Kahuterawa Rd

Today as part of my 'training' I headed up Kahuterawa Rd for a walk, having parked my car nearby at a friend's place. It was a gorgeous sunny day. And I would have to go so far as saying it is basically a 'sin' I have never ever walked here before. The road was quiet, undulating gently, the birds were singing... and I have never ever explored this road so close to town!

When I was just setting off, there was cloud over the Ranges, and the cloud pattern on the ranges is always of interest.

I walked several kilometres up the road, and came to the intersection with Greens Rd. I was glad to discover where this is, as the Turitea Walkway/Rd joins up with this, and it is part of my future training plans! Green Rd appeared to skirt along close to the hills, though from the map it appears there may be some more hilly bits in it. My map reading skills being as poor as they are, I guess I will find that out soon enough when I actually walk the route.

Quite large numbers of fit, trim looking cyclists passed me coming down Kahuterawa Rd... and I suspect they had been along the more rural Greens Rd first.

The grass was lush. Plenty of rain earlier in the spring, and warm temperatures lately, have led to some spectacular growth. (I know this already of course from my overgrown garden that was yet again being ignored as I walked!)

I got a bit carried away taking photos of rural letterboxes today. As you can tell!

Gorgeous day. Gorgeous walk. Roll on summer. I look forward to returning here soon!

A beautiful day

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day here in the Manawatu - the kind that makes you think summer is actually about to arrive!

So, as I have done a few times in recent months, I headed out to the Manawatu Gorge for some serious Camino training. Today I planned to walk to the third lookout and back, about 5-6 hours worth. You can see from this first photo that the powers-that-be do take this walk seriously as a recreational opportunity for local people: they have made the start of the track go underneath the road for safety. (Mind you, they never 'bridged' the road itself especially - the hills along this side of the Gorge are very unstable geologically - and the only reason this road can go through at all is that it is largely made of 'bridges'.)

The first third of the track has been 'gentrified' to make it more suitable for more walkers. But then you get to the 'tree root' stuff - a standard part of much NZ bush walking - and a part I love.

This is the recently constructed "Sentinel lookout." Like any viewing platform made by DOC since the Cave Creek tragedy, it is very sturdy. For the first time I actually encountered no wind here and the sun was beating down. It would have been nice just to stay put!

And you do get wonderful views from this lookout. This is looking back down the Gorge towards Ashhurst.

The last lookout, Windy lookout, was not windy today either, and I nearly went to sleep there in the sunshine. Shame the yellow flowers are foreign invaders as they looked great in some photos!

Had to make myself get up. Actually the whole walk I had been feeling not so good. (Nothing to do with the 'night before' I assure you all!) Only a few weeks ago I had climbed up here and felt fine. Today from the outset, the hill climbing seemed steeper, longer and harder. Good practice for climbing out of Le Puy in April I told myself. (Then I freaked a little when I realised in only about two months time I would need to be training up these hills with my big pack on instead of my day pack.) To cut a long story short here, I felt increasingly wobbly and not-so-good on the way back, until I *lost* my lunch. At which point I felt a little better. Ah well, I guess I might have days like this in France too, when I wonder why-the-heck-I-ever-thought this might be a Good Idea!

Anyhow, it was clear when I looked at my photos of the trip that I had not been 100%. A lot of them were *rubbish* and were quickly deleted. This one of the stream though I retained.... I felt it was almost Monet-impressionism like!

Last river view, back near the carpark, was of this jetski. I usually harbour thoughts of vengeance towards jetskiers, with their 'noise pollution' of quiet spots. But to be fair, the carpark is adjacent to a main road so is hardly in a 'quiet spot' anyhow! But I did still wonder if this guy knew he was approaching the shallows I could see from above. It seemed that he did, and my vengeful thoughts came to naught!

Anyhow, back home, I had an urge to drink fizzy fruit juice which I did. And the lawns remained unmowed while I had a siesta. And now I feel much better. So I guess it will be work as usual tomorrow after all!!!

Sculpture in the Square

Today I had lunch in the Square in Palmerston North. I am not a fan of several major aspects of our horrendously expensive ' Square upgrade', and could indeed post some really ugly photos of the huge concrete area we now have. But I do have a couple of favourite spots, and the sunshine was upon them today. Today I will share just a few photos of sculptures.

In the background behind this sculpture, the 'power poles' are actually strong lighting that comes on at night, and the industrial nature of them is supposed to recall the railway lines that used to pass through this area.

The War Memorial Cenotaph is in the distant right background behind this shot. The large tree nearby is one of the relatively few left in the library sector. It used to be easy to find a shady spot to relax under in the Square, but not so now.

I find this sculpture to be particularly beautiful.


(When my summer hols arrive I might just take some more Square photos for my derelict and neglected photo blog!)

