Himatangi Beach

Ahhh summertime- when there is time for a different little wander every day. Thursday evening I enjoyed a slow dawdle along Himatangi Beach and stayed to watch the sunset.

 I've lived in the Manawatu area for many years now- and still find it hard to believe it's possible to have so much beach to walk along, with very little company!

One of the reasons for the slow wandering today is that I had to watch out for jellyfish as I paddled in the shallow water. There weren't a lot- but there were some large ones!

We had some wild winds at the start of the week, and there was quite a bit of this 'spongey' seaweed on the beach, with whatever it was attached to- quite often the flat part of a clam shell.

There were two bits of detritus I picked up and carried to a rubbish bin at the end. There was a broken glass bottle with jagged edges that I was glad I never stood on. And I saw a young seagull curiously playing with this balloon. I was glad to retrieve it so it wouldn't be swallowed.

Then it was time to wait for sunset. These gulls seemed to be waiting too.

It was just a gentle setting of the sun this evening. The ash in the sky from the Australian bushfires, that caused so many vivid recent sunsets, has gone from our skies for now- and hopefully for those in Australia, there will not be much more of it.

Peace!

A walk along the beach

It's only a month now until I leave on my trip, and I felt the need to have a good dose of a Kiwi beach walk today. It was a lovely calm, warm morning and Himatangi Beach was at its glorious best.

It's a long, flat beach, and the tide was fairly far out when I arrived, so there was lots of firm sand to walk along.

I meandered for about an hour and a half, paddling my feet in the shallow wavelets, greeting the occasional fisherman, dog-walker or jogger as we passed each other. And I enjoyed noticing the 'little things' on the sand...

 ...the flotsam and jetsam being tossed in today's tiny waves. (It was so calm I almost began to wonder if I had stumbled onto an east-coast beach by mistake.)

And then I walked back again, back to my car. And I will hold the memory of this beach walk warm against my heart, to give me strength on any 'hard' days when I am far away from home.

'Foreigners' tend to think that Palmy is so unfashionably 'inland'- but it only takes half an hour to reach Himatangi beach. I'll be back here again as soon as I get home...

Terraces

The Manawatu Gorge road has been blocked by a huge slip for months now, and it will be months before it re-opens. You can catch a glimpse of the slip-face from the first lookout when you climb up on the Gorge walking track.

Contractors have been cutting a series of terraces into the hillside to improve its stability, but today was the first time I have been able to see signs of that from the lookout. They are now down to bench 4 or 5...

Along Green's Rd

Last night I read an account written by someone who has walked the route I am planning to walk in a few months- and it scared me somewhat! I knew that the Cluny route was going to be very hilly- but I didn't really think too hard about the long distances that might be needed if the limited accommodation is booked out... So, I decided that my 'training' so far has been a bit like 'playtime' compared to what is to come, and today had to be another 'hill' day. And finally, we had a 'proper' summer's day for it. I parked my car at the end of the sealed section of Turitea Rd, so I could walk up the metalled road and through the walking/biking section onto Green's Rd- then return.

There were lots of wildflowers along the way.

 And it also seemed to be a busy time for 'nests' for various insects or spiders.

The sunshine was pouring down as I reached one high point, ready to walk downhill then up the other side again. You can't see them here, but a group of soldiers were training for what looked like mine-sweeping operations. One of them offered me some water if I needed it: my face probably looked quite red and sweaty when I passed them, but I had a bottle of drink ready for when I reached the high point of the walk at the top of the very next hill.

 As I sat down at the high point for a drink and some fruit, I noticed a power pole, that seemed to provide a good contrast with yesterday's small pylon...

 There were quite a few native tree ferns alongside the road in various places.

And to finish- a bee on a thistle...

Manawatu Gorge

Now that I am 'seriously' into the countdown, I expect to walk the Manawatu Gorge track at least once a week until 'departure'. It's the 'best' (ie steepest, hilliest, longest) track near to home. By NZ track standards it's actually not all that steep, and the track has been graveled so it's easier walking, but it was perfect training for the kind of hills/tracks I walked on last time in France.

