The NZ Queen’s Birthday Weekend holiday was to be overshadowed by bad weather so we took advantage of the only decent day to head out of the city for the Rimutaka Forest Park.
We headed to the Catchpool and Orongorongo Valley entrance to be surprised by the number of pleasant picnic areas, tracks to walk as well as lots of huts to book ensuring quite the outdoors experience to suit all.
Nikau Palm Grove
Foolishly, we set off for a track thinking we knew where we were going having a map in our backpack from the website and having checked the information map in the car park. Alas we didn’t take the time to check how many exits from the car park there were and soon realised we were on the wrong track! Pah. Anyway, we walked through a Nikau Palm Grove and then 500m later found ourselves in a Beech forest – such a contrast in such a short distance!
We walked for a pleasant couple of hours and will be back, probably more in spring, to make the most of some of the longer routes available to explore – making sure we use the right track this time!
Ferns
