This article was first published in the Tararua Tramper Volume 92, no 8, September 2020
Paekākāriki Escarpment E/M Trip
Sunday 26 July
We started from St Peters in Paekākāriki and walked along the new link track running from Beach Road to the Overbridge. This area is being weeded and planted by Ngā Uruora (the conservation group I belong to). We were lucky with brilliant weather and wonderful clear views of Tapuaenuku1 covered in snow. At the quarry we had a look for lizards in the new lizard garden which Ngā Uruora has planted with native plants all named correctly. The lizard garden is protected with a fence to keep out the sheep who roam around all over the escarpment. At Paripari we had a look at the proposed track link to the Hill Road Lookout. If built, this track would form a connecting link between the escarpment and Perkins Farm, a big area of very steep country lying between the Hill Road and Transmission Gully which was bought by NZTA and retired from sheep grazing. The expectation is that it will be transferred into some type of public ownership fairly soon. At the moment there is no entry for the public, but Ngā Uruora has the legal right to do ecological restoration work on the land. So I can take tramping parties over the farm which resembles Belmont Hills but is much steeper. If we find a culvert under the new motorway it may be possible to link up with Mt Wainui tracks, making it possible for a VF party to climb Mt Wainui from Pukerua Bay!
. 1 [Ed: Official title - ‘Tapuae-o-Uenuku’].
- Party members
- Alan Benge, Elizabeth Bridge, Ken Fraser (leader and scribe), Joanne Gapes, John Hill, Christine Ben-Tovim, Alan Wright