When I walked the Camino I used to carry little pieces of paper in my shorts pocket, with quotes on, that I'd read and think about during the day. Today I took a couple of short quotes. and one was: "We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand, and melting like a snowflake." ~Sir Francis Bacon. So I was pretty 'switched on' to noticing little things around me, and enjoying them, being aware of their passing beauty. There were raindrops on leaves, fungi of various kinds, sunlight on ferns...

 Then when I reached my 'endpoint' for the day at the "Windy Point" lookout, it was the big view that took my breath away. At this point you can look back along the Gorge, or look over to Woodville and the landscape beyond. Today the weather was in the process of 'changing', with real drama in the clouds above.

 I retraced my steps back to the newish lookout over the wind turbines, and had lunch at the picnic table. The turbines were really humming in the wind. The 'front' was really obvious, stacked up from the eastern side, with little clouds lower down scudding over from the west.

 Not so many people have been on the track since the Gorge road has been closed- and there's a patch where ongaonga (native stinging nettle) is growing well. It is every bit as vicious as it looks, but fortunately I never banged into it today!

 I was a bit surprised to see this bridge. Maybe I have daydreamed my way across it before- but I couldn't find an old track- so perhaps it just looked different with new planks on it...

 Some of the little fungi were quite well 'camouflaged'.

One really nice surprise today was to see these nikau palms flowering. There's quite a big patch of nikau, but I've seldom seen them flowering. I know they are doing quite a bit of 'pest control' on the track, so maybe these flowers are a sign that possum numbers are being reduced.

Upper Kahuterawa Rd

Yesterday I walked 4km- 8km return- up the lower end of Kahuterawa Rd as far as Green's Rd. Today I walked the next 6km- 12km return- from Green's Rd up to the bridge over the Kahuterawa River, where the Sledge Track starts.  As soon as I parked the car at Green's Rd, I was immersed in a beautiful morning. A tui was eating from flax flowers right nearby, and I hadn't walked far before I saw a hawk flying up in the sky.

Yesterday's route had more hills in it, so in a sense was more use for 'training'- but the upper part of the road feels so much more wild and remote, and mostly follows the river quite closely. You get to listen to the sound of the river over rocks below as you walk by on the road above- very peaceful.

 This is a view of the river from the bridge at the top of the road, where the Sledge Track and Back Track both begin.

About 2km from Green's Rd is a riverside park, with a few facilities for a bbq etc, and I sat there for some morning tea on my way back down the road. Very peaceful place to sit, just listening to the sound of the river as it flows by. It strikes me I could make a series of photos of my shoes/feet at resting places. (Here is a similar shot from a month ago!) Ok, you can comment- not everyone is as interested in my feet as I am!

Chemin Prep

No excuses anymore- in three months time I will be packing for my flights to Paris- ready for walking the Chemin from Cluny... Yesterday morning was very wet and the evening brought what seemed like gale-force winds. But today dawned fine and sunny, so I walked up one of my favourite routes, Kahuterawa Rd. I always love seeing this line of letterboxes, but they are often in more shade than this as I walk past: today there was this lovely dappled sunlight on them. On the way up they are a sign that I am reaching the 3km mark, and if I've walked a long way, on the way down they say that it's 'not far to go now'.

Today I walked up as far as Green's Rd -just over 4km in an uphill direction. I sat down and rested at the top, and a couple of swallows flitted down onto the road nearby. They made a couple of attempts to pick up a strand of dried grass lying on the road- then finally one grabbed it, and they took off together, presumably to their nest. We mostly take our homes for granted, but each strand on their nest must be hard won.

361: wind turbines

Whenever I do the Manawatu Gorge walk, I always feel like I am walking in forest that is quite wide, and I feel a long way away from the everyday world. But such is not quite the case. There's an extra lookout since I was last at the Woodville end of the Manawatu Gorge walk- that gives you a view over these wind turbines. And there is a very short walk off the track to reach the viewpoint. Things are not always what they seem!

Out and About

In just over three months time I am heading off to France for some more walking, some of which will be quite 'hilly', so I have been 'out and about' walking, trying to get fitter. Here are just a few views from along some of the ways I have walked...

