Rainforest Walk in Tongariro National Park, North Island, New Zealand.
(originally published in AILA's Landmark June 2007)
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In the alpine bog, pools are surrounded by tussock like grasses and bog plants.
The timber boardwalk winds it way across the bog, preventing damage to the ecosystem.
Wire mesh covers the structure, preventing walkers from slipping in icy or wet conditions. |
I’d spent countless hours pouring over my map and guide book to work out where to go walking in New Zealand. In 2004 I’d travelled to a NZILA conference held in Christchurch. With family in tow, we’d stayed in a quaint weatherboard cottage within walking distance of the city. We travelled to many spectacular places including the Franz Josef glacier and Milford Sound.
The opportunity arose to visit New Zealand for a second time in April 2007 as an AILA representative along with National Councillor, Niall Simpson. We were attending a conference to see how the NZILA were faring with development of their Landscape Charter.
After spending less than 24 hours in the windy, wet city of Wellington, Simpson and I were whisked away by Landscape Architect, Ross Jackson. Jackson works for the Greater Wellington Regional Council and was a most hospitable tour guide on our way north to Napier. En route he took us to the Kaitoke Regional Park, a water catchment area on the Hutt River. Here we were given a taste of podocarp broadleaf rainforest via a swing bridge over the gushing river.
Napier had been touted as an art deco beachside town. On our first night we arrived in the evening, checked into the motel then rushed to our first drinks function – so the town remained a mystery.
On the following day, as early morning sunshine pierced the curtains barking seals from the nearby aquarium announced their presence. Like many conferences we were tethered to a tight schedule - breakfast, bus and attending presentations. New Zealand’s Landscape Architects know how to throw a party, so the day’s proceedings were followed by a boozy conference dinner.
The conference was held at the Ngatarawa winery in the Hastings District. This area is known as the North Island’s food bowl – producing vegetables, fruit and wines. This landscape has been significantly altered by European settlements.
New Zealand was once a landscape dominated by forests and wetlands. Maori cleared and burnt areas to create large gardens whilst Europeans exploited the landscape for its timber and to graze sheep. As we travelled on the bus I was a little shocked at the landscape – where was my idyllic vision of New Zealand which I had experienced in the South Island? Fertile low lying land was divided into fields of productive crops, protected by large hedge rows. Barren brown hills enclosed this landscape and most traces of native vegetation had been erased.
After leaving the conference, Niall Simpson and I hired a car taking us along the ‘Gentle Annie’ road, described as ‘difficult’ on the map to Ohakune. This road passed through some rugged inland country and we began to get glimpses of remnant native vegetation as well as acres and acres of pine forests. A lunch break by an ultramarine river, with its grey worn stones was the sort of New Zealand I was seeking. Flax, cordyline, pampas grass, tree ferns and many other unfamiliar plants lined the streams banks.
We arrived in the pretty town of Ohakune – located on the southern edge of Tongariro National Park. Tongariro is New Zealand’s oldest National Park and registered on the World Heritage List. Bounded on one side was a small reserve with a stand of native beech trees and attractive streetscaping. During my stay the town was amazingly quiet, Apparently this is a rocking town in Winter, as it’s a ski resort. Niall and I parted with him heading off for Whakapapa and an altogether different walking experience.
My accommodation, a timber lined chalet was perfect. It was located on the perimeter of Tongariro National Park. I had a little balcony with French doors and could hear the sounds of a small river nearby. The surrounding vegetation was lush and the grass green. The house cat, a ginger and white visited me each night, making herself comfortable on a chair.
From my accommodation when the clouds cleared, there was a spectacular view of a looming snow covered mountain, Mount Ruapehu. Three peaks occur within the Park, including Ruapehu, the tallest at 2797metres, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro. All are volcanic mountains with Ruapehu last erupting in 1996. These volcanoes were seen as sacred sites by the local Maori people.
Waitonga River Falls Walk
After a relaxing dinner in the chalet’s restaurant and a good night’s sleep I was ferried to the start of the Waitonga Falls walk. The track winds through alpine rainforest comprised of mountain beech and cedar terminating at the Waitonga River Falls.
Along the well made track, the vegetation is densely packed exhibiting greens of every hue. Water is abundant and seeps down the path batters. A multitude of ferns grow on the forest floor along with mosses and some older trees are repositories for a diverse range of epiphytes. Trunks of the trees vary with silvery almost birch like trunks of the beeches, demonstrating patches of olive green moss. The mountain cedars exhibit a reddish brown bark with vertical texture. A break in the understorey allowed a rare glimpse to snowy Mt Ruapehu. What struck me was not only the lushness and diversity of the landscape but its pristine condition.
Eventually I emerged from the gloom of the forest into the incandescent light of the alpine bog. This area has been created by fire. Boardwalks protect the series of clear tarns and vegetation made up of tussock grasses, sundews, bladderworts and shrubs. This open space offers panoramic views to Mt Ruapehu with a seat positioned to make the most of the view. According to the walking track brochure, on a still day the volcanic mountain is reflected in the bog pools. Walking on a timber structure has a very different feel to the gravel track of the forest.
I continued through the bog back into the forest, dropping down and eventually reaching the Falls. The falls are the highest in the park at 39 metres and were correspondingly spectacular, spewing water noisily into the cascading river below.
After completing half of the return journey I veered off onto the Old Blyth Track. This track had been cut through the forest in the early 20th century to reach up to the mountain. The board walks were narrower and at times were sinking and disintegrating into boggy ground. The cleared landscape merged again into dense rainforest.
The trip to Ohakune and Mt Tongariro was special. It reinforced my ideas that some areas are breathtaking and markedly different from the landscape of my part of south-eastern Australia.
Catching the train back to Wellington I felt satisfied – I had come to New Zealand anticipating an enriching walking experience, and at last had found it.
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The rainforest on the Waitonga River Falls Walk is densely vegetated and allows occasional glimpses of the volcanic snow-covered Mt Ruapehu. |
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A close up of the path system and the intricate foliage patterns of the vegetation. |
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A smaller boardwalk directs walkers through the bog along the Old Blythe Track.
In sections the pathway is sinking into the ground. |
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In the North Island much of the original native vegetation has been cleared.
Sheep dominate this landscape – notice the contour lines formed by their tracks on this steep hillock. |
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A stop along the Gentle Annie Rd by an ultra-marine river revealed the ‘true’ New Zealand.
Pampas Grass, Cordyline, Tree Ferns and a plethora of native vegetation line the river banks. |
Edwina Richardson AILA
Registered Landscape Architect
April 2007
photography © edwina Richardson 2007