Taking the soft option

Today I joined a few old buddies from the PNTMC for a short tramp on the Coppermine track in the Ruahines, inland from Woodville. It was especially good to see Sally, who over recent years I have just met occasionally, usually in Melody's New World.

I had been on this track when I first moved to Palmie, and never since. I even have a photo of a much younger me, taken in the river. I was keen to have another look at the track.

First surprise was that the track is on the decline. I think there was a time when this track was quite heavily promoted for families, and there are some really interesting signs along the way about the history of the coppermining endeavour. However, it would seem that recent floods and erosion have taken their toll.

Although there was easy walking along much of the track, there were quite a few places where the track had fallen away, and there was very narrow footing above slips. The last section of the track to the old mine has a serious slip and the end part of the track, to where the mine used to be, is no longer maintained at all.

It was only a brief detour downhill to the Magazine where they stored explosives when the mine existed. Now it is empty save for a large puddle, and according to the sign, some cave wetas. I decided not to venture in to find them.

It was the right season for some hooded native orchids to be flowering. I think I had wandered past many, until one member of the party pointed them out to the rest of us. Then we saw profusions of them in places!

It was a pleasant day, with hardly even a breeze, and sunshine. This view looks back towards the Ruahine range on our way out.

The walk out was very easy, downhill, and there were several little streams to notice. I am sure they were there on the way up too, but I was too busy concentrating on walking then!

I have to admit now that I took the 'soft option' on this trip. On the route back, our party divided and some took the loop track that was going to take them another two hours. I used this week's anaemia blood test result as an excuse to be in the group that decided to take it easy! We headed back to Ballance. Here we divided again, and again I took the soft option. One dedicated soul decided to run back along the Gorge track, and we would pick him up later at the Ashhurst end. Another dedicated soul decided to walk in/out along the Gorge track for a period. While the other three of us decided that coffee/hot chocolate at the Ballance cafe sounded absolutely perfect. These rustic tractor remains rested in the cafe carpark.

As we got ready to depart the cafe carpark, after our onerous hour spent relaxing, this motorbike passed noisily by on the nearby road, then there was a sudden backfiring noise, and no more motorbike noise. Fortunately, nobody's first aid skills were needed, but a part had come adrift off the chain it appeared, and this motorbike was going nowhere fast....

Thanks guys for a very relaxing stretch of the legs, and an even more relaxing sit-down in a cafe!
UPDATE: Have heard that the loop track involved at least one hour's sweaty uphill slog. Am glad I took the soft option to leave (slightly anaemic) self some energy for Sunday!
Also, loaned someone the extra pair of Bridgedale socks I had taken along. She agrees. They are the.most.comfortable.socks.ever!

into training

Time to stop mucking around and get into some proper Camino training. Bit short on hills right near where I live (alluvial flood plain), so need to get creative with the hills right on the edge of town.

My reward for getting up early-ish this morning was these lovely cloud reflections seen from the bridge across the Manawatu River.

I chose part of a circular route that I have cycled before, so I knew there were some hills along it as- lazy-cyclist that I am- I have walked up a few of them before! I have crossed a bridge over this stream before... but usually I am going fast as the bridge is at the bottom of a hill before a steepish climb so I am aiming at speed. But at walking pace, the sounds of the stream came to my ears, part of the peaceful morning.

I was headed for a friend's place on Old West Rd. Right near by was this newborn lamb and her protective mother.

And at friend's place, the morning sun looked beautiful on these rhodo blooms.

This part of the road headed back towards Massey. I won't take this part of the circuit on foot again as it was too busy with traffic.
I tried to take some photos to show a few steep hills. It is hard to show how steep some places are with the camera! The heartbeats might know, but it is hard to make the camera reveal. The steepest section was the hill heading for Aokautere from the bridge. And I am sure to be seen going up and down that more than a few times with a fully laden pack before April!

into the serious stuff

It really is past the time when I should be into serious training for the Camino. But somehow we have slid through September and most of October and I am still into occasional dabbling with the fitness regime. Why this is now serious is that in less than six months I will already be walking from Le Puy, and some of the terrain will be challenging... as may the weather be.

So today I hauled myself out of bed by the bootstraps and made sure I got out to the Gorge again. Little treat soon after leaving the carpark was that I saw the milk train go through on the other side of the river. First time I have actually managed to see a train on the track!
In the winter I walked this track quite a few times, with nary a sign of any sunshine. But today the sunlight was slipping in through gaps in the trees quite beautifully in places.

Here is the sunlight bringing this view of a small plant to life in the forest darkness.

There is a lot of upgrading being done on this track, so close to Palmerston North, so that larger numbers of people will want to walk it. Here is one of the wee 'bridges' in place, though not much water is flowing under it just now.