 This old fencepost on the Turitea Walkway sits amidst some of the lush grass growth 

we have had after the rains we had in November.

 On Himatangi Beach I saw many lined up along the short stretch of river, 

hoping to catch a few whitebait.

 Climbing up Turitea-Green's Rd gives me lots of up-and-down hills practice.

 Signs of summer- there were lots of spider nests on the long grass.

 Blechnum capense was the name I learned back in high school for this fern 

whose orange-edged fronds I love. It has a new botanical name now, but I can never remember it!

 From a high point on Green's Rd, I can see where I am about to descend down the road- 

only to climb up again just around the next bend. Truly, good practice for the Cluny route!

 This is the highest point along Green's Rd before I descend again to Kahuterawa Rd. 

The sign is showing that this is part of the Te Araroa Walkway down the length of New Zealand. 

 Back down on Kahuterawa Rd, a sign that summer is advancing:
the hay has been cut and baled from this paddock.

 Finally I got back onto the Gorge Walkway, which gives me more practice up hills and down...

The Gorge road is closed at present by this huge, unstable slip, which is taking months to clear.
But you can still walk the walking track- it's just not quite so easy to leave a car at each end
if a group want to walk the whole track in one direction.

357: Gorge Walk

It's definitely time to ramp up the amount of 'training' I am doing for the Chemin that I will start in April. And the Manawatu Gorge is a great place to do it, with lots of hill climbing and a few steep descents... This photo is the view over to Ashhurst from the Te Apiti viewpoint.

I have more Gorge photos I should make a Nomad post with- but in case it isn't 'soonish', here is a second photo, of a tree fern.

 I always think the fronds look glorious against a blue sky.

356: Santa & Rudolph

 

While out driving in rural Manawatu this morning I spied Santa out gallivanting with Rudolph. I suppose they were checking out which houses had chimneys or not, ready for the Great Delivery in a couple of nights time.

345: roadside rest

In just four months time I will be starting some long walks in France, so the summer needs to be full of walks to improve my fitness. Today I took one of my 'circuits' around some quiet country roads. I started earlyish, just after 7am, and after three and a half hours, I decided it was time to stop for a morning tea break. And ahhhh how I love taking my shoes off!

331: Himatangi Beach

This was the first really fine day we have had for ages and the beach was calling. The tide was really high, and I ended up with really wet trousers, but the water was surprisingly warm. Loved the walk. And it was especially good to have a day that provided an inkling that summer might truly be just around the corner- because most of November the weather has not been so good...

Ups and Downs

This time in five months, I am going to be in Singapore for a day, en route to Paris, before I head on to Cluny, where I will begin walking. Five months has a definite kind of 'urgent' ring about it, in terms of 'It is well past time to get fitter and I will be walking tomorrow rain or shine!' Thank goodness it was drizzling, rather than all out raining when I woke this morning...

I've been reliably informed- by someone who has already walked the routes, that the route from Cluny to  Le Puy is much hillier than what I encountered further south from Le Puy to Santiago last time. So, hills it is. I live in a city that is very flat, on a flood plain- but a major fault line lies not far to the east, so there are hills and ranges right on the eastern edge of the city. And there are walkways straddling a major hill near the university, and it is there that I intend to do a lot of uphill and downhill walking in the coming months.

 This morning I parked on a side road from where I could join the Turitea Walkway halfway along. The first bit of the track climbs through some lovely bush.

 Before very long the track emerges out onto farmland, where the view today was of a drizzly haze over the hills. I am sure the Irish must have a word for this gentle, barely-there kind of rain.

 The sun wasn't out, but even on a dull day you could see shadows on the pond, and so many different kinds of plants seemed to be in this pond. There used to be a pair of ducks that hung out here- I wonder where they have gone. The pond looked oddly empty without them.

It's funny, even when you have walked a track a few times, there are always new things that jump out at your eyes. I had never noticed the orange bits on some of the broom flowers before.

And another surprise was the amount of fungi I saw today. I really only expect to see them like this in autumn.

I'll be back on these tracks a lot in the coming months, so you might get to see more photos from here...