hiking – A Yank Among the Kiwis

I don’t particularly like running as an exercise. I am not sure why but I have never taken to it. But not to worry. I have a better option—day hikes. There are numerous tracks around New Zealand most headed up into the hills and mountains where I can get sufficient exercise, particularly the aerobic variety.

New Zealand takes their trails and tracks seriously. They are well maintained and offer everything from day hikes to back country hikes that last for days on tracks that are described as only for experienced back country travelers. These tracks are not well marked, and you better know how to read a map and a compass. Some tracks have huts available for an overnight stay. Given the changeability of the weather, you also need to be prepared to face four seasons in a day.

I’m not interested in that kind of difficulty. I’m at most a glamper. So I stick to the day hikes. These trails take me into the bush, preserved forests that look like New Zealand probably looked before settlement—massive trees, palms, ferns, vines. I love going into the dark green forests and marveling at the densely packed flora. You expect a dinosaur to pop out any minute. These also give you an idea of the effort settlers had to make to clear the bush for farming. A Maori friend of mine told me there are photos of settlers burning hundreds of acres of forest to clear for crops and grazing. But the clearing is not necessarily permanent. Any place that is not attended to regularly will eventually be taken over by the bush. Everything grows here on a large scale. The sun is intense and the weather is temperate. It would only be a matter of time.

Saving these environments is important since a lot of land in New Zealand is being taken over by pine forests. Logging is one of the main economic drivers now. Sheep pastures are being turned into logging operations. This is problematic because pine seeds travel on the wind which means that pine trees end up in places they do not belong. There is a huge effort here to combat what they term “wilding pines.” Much like invasive animals and plants, pines can take over quickly if left unchecked. There are community groups that go out on eradication forays, cutting them down, even better digging them out roots and all. So let’s celebrate the wild forest where we can.

Here are some pics from some recent hikes. This is the Hemi Matenga Scenic Reserve where there is a think jungle of palm, ferns and vines:

This is the Barry Hadfield Nikau Reserve, one of the few remaining untouched forests of Nikau palm. This trail is primarily steps up the hillside:

This is a trail along the Otaki River through native bush where they have reserved an area of cabbage palms along a stream at a place called Chrystall Lagoon. It is really beautiful back there.

All really lovely and so much better then running.

We vacationed in New Zealand for three weeks in 2005. We traveled both islands by car, train and boat. But we still missed a lot. We are using the weekends to visit new places.

New Zealand is located along the Ring of Fire, a circular area surrounding the Pacific Ocean where the Earth’s tectonic plates are subducting or sliding under another plate causing havoc. The Ring encompasses the West Coasts of North and South America, the east coast of Asian countries such as Japan and several islands in the Southern Ocean including Indonesia and New Zealand. (Hawaii is not along the ring, nor is Iceland. They have their own problems.). The lands located on the Ring are home to the vast majority of volcanoes on Earth, both dormant and active. Most earthquakes that occur in the world are located in this area too.

New Zealand is emblematic. As for earthquakes, it is a rare day that an earthquake is not recorded on at least one of the two islands. New Zealand has many volcanoes, extinct, dormant and active. There are three types of volcanoes in New Zealand: cone, caldera, and volcanic fields. A volcanic field is what it sounds like—small volcanoes spread out in an area with any one erupting haphazardly. There are currently eight active volcanoes all located on the North Island. https://www.gns.cri.nz/our-science/natural-hazards-and-risks/volcanoes/new-zealands-volcanoes/.

We decided to visit one of the volcanoes. Taranaki is currently dormant, having last erupted in 1755. It is centered in the Taranaki region, part of the western coast of the North Island a region that juts into the Tasman Sea and which is also known as the Surf Coast. (We will get to that.). Not quite Mount Doom, (that would be Ngauruhoe) but more resemblant of Japan’s Mount Fuji, Taranaki is a beautiful cone, often snow covered, circled by vast plains formed from previous eruptions.

