A Gorgeous day walk

Manawatu Gorge, Saturday 30th January 2021.
Shona Tupe reports:

Three of us were dropped off at the Woodville end of the Manawatu Gorge track in Ballance Gorge Road (myself, John Russell and newcomer Monique Richards). Kelvin was dropping the others off for the Ruahine Crossing, then he and Gordon would come in to meet us from the other end.

The 11.2km track is extremely well maintained and very easy going, with only a slight uphill ascent at the start; so knowing we’d have plenty of time, we made the most of it and branched off at every opportunity. Firstly down the Upper Gorge Track which brought us out down at the now unused road – quite eerie to be back there with no traffic.

Then back up to the main track, stopping to see if we could see the motorbikes as there was a moto-cross event at Woodville and we could hear the sound drifting across, much like that of pesky mozzies buzzing around.

We also checked out the Windmill Lookout, Sentinel Lookout stopping for an early lunch, then the Windy Lookout, where you could not only see the wind turbine up close but also hear its distinctive hum, and Te Apiti Lookout.

The weather was perfect for tramping, and it was lovely to see the native bush and hear plenty of birdsong. The track was in really good condition throughout with plenty of weed matting, signs at every 1km point along the way indicating the distance we’d come and the distance left to go, and giving info on the various birds and plant species in the region.

We met Kelvin at the Whatonga Maori Warrior. Very impressive – I should have checked its facial expression first before attempting to replicate it! Then on to Gordon who was waiting patiently at the van for us, then headed off to Black Stump Café at Dannevirke to kill some time with a leisurely coffee and slice before going to Kumeti Road-end to pick up the others tramping the Southern Ruahine crossing from Opawe to Kumeti.

A very enjoyable day out.