A lovely drive along Anawhata Road – unfortunately to the wrong car park for Chateau Mosquito. The troops were up for the challenge, and good naturedly piled back into the bus for the short extra journey to the entrance to the right track.
We had three groups - a small, fit, fast and footloose group of three got round their circuit in record time (Jimmy assured us a fair amount of running took place!) The rest of us went more sedately, the medium lot did, among other tracks, Chateau Mosquito, Sisam, Long Road,Upper Kauri Lower Kauri – not to mention RGB, which is probably the best thing to do with it! An excellent track for aspiring commandoes! And all credit to the slower group that they managed it.
The bush was lovely, especially the rata, and the large kauris, the birds were singing, kereru bombed round the trees and inquisitive tomtits were seen on the track. The stream crossings were very beautiful and some waterholes quite inviting.
The only problem was the wasps – not as many as the week before but enough to sting Bill several times. And Dora, the Explorer looked as if she had been fighting with tigers by the time she got back to the bus with a huge tear in the back of her shorts (You guessed it – on the RGB track!)
Memo: don’t forget to put your antihistamine pills and cream in your pack at this time of the year.
Thanks to Brian for organising such a scenic trip.