Te Wae Wae Station, Wednesday 27 April 2022
Banner Photo: Looking across the Te Hoe Valley. Te Hoe Hut (Private) down below
With a full van, we headed north towards Kotemaori on Highway 2, turning off at Willow Flat Road and into Mokonui Road, a two-hour drive. Goats were found grazing the roadside (and running across the road), a familiar sight in the area since I was a child.
Ian Brickell, the station owner, met us at his farm gate. He’s a bright, bubbly, very young-looking man in his eighties, eager to share his stories with us and his love of his place. He first kindly offered the girls a ride on his quad bike to their home toilet. Four of us enjoyed the short ride, an unexpected start to the day. We loved his home, a picture book place with an amazing vegetable garden.
Ian held our attention as he told of possum trapping, the ballot farm, leasing and eventually buying this block, fencing off and preserving the 600 acres of native bush, kiwi pest control. We followed the farm tracks on the outskirts and through parts of this great native area with its tall rimu and matai – and a strangely twisted beech tree was still able to grow tall. We walked through where many pigs lived and played, wondering where they were right now. We reached a lookout, with expansive views out over a large rock bluff to an opposite bluff and the Te Hoe River below. We could see where it meets the Mohaka River – a special place.Up to now, eyes had been on muddy places near our feet but now, heading down, they were on the lookout for onga onga. Into the valley, we headed for Te Hoe Hut and found it comfy – and solar-powered.
It was a long walk back, through the “no sheep to be seen” farm, scattered with 100 horses and beautiful “Welsh blacks” (a breed of black cattle with white horns). We passed the Honeymoon Hut; it was old with a dirt floor and looked like it was full of stories.Ian stayed with us most of the way, giving a lift to anyone who chose to hop on the back of his bike.
He gave us all a copy of his book “Sermons from the Bush” before we headed home. I am looking forward to reading more of what lan has to share. Thank you!
Trampers: Jane Thomson, Mary Campbell, Cherie Le Lievre, John Holschier, John Dobbs, Ted Angove, Anne Blackwell, Simon Hill, Doug Matheson, Sue Gribble and reporter Gaye Ebbett
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