Pelorus Bridge, at the junction of the Rai and Pelorous Rivers, is a small island of native bush which escaped the axe because a town was planned for the site. It was soon recognised as a beauty spot and in 1912 it became a scenic reserve.
The site was used as a film location for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
Sceenit: Pelorus River The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
The juction of the Pelorus and Rai rivers was an old Maori trail. There had been a small kainga (village) in the area which was abandoned during the bitter fighting of the Maori Musket Wars. By the time Europeans arrived the area was largely uninhabited.
There are four short walks around the North Egmont Visitor Centre.
The Nature Walk led on to the Ngatoro Loop Walk, a walk through sub-montane forest called “the Goblin Forest.” The ferns and mosses flourish because of the high rainfall.
Just behind the Visitor Centre is a historic camphouse, which was originally a military barracks during the land wars in the 1860s. It was moved to the site in the 1880s.
After lunch we did the Veronica Loop Track.
Before going uphill we passed the Ambury memorial, a memorial to climber Arthur Ambury who gave his life in 1918 in a heroic attempt to save his climbing partner.
The Veronica Loop track is a well-formed track. It goes up the mountain for half an hour and then there’s a junction for Holly Hut. The return walk via the loop track is harder.
Holly Hut Lookout
At the junction of the Holly Hut track, there’s a lookout ten minutes further up the mountain. We chose not to do it because of the lack of visibility.
There were no birds to be heard on either track, the forests were silent.
The Mangatoro Scenic Reserve is just down the Ngapaeruru Road, 11 km from Dannevirke along the Weber Road. This is a 8 hectare reserve that contains some good sized kahikatea as well as matai, totara and rimu.
There’s supposed to be a giant Totara, said to be one of the largest in New Zealand. We didn’t see it. The reserve is not well looked after. There were no native birds to be heard, only magpies. The trail had not been maintained. The walk by the stream was overgrown with creepers, forcing us to go back the way we came. There was a tree over one of the paths. There had been no trapping in the reserve but it’s probably too small for the native birds anyway.
The reserve badly needs kaitiake (guardians) and maintenance.
This is an old gold mining area. Several tracks zigzag up the hills following an old water race up to Collins Drive, a 500m tunnel much further up the hill. I read on one site that the tunnel was created as an access through steep country. The Dept of Conservation said the tunnel was driven through the hill in a fruitless attempt to find a quartz reef with payable ore.
The walk was hard, a series of big climbs on a very hot day. The tunnel was tthe highlight. The overgrown viewpoints are disappointing.
The walk is located in the Coromandel Forest Park and Kauaeranga Valley, up the road from the Doc Kauaeranga Visitor Centre. You get a good view of the ranges and Kauaeranga Valley from the lookout.
The forest was silent, I only heard one bird. Doc is using poison instead of traps to control the pests.
This magnificent Kauri escaped the axe because of its unusually square shaped trunk. It’s a short but steep climb to the tree. There’s a good view of the Coromandel mountain ranges from the platform.
This is a small grove of tall Kauri that escaped the axe. There’s also an unusual double-trunked Kauri, from two seedlings fused together. And if that isn’t enough beauty, there’s a small waterfall and pool about 500m down the gravel road. You have to drive past it to get to the grove.
This small patch of bush near Te Awamutu is a tiny remnant of the Kahikatea forests that once covered the Waikato Basin. From the sign on the walk I read that today only 3.5% of the forests remain. There are 4922 forest fragments. A few are larger areas, but most are less than 25 hectares.
The only birds in the reserve are the more common tui, fantail and grey warbler.
The Kahikatea, more like a pine tree with its straight white trunk, was named “white pine.” It wasn’t any good for house timber, instead the wood was used for things like butter boxes.
This is a two hour return walk between two of the lakes of Rotorua. The walk starts at Korokitewao Bay at Lake Rotoiti and ends at Lake Rotoehu.
In 1823 Hongi Hika attacked Arawa in Rotorua. He had muskets and he was bent on revenge. They dragged their war canoes from Lake Rotoehu across to Lake Rotoira using the track as a portage, and from there through a canal into Lake Rotorua.
A small loop track leads to Hinehopu’s tree, a sacred matai at the side of SH30. Hinehopu was hidden here as a baby and it’s where she met her husband to be, Pikiao. (This is from a different time and not related to Hongi Hika’s attack on Rotorua).
Hinehopu’s Matai tree
Korokitewao Bay, Lake Rotoira, where the track begins
One of Hongi’s war canoes was made into a pataka that is now at Te Papa. See the walk at Papaitonga Scenic Reserve, Levin where the pataka from Te Takinga, Lake Rotoiti ended up before being donated to the Dominion Museum.
On the point on the left hand as the bay is entered, where the trees dip their thirsty branches so low that they touch the water, once stood Te Ari kainga, a village of the ancient lake people …
The Kaitoke Regional Park lies in the foothills of the Tararua Range near Wellington. It’s a catchment area for nearly half of Wellington’s water supply and the surrounding virgin bush is made up of old rata, beech and rimu trees.
Near the carpark a short side path leads to the site of Rivendell from the Lord of the Rings films.
We visited the park in 2017 but only had time to look at the LOTR location. The bush and river setting is so lovely, I can see why it was chosen for the Rivendell setting. It’s a walk we’ll return to.
Nothing remains of Rivendell except this replica arch.
A map shows the location of Frodo’s bedroom and Elrond’s house. The Pakuratahi river flows near the set before joining the Hutt River.
The tree where Legolas posed for publicity photos.
Besides the LOTR location there are a number of short walks. The main walk, a loop along the Hutt River, begins over a swing bridge from the carpark.
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