Sigh... and on another serious note. I realise that old age is creeping up on me. Three times when I walked in the neighbourhood yesterday I met up with people I knew. All recognised me. Sure, all three were out of normal context and they were not people I see every day, but I could not tell who they were until they were about two metres away. I know, I know, I have glasses. And I obviously need to wear them more often. But they only have squitty little clip-ons for the bright glare of the sun we have finally been fortunate to have. So I was wearing my larger-lensed non-prescription sunglasses. And since I am saving hard for another trip in April.... I will not be visiting the optometrist for new lenses. I know you all feel soooooo sorry for me!

industrial walking

The weather here has been shocking in the past week or two. This week more than a few humans I know had a very bad dose of cabin fever as a result. But today actually had sunshine.... even if it was still a bit windy!

Anyhow, I got out for my hour-block walk this Sunday morning. A lot of the neighbourhood deciduous trees have a fairly full load of leaves, but still in that lovely light green spring colour.

I decided to take some photos on the 'industrial' section of my walk today. Simon, I am sure you will know what sort of end-point these concrete constructions are meant for... but not sure how many of my other readers will know!
I liked the shadow patterns on the concrete anyhow!

And Lorenzo, this last photo is for you. You always seem to manage to have an unusual 'take' on things. Perhaps you can think of a reason for this large 'hand'!

Clematis in Spring

Two photos of the clematis growing on the fence between my place and my neighbours. It just looks splendid in springtime, and seems to be at its peak now.

Days 9 to 11: Kakadu and Litchfield

Day 9 saw us learning about termite mounds. Termites need to keep their temperature to 31 degrees C and the shape of their mounds helps them do that. First up were the Cathedral mounds, named for their 'buttresses'. Most of the very big mounds have disappeared, as it was discovered that ground up termite mound made an excellent runway surface during WW2.


Next up was the magnetic mound, found away from trees in full sun. They align themselves to get full sun in the morning and evening and less sun at midday when the sun is overhead.

There was a third kind that I never photographed - the kind you find at the base of trees. Contrary to what you might think, these termites 'help' the trees by eating out the old wood in the centre: it makes the trees more flexible when cyclones blow so they can bend rather than just break under the onslaught. These termite-eaten branches are what genuine didgeridoos are made from as well.













At 4pm we were due for a cruise on the Mary River. This was wonderful. There was an absolute abundance of both saltwater and freshwater crocs. Yikes! Lots of birdlife as well. Our tour guide was quite a birdwatcher and he found a new one for his 'list' today. It was interesting watching how the various birds moved around the crocs that lay sunning themselves on the banks.

Day 10 brought a swim in what must rate as one of the best swimming holes I have ever been in: the top pools in Barramundi Gorge ( Maguk). You can swim in the lower pool: 'they' have done surveys and *think* there are no salties in there. But our guide preferred to get us to walk up a bit to the top pools. Soooooo worth it. Views were spectacular again. So were the pools. You let yourself into the first deep pool... swam across to a few more rocks and crossed them into a second pool, then swam between some tall rocks into the third section where there was a waterfall splashing down. Just superb!

Day 10 afternoon we went to Nourlangie Rock. On our walk here we saw Aboriginal art. There was not much 'old' art as you might expect in other places. The rock walls were often used to teach children, or leave messages, and new bits just got scribbled over the top of old bits.
We climbed up on this walk to get a wonderful viewpoint over Kakadu. In the distance we could see an escarpment that used to be where the coastline was. Also, our guide pointed out where they are mining for uranium. "Safe" they say, but there have been cases of radiation sickness hushed up according to our guide, from the tailings.

Here is our group posing at Jim Jim Falls, before quite a few swam in the icy-cold waters. The view they got close up of the waterfalls sounded amazing, but I decided to pass this chance up!
Very last thing was did before heading back to Darwin was go to Fog Dam wetland. This was 'man-made': it was originally set up to try rice farming... but birds came and ate the rice... so they forgot about the rice and left it to develop as a wetland. Magic place. So many birds.

Back to Darwin, then a marathon trip home. Flight left Darwin at 1.30am (groan) - but amazingly, I slept for most of the flight to Sydney, and was only woken by the noises / smells of breakfast being served. We landed at 6.06am , just as the airspace was reopened for the day. Maybe we were the first plane, or maybe the plane from Perth just beat us... Then at 9.10am I left for Wellington, to arrive into a wet, windy and cold southerly!!!!! Had to wait for the train with no waiting room there anymore, but at least the cold kept me awake. Arrived home at 8pm, 'ready' for work the next day!!!!!

OK that is the last of the photos I will post. Might write more when I get a chance. We did lots that I haven't even mentioned. It was a wonderful trip.