This article was first published in Tararua Tramper in February 2025
York Bay-Lowry Bay
E – Wednesday 27 November 2024
Eleven of us off buses and a couple of cars eventually set off on a fine day for the start of the Kaitawa Road Track. Always very attractive, the Kaitawa Road Track is an old favourite. First there is the stream section, boasting the display of parataniwha plants, the waterfall, then the robust widowmaker plants covering large sections of steep bank, perching happily on the ground. Next, some eye- catching views glimpsed through the narrow ‘V’ shape of the valley looking out to Point Howard, while the steep scrambly places make for variety underfoot. A broad section of the spur and beech forest, good for a rest, is soon reached.
At the junction with the Main Ridge Track we met the first of three little groups of Manawatu Tramping and Ski Club members, heading south. The conversation strangely included the mysterious disappearance of mutual club member June Sowerby in 2004, a topic they raised.
Further north, the second group declared themselves to be orchid spotters, and visual notes were swapped. The third group were just descending from the Lowry Lookout. During our lunch at the lookout, a little orange escaped and found the lure of gravity irresistible. Roll, roll, bounce, bounce, bounce back down the track it went, towards the fence and over the edge into steep territory for three or so metres, with its not-so-agile owner clambering awkwardly after it. The owner was pleased that our clever cartoonist was not on the trip.
Early afternoon the wander along the garden- path-like track through the golden beech leaves was as good as ever, as more pauses were made to look at unusual features including the large twin galls on a root resembling a part of human anatomy. On reaching the top of the Cheviot Road Track, the bus people took off at a swift pace ahead of slower ones.
Michele Dickson (leader and scribe), Diana Barnes, Anne and Hadley Bond, Elizabeth Bridge, Julia Fraser, Lois Kluger, Howard Livingstone, Peter Nixon, Lynne Pomare, Rosemary Wilson.