Bush and Ducks

Closer to home this weekend. Have had our eye on the closest access to Urewera National Park for a while, the Moanui Valley in the backroads behind Matawai, just an hour or so from home. Bit of a slow start to a beautiful Saturday, but we found our way out the door and up the road, real frontier country close to the park, like Hikurangi a lot of decaying stumps still around from the great fires of a century ago. From the Moanui carpark we tramped into a nice bit of bush bumping into some trampers, including Vance who we had met up Mt Hikurangi. After crossing a singbridge the track climbed for a while up though farmland before crossing a saddle and descending into the Urewera wilds. We jogged down to Tawa Hut, through huge groves of (you guessed it) Tawa pierced by the occasional mighty rimu. Beautiful bush. From Tawa hut we could have continued down river and eventually completed a big loop back at the car, we thought about it, started it then backed out as the coldness and tightness of the river, combined with the lack of daylight left made retreat the wisest solution...we will return here for an adventure run (or tube) in summer! Saw a couple of blue ducks down in the river though which was awesome! I love these birds, their interesting colours, the way the play in the rapids, amazing.