Manawatu Gorge, Wednesday 14 October 2021
Banner Photo: The wind turbines in full whirling order
A van and carload headed for the Manawatu Gorge on a very windy day. It was extremely cold when we reached Woodville for a pit stop and to pick up Sue T.
Kelvin drove us to the Ashhurst end of the track. Nine would walk through to the other end, the remaining six meeting us somewhere in between. The track was very wet and slippery in places as we headed uphill to the statue of Whatonga, an ancient warrior, which stands guard over the forest.
The main track is 11km long but the van and car had been parked at the start of the old gorge road, so this cut the distance by about 2.5km. The native bush is home to tui and bellbirds. Along the route, there are five viewpoints that allow glimpses of the gorge, railway and the wind farms. There were amazing tawa and rata trees and nikau palms along the main track, as well as the giant maidenhair fern, found only in the Manawatu.
We stopped for lunch at the halfway point where there’s a BBQ table and a great view of the windmills. Here we met up with the rest of the group, and then made a very quick downhill walk back to the old gorge road bridge and our vehicles. Vic was waiting for us; he had been for a leisurely walk up the track before returning to the van.
On the way home, club ‘teachers’ gave us a test on things we saw along the way, and we stopped at the Black Stump in Dannevirke for coffee.
Another enjoyable day out with a bunch of happy people. Thank you to our drivers, Kelvin, Simon and Sue M.
Trampers: Margaret Palmer, organiser Kelvin Shaw, Dorothy Sole, John Holschier, Gordon Tapp, Tony Pluymers, Ted Angove, Vic Bullock, John Bennett, John Burrell, Simon Hill, Matthew Nisbett, Sue Martin, Sue Trotter and reporter Rosemary Jeffery
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