We stayed in New Plymouth, the city nearest Taranaki, for some sightseeing. New Zealand is rural and multi-lane turnpikes or highways do not criss-cross the country. Getting from here to there outside of the city usually means traveling two lane highways. This two-hour drive took us through small towns and past more cows that I have ever seen in my life. Dairy cows mostly, milk production is a huge industry here. There were some sheep farms. But the Taranaki region seems to be cow central.

Our first stop was Egmont National Park, home to Taranaki. The plan was to simply drive as close to the top as we could get. It turns out, it was not close enough. So Matt gamely agreed to hike further up the mountain to get a good vantage point of the summit. He would go as far as he could.

New Zealand is a place where the weather can turn very quickly and the day went from a pleasant, warm, sunny day to a cold, partly cloudy day with a strong, brisk wind that easily penetrated our clothes. It was cold! We were clearly not prepared for a walk up a mountain. The gift shop was prepared for unprepared people like us. We bought heavier jackets and thank goodness because the higher we climbed, the more forceful the wind became.

Matt made it to the overlook. He did a great job. It was a 4k hike or, in NZ jargon, a “walk” (as opposed to a “tramp” which is akin to a trek for us). I continued further up the path to a clearing where there was a good view of the summit. During most of the climb, being under cover of the bush, we were protected from the wind. As I rounded a large boulder and stepped into the clearing, I was hit with a gust that nearly knocked me off my feet. In front of me was the summit. While I hung on trying not to be bowled over by the wind, three younger adults were merrily taking photos of each other, seemingly oblivious to the cold and gale force winds. I snapped a few photos and went back to the shelter of the trail.

Tired of being cold, we drove back down the mountain and headed back to New Plymouth and our very warm hotel room.

New Plymouth is a coastal town, with aspirations to be an art center. The most popular spot is the Coastal Walkway. At one end is the gorgeous Te Rewa Rewa Bridge. I took a lot of photos of this bridge. It was just fun to look at.

We watched the sunset over Taranaki and from the bridge.

The next day we visited the Rotokara Scenic Reserve to check out the birds. New Zealand has no endemic predators. There are no coyotes or foxes, bobcats or anything that can eat a deer. When you walk in the woods here, you’ll find only birds and a couple of reptiles. Invasive mammals such as stoats (ferret), possums, rats, and cats have made homes in the wild. These predators prey mostly on birds. The problem is that New Zealand birds have not evolved in an environment with predators so many of them do not fly. Why fly if no one is out to get you? As a consequence, they are vulnerable to these invasive species who feast on the birds and their eggs. This kind of pressure has driven many of their birds to near extinction.

To combat the invasive species, there are a few parks in New Zealand that are predator free. What does that mean? They build very tall fences that are impassable to small animals. The area inside the fence is then methodically cleared of predators and pests. Once cleared, the birds thrive.

Here is the picture of the fence at Rotokara.

The fence is like the Great Wall, a monstrous structure traveling over hill and dale. What you can really see in the photo is a before and after view of the land, pre- and post- agricultural clearing by the settlers. A large part of this country was cleared of Native bush to make way for agriculture. Inside the fence you see the native bush, and outside the fence, farm and grazing land. It is hard to believe the work that clearing this land must have entailed.

On the walk around the lake, we managed to see a hihi, or stitch bird. They can be elusive, so we were happy to check them off the list. We also saw whiteheads and lots of other species. The most fun is with the North Island robins.

They are small black and white birds birds that look nothing like our red breasted friends. They will come out of the bush to look at you curiously and say hello, and sometimes follow you down the path. As an aside, the birds in New Zealand are generally not colorful. They are mostly black and brown or dull colors like yellow or green. All meant to blend into the bush.

The next day we drove home along the surf coast. with its location, you would imagine there is a lot of surfing here. But the coasts are pretty rough–lots of rocks and hazards, and the seabed is not accommodating to big waves. But here in Taranaki, beautiful waves abound. We met a group of surfers, young boys heading to the beach. We followed them and chatted about America. They soon split off and headed for an area with an open beach. We watched from a distance.