gone too far. It was pitch black by now and so I turned around and pulled off in a small grassy meadow that probably looked exactly like the D.O.C. campsite anyway (the basic campsites are usually a meadow with a toilet -- yup, that's about as basic as it gets!). Now the next day, I stopped in at the local D.O.C. office to discuss something else with them that I'll write about shortly, and I also asked the guy where this so-called campsite was. When he described it, I realized I had, in fact, driven past it, as it was on an ANGLED road that you had to look BACKWARDS to see from the main road! And it had a gate on it with no sign as far I know, because I was looking carefully when I was driving. Ugh.
I woke up in the morning with a healthy dose of ambition and picked out two walks that would take me the good part of the day. My "warmup" walk was a 1.5 hour round trip to the enchanting Waiatiu Falls. The forest was filled with birdsong, including what I think were Kaka (brown parrots), squawking away noisily and swooping through the canopy -- but strangely, I could not catch a glimpse of them.
The waterfall sprayed out about two meters from the base with great force.
These small subsidiary waterfalls were just gorgeous too.
I was quite lucky to catch that sole sunspot on the centre of the foreground plant!
I framed one of the waterfalls through some foreground trees.
I wanted to get a better view of the little falls, so I naughtily went off
the trail... but I was quickly put in my place when I stepped in a bog, haha.
I don't think I've shown a photo of the underside of a tree fern yet... so neat!
My lonely, miniaturized car upon returning to the car park.
The giant trees surrounding my car and in the following photos are known as podocarps, of which there a five main species in Whirinaki Forest Park: Tortara, Kahikatea, Maitai, Miro, and Rimu. These trees are ancient, and like so many natural treasures in the world, humans saw profit in them and started cutting them down from 1928 on. It took until 1979 for a group of protesters to become successful in having the area designated as a forest park and protected, although logging of more common trees is still allowed in some parts, based on what I saw. One of the available walks provided examples of all five of the big species, and took 3.5 hours for me to complete the 9.3km (half an hour under par -- woo!). Not much explanation is necessary beyond this point, except for one scary incident I will write a bit about. As usual I was mesmerized with taking pictures of the trail, so step into the photos and walk with me through this forest wonderland.
The trail narrowed at one point with sandy cliffs to the left and a 2m drop to the right. I was cheerfully striding along when suddenly, my foot slipped as the ground I stepped on broke away! My right leg hung over the drop and my left leg was now bent as I scrambled to grab something to stabilize myself. There were no roots, but with my hands placed flat on the trail, I was able to heave myself back up. I made arrows with sticks and put a pile of rocks by the damaged part of the trail in hopes that it would alert other hikers. If I had fallen, I suppose I would have rolled down the embankment and into the creek, perhaps hitting my head on a couple trees on the way down for good measure! Later, on my way back to Whakatane, I stopped in at the Dept. of Conservation office to let them know that the trail needed attention.
The Whirinaki Waterfall was half-way along the trail, but the bridge went right OVER it,
so there was no way to get a picture of it other than the downstream view.
The creek that the trail followed much of the time.
A fascinating hollow rotting log. Looks like a keyhole, no?
Horses were here! Wow, can you imagine RIDING these trails? Now that would be pure pleasure.
Annnd I just posted a picture of manure on my blog... I must be missing my boys!
A tiny waterfall coming down the hillside.
The last half hour of the walk was starting to get painful... my feet were starting to hurt with every step. I'm not sure what possessed me to walk five hours straight when the most I had been doing was two hours, but I was glad I did it -- even if I walked like an old lady for the next two days, hahaha!
Logging on the way out. :(
I think this is the first ugly NZ pic I've posted...
I drove back to Whakatane afterward and stayed with Wayne and Helena again, with their invitation. We watched some Dancing with the Stars and they told me stories about how they used to do competitive dancing... it sounded like so much fun!
Next up... White Island finally becomes a reality (for real this time, I promise!)