Hikes & tramps

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White Cliffs Walkway – 26 December 2011

Gerry in the blazing hot sun, making his way up the steep climb on private farm roads.
Amused cattle with a lovely view from their grazing spot.
Me on a downhill section with Henriette in the back.
Deon, Henriette and Gerry in front. Evidence of strong winds can be seen by die angle of the tree on the hill.

Whenever I hear the world “white cliffs”, the first thing that jumps to mind, is the brewery. And why not. The White Cliffs Brewery makes a lovely brew.

We were visiting in New Plymouth for Xmas when Henriette suggested we do the walk. It is a fairly long hike, 14km point-to-point from Pukearuhe boat ramp to Tongaporutu. So, on the morning of Boxing Day, Deon, Henriette, Gerry and I left for Tongaporutu where we would leave Deon’s car at the picnic area next to the Tongaporutu river. On the way back to the start, the four of us were contemplating whether we allowed enough time to complete the walk, having left the house quite late, but we decided to do it anyway.

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Manawatu Gorge Track & Tunnel Walk (10 April 2011)

Ju-huu-st the two of us…
Gerry, with Ballance bridge in the back.
Monkey business on the train track.
Scary stuff crossing the bridges.
Gerry concentrating hard on another train bridge without railings.
The Manawatu River quite far down.
Tunnel coming up! Torches out.
Light at the end of the tunnel.
Abseilers as seen from the train track side.
The last stretch which flattens out towards Ashhurst.
Walkers on the train bridge, as see from the road.
A nice touch – little certificate to show that you’ve completed the walk.

Once a year the Woodville Lions Club organise an approximately 8km walk on the train track through the Manawatu gorge, starting at the Ballance Bridge end (Woodville side) in the east and walking back to the Ashhurst Domain on the west side of the gorge.

I’ve often wondered what the gorge would look like from the other side. If you are on the one side of a river, you always long to see the other side, and vice versa. That’s life, I guess … :). We’ve driven though the gorge on several occasions by road, which is on the one side of the river, while I always look across to the train track, also carved into the cliffs of the gorge, and wonder how the graffiti got onto the concrete slabs underneath the track. With the river way below and near vertical cliffs to get to the track, the willpower of graffiti artists always amazes me. Continue reading →

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Manawatu Gorge trail run (30 January 2011)

Gerry under a big tree.
At the start.
Gerry making the most of an early downhill.
Taking a break at one of the lookout points
Happiness is…
A little “gate” through one of the fallen trees.
The pathway is well laid out with bridges over rivers and streams and steps where gradients are too steep.
Very windy viewpoint.
Wind Farm lookout.
A short “lunch” at the turnaround point.

Ever since moving to Palmy, the Manawatu Gorge walkway has been beckoning, literally in our backyards.  According to everyone we talked to and everything we read, the gorge promised to be one of the most beautiful places in the area, and Gerry and I have been forever threatening to make the outing to see what it is like.

It is a 10.1km point to point walk through the gorge, with the idea being that you leave a car at the finish, drive back to the start and complete the walk. But what to do when you only have one car? Continue reading →

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Tongariro Northern Circuit – 30 December 2010 to 2 January 2011

Having done many hikes in South Africa, I always tended to measure the difficulty rating (extremity) according to, first of all, the distance you walk per day and secondly the altitude, eg 3000+ metres above sea level (often with corresponding low temperatures). But with a pair of shorts and tekkies you can do almost any hike with the exception of the Drakensberg in winter and at night. The temperature drops below freezing so you have to be prepared. While there’s the odd rare bit of rain sometimes and some hail now and then, you hardly ever get to experience rain-storms, blizzards, wind, snow or any other alpine weather conditions in SA. Neither would you ever need crampons or ice picks. However, in New Zealand, alpine conditions seem to kick in at much lower altitudes, making elevation and weather more important difficulty-factors than distance.

Not sure what to expect of NZ hikes, we decided on the Tongariro Northern Circuit as our introduction. We were keen to get out of the city and into nature over the new year and the Tongariro National Park seems to be a biggie (at least as far as the North Island is concerned) – popping up in conversations and magazines quite often. Continue reading →