Much of the forest was destroyed in volcanic eruptions approximately 1,800 years ago but as the soil is thick with the resulting pumice and ash, podocarps such as tōtara, rimu, miro, kahikatea and mataī now thrive.
From the 1940s through to the early 1970s, logging became the greatest threat to the forest’s survival.
Apparently, 300,000 tōtara posts and many thousands of battens were removed before 1978 when environmental activists perched in trees and gained public and political support to halt logging in the area.
It was permanently stopped in 1982.
Today, we entered the trail near the Pureora Field Base and were soon enveloped in the damp lush greenery of the forest.
Tree ferns, feathery ferns climbing decaying branches, mosses and tiny umbrella ferns abounded.
The track was easy, soft and flat.
We cricked our necks gazing metres up at tall, straight tōtara trees with their thick stringy bark.
Their timber is prized for waka building and carving and was used for fence posts and telegraph poles.
Perhaps with the forest’s protected status, they can now reach their lifespan of more than 800 plus years.
We made a small detour to see an old crawler tractor.
Now cosily housed under a roof, it was abandoned in the mid-forties after blowing a piston casing, then unearthed in the seventies, partially restored in the 2000s and had a konaki or New Zealand-adapted sledge added later.
There are even battens on the sledge to remind one of the area’s logging history.
The harsh call of a flock of kākā had us looking upwards, but these acrobatic parrots with their crimson underbelly are hard to spot and even harder to photograph.
Their strong beaks and bristly tongues allow a varied diet of fruit, flowers, nectar, and especially tasty grubs.
A solitary kererū, with its slower movement and white and iridescent colouring, was easier to spot.
The trail leaves the forest into shrubby foliage and crosses several metalled roads before again entering forest.
Our destination was the little red shelter at the forest edge.
Here, signs sternly warn not to continue if there are any doubts about your ability.
We heeded the warning and retraced our route.
Still with a spring in our boots, we walked the short Tōtara Track.
This is a beautiful walk, easily accomplished by most.
Informative boards described how to distinguish the barks and fruits of many of the trees we had seen.
Did you know the kōtukutuku is the world’s largest fuschia and while birds feast on its nectar, humans have used its blue pollen as a lip colouring and dye from its berries as ink?
Long and short tail bats make their home here, as do Hochstetter frogs.
There was so much to see that the 19km-plus walk seemed all too short.
Next week we have a shorter walk planned.
If you would like to join us, or for more information, please email walkersmondaytaupo@gmail.com or follow us on Facebook at “Taupo Monday Walkers.”
Wednesday Walkers
Last week, we began from the Rangatira Point Reserve and travelled out along the coast in bright sunshine to Five Mile Bay.
The small ridge on the shoreline caused by last year’s earthquake has now flattened out, but the beach is still much narrower than it was.
The view from this point shows just how big Lake Taupō is when viewed from outside the Taupō township bay.
It was so clear last week that the Western Bays stood out and it was easy to notice how the curve of the Earth took away the view of beaches below the cliffs.
The great white mountains were profiled against the bluest of skies covered with snow, right down to their lower slopes.
It made for what used to be called a chocolate box view.
Too perfect to be true and yet there it was.
Once along at the Five Mile Bay village, we circled around the streets before heading back beside the main road, where there was a continuous stream of logging trucks with massive four-wheel trailers thundering past with their great loads.
It is not generally realised how skilled the drivers of such trucks have to be.
Anyone who has ever tried to back a four-wheel trailer will confirm how tricky it is.
Finally, we made our way through the Wharewaka development where the size and quality of the new houses is so impressive.
The built-up areas are spreading ever further around the town year by year.
All in all, it was an excellent two-hour stroll through a splendid setting on a stunning day.
Wednesday Walker Contacts: ph 073773065; email wednesdaywalkers@myyahoo.com.
