New Zealand Walk: Walking through the Cascade Kauri Forest
Cascade Kauri Forest is the largest group of kauri trees found in Waitakere Forest Regional Park, that is a well maintained hill forest park in the west of Auckland City.
There is a road passing through ridges of this mountain range called Scenic Drive with stunning views on both sides of the range, that covers forest parks, Centennial Park, and lots of nature walking tracks including the famous Hillary Track.
Here one can enjoy views, study nature, and work towards conserving the natural environment. There are several groups, seriously concerned about the depleting environment within the area: Waitakere Ranges Protection Society (1973), Forest and Bird Waitakere, and Waitakere River Care, to name a few.
I planned to join in with Auckland Natural History Club members in their first walk of the year. Auckland Natural History Club is an established and seasoned club, that organises various walks in different regions to enjoy and study nature.
The meeting point for me was at Matai Road near Great South Road at Greenlane. There were about 20 members to take the bus from there at 8.15am.
The bus stopped at Point Chevalier to pick a few more up before setting out for our destination, which was a stop close to Mt Pukematekeo. Rain prognosis was in place for the area on the day.
For the Mt Pukematekeo, we diverted from Scenic Drive to Summit Road which goes round it.
After a short walk for about 10 minutes, we were on the top of Mt Pukematekeo (360m). It was a lovely 360 degree view but it was cloudy, and we could not see as far as we could have
on a sunny day. In a clear day, one can also see the stunning view of Waitakere reservoir with beautiful falls below.
The next stop on the bus was at the Waitakere Golf Club car park, where the group was split into two, A group for longer route and B group for a shorter route.
The A group commenced walking towards east from the car park. It was pleasant slow pace downhill walking along the Auckland City Walk. At one point someone pointed at one type of orchid very close to road.
After a few minutes, we entered forest track again where the southwest slope down below looked awesome.
Then, before turning to Anderson Track, there was a point from where the dam down below looked stunningly beautiful with Waitakere Falls. The track then was somewhat steeper going downhill through dense bush.
After crossing a small stream we came to Waitakere Tramline Track where we had to walk along the rail trail. We walked on the opposite side of the tunnel, and along tramline track for sometime, where we passed through a station with a platform as well.
Then, it was somewhat rugged downhill tract, which after 10 minutes, met with sealed road coming from Scenic Drive, which ended at the car park next
to Waitakere Reservoir dam.
We rested there for some minutes enjoying the scenery and allowed other members of the team to catch up. It was very scenic place with dense forest surrounding the reservoir. Below the dam, there are the Waitakere Falls, and further downhill, there is another falls and a small swimming pond.
Then we started walking along the concrete dam.
On the other side it was nice forested area, where we stopped our lunch. There was a track map posted on the side to show our track ahead.
After lunch, we continued to walk alongside of the dam, which was a boulder enforced retention wall to some distance of the reservoir. Then, it started going uphill touching the Robinson Ridge ( 313m) where we followed the Long Road Track.
After going along somewhat undu- lating uphill, we reached Simla (323m) where it was a bit muddy because of recent rain in the area. From this point on the track went northwest, ascending sideways along the Long Road Track. Before we reach Smyth corner, we caught up with upper Kauri Track coming from south. As we walked along this slightly up trend track, it rained for about 10 minutes.
We continued our walk uphill and after about 20 minutes the Lower Kauri Track also came from south and merged with this one. At times, it becomes a steeper climb, where wooden stairs are built.
Now we were among kauri trees, some of which were quite large with massive trunks. It was wet and somewhat dark because of overcast sky. The track was on wooden board, and mostly stairs, which was at that time dangerously wet and somewhat slippery. We had to be careful with every step.
For the next 15 minutes the track went down ending with zigzag path, where there was a maori art of a standing warrior. We crossed a bridge over Cascade Stream and reached a green open field surrounded by rows of trees. We crossed the field, and the rows of trees, to reach the car park, where we boarded the bus for return journey back home.
Although we saw a mixture of tall trees, shrubs, and different kinds of ferns including tree ferns, some members noted NZ Broom (Carmichaelia sp), Neinei (Grass Tree, Dracophyllum latifolium), Rewarewa (NZ honeysuckle, Nightie excelsa) and Wild Orchid (Pekapeka, Cunninghamii sp.).
Later, of course, we passed through a kauri dominated forest. “Kauri Dieback” is a serious problem for the park and protection measures are being taken. Because of the time, weather and our pace of walk I did not see many birds, but did hear tui song.
The signpost information indicated that dogs were not allowed in this track. The trail was moderately strenuous, and needed a good track map. Some tracks were closed.
Thanks to excellent organization of our well informed guides we absolutely had no problems.
Comfortable shoes, clothing, plenty of water and food are essential.
We approached Waitakere Scenic Drive (SD) from Titirangi and drove on, passing Arataki Visitor Centre, Piha Road, Mt Pukematekeo, and continued on Scenic Drive till we met Te Henga Road, that took us to Falls Road. That is where the Waitakere Golf Club is located (35 km from city).
Thereafter, the walking loop itself is about 6km of rugged terrain of ups and downs, yet thoroughly enjoyable.