Eastbourne Hills - East Ridge

There's a ridge that separates the Wainuiomata River valley from Gollans stream.  It delineates the eastern side of the bush clad hills behind Eastbourne - so I'm calling it the East Ridge for convenience.  

From the Wainui side it looks pretty gorsy and awful, but from the hills above Eastbourne (if you can tear yourself away from the harbour views) - they look a bit scrubby but do get you thinking that there must be a bit of a trail along there somewhere.

When I emerged from a walk in the Coromandel it was to hear news that the Queen had died - it seems only fitting that on the public holiday to mark the event I should head into the bush.  I figure the easiest access will be to climb to the ridge near Mt Lowry from Lees Grove in Wainuiomata then follow the ridge south from the high point where the Rata Ridge Track meets East Ridge.

 
What:    Exploring East Ridge

Where:  Eastbourne hills

When:   26 September 2022

Who:     Solo

The support crew drops me at the top of Lees Grove in Wainuiomata where an alley runs down beside a house and into the bush.  What with all the flag waving and monarchist carry on (or it might have been mowing lawns - I forget), it's 1.45 by the time I get away.  The Regional Council have a good info board and even pamphlets for the park at the start.

It's a little muddy underfoot after recent rain - the track follows a stream then starts to climb reasonably steeply up a spur.  20 minutes later I emerge on the ridge to join Rata ridge track.  

A smart turn left and the track starts to drop - my brain is saying it is dropping too far and fast but it soon bottoms out then climbs to meet the north end of East Ridge.  There's a wee spot on the way where you can look out over Wainuiomata should you wish to do so.

About 15 minutes from the top of Lees Grove Track the Rata Track starts to skirt around a knob and show signs of wanting to descend.  I leave the track and head up to the top off the knob and on to the start of East Ridge.  Where I'm greeted by a sign ...

I'm navigating not walking so figure that the sign is not intended for me. Like many other pest control trails in this park it is pretty well used and easy to follow.  The canopy is high at this point so it is a little difficult to gauge which knob you are on but I just keep following the compass southish.  

The vegetation varies between reasonably mature bush and regenerating scrub.  As I approach pt 360 the trail gets a bit harder to follow and sidles on the west of the ridge (there may have been a trail heading towards Gollan Stream).  I stick with the trail closest to the ridge and it soon climbs back to the top - there's some young regrowth through here so it may be that the ridge top is just a bit too difficult.

I'm clearly not concentrating well enough as a little south of pt 360 I find the going a bit tricky - but it still feels like the ridge top. I persevere for a while until climbing onto a wee knob I can see a ridge immediately west of me.  I've strayed onto a spur that is just about to try to dump me into the Wainuiomata Valley somewhere near the golf course.

A quick backtrack and I'm back on the main ridge and seeing markers again.

There's a bit off gorse mixed in with the natives now but there is still a reasonable trail - it's pretty solid through the next wee saddle but further south it starts to look less well used.  There's a lot of wallows along the ridge - I used to think these were pigs but have been told that deer make them too - no idea of the truth of the matter or whether there is a way of telling the difference if they both do.  

I'm getting a bit conscious of the time as I head further south.  It's not helped by the odd area of wind fall and regrowth where it's difficult to find where the trail runs.  However, I keep finding it again and it even joins an old fence for a while.  I pass pt 285 and continue south.  

There's more and more scrub and gorse now and at some point it becomes clear that I am on an old farm track.  I see some old signs and suspect that one of them may have said "Private Property F... off" or similar but it was so faded it was impossible to say.  

Looking back - definitely an old farm track

Somewhere just south of pt 232 I stop and study the map and figure it is time to find a way down to Gollans stream - it's about 4.50 so there's a bit of daylight time left but I don't want to cut it any finer.  I haven't seen any obvious trails so look for a break in the scrub and take a bearing.  Once through a band of scrub there is good beech forest, I zigzag down looking for a spur but there are only animal trails and it's hard to pick any line that is better than any other so I just bash down slope until I reach a band of nikau which drops me rapidly into a stream.  

It's generally better to follow a spur and avoid the lush, rotten, supplejack infested, slippery, stream beds you get in this type of country.  But often you don't get a choice.  Rather than following the spur I had nominated I've dropped into a stream but it's easier to just go with it knowing it will pop out at Gollans stream eventually.  

I emerge into a large open area with fierce signs and figure I am a bit further down valley than planned.  there are some tracks marked with red triangles heading in the wrong direction.   But there's also a farm track that skirts through some pretty rough paddocks before turning into foot trails that take me to the stream.  I follow this up and pop out in a clearing with quite a flash wee cabin - it's about 5.30.  

This must be private.  There's a track following the stream which finishes at a fence - hoping over I cross the stream and make my way up the other bank.  There are bits of trails running all over the place and nothing to choose between them so I just sidle up the valley angling slightly uphill knowing I must eventually meet the track.  

15 minutes later I've joined the track and followed it to the junction with Kowhai Track, 7 minutes after that I'm on the ridge and in another 8 minutes at the top of Kowhai Road - a little after 6pm.  

Post script

Getting on to East Ridge is no problem.  Travel is generally not too bad but it's a little tricky navigating at times - don't expect a well marked track with an obvious foot trail the whole way.   It's a bit of a mix in terms of  vegetation with some beautiful forest and some down right manky scrub.  I imagine you could keep following the farm track south - the map shows it running out around Sugar Load but it probably continues in some form.  Although I don't think it would be very rewarding.

I dropped off the ridge just past pt 232 - I would suggest dropping sooner, maybe even that nice looking spur off 285.  By leaving it so late in the day I was intent on haring off out of the park by the most direct route - I think a more elegant exit would be via the spur past pt 130 to Hawtrey to pick up Stan's hut on the way to Kereru track.

Eastbourne huts

Janine has got wind of a couple of huts she would like to bag in the hills behind Eastbourne.  It sounds like a good diversion so Mike and I sign up.  The two objectives are Ranger's Hut and Stan's Hut.

What:    Hut Bagging
Where:  Eastbourne Hills
When:   26 March 2022
Who:     Mike and Janine

We start from Kowhai Street and follow the track up and over the ridge with expanding views of the harbour behind us.  At the track junction in the Butterfly Creek valley we take a bearing and head down slope, through kiekie to the creek.  We cast down stream a short way but don't find any obvious trails onto the spur where the Ranger's hut is located.  Heading back to where we met the creek we find some markers and follow these up hill.  Pretty soon the hut comes into sight through the trees on our left.  It's about midday - I didn't note the time we departed but it didn't take long.

Originally a solidly built and largish structure, it is showing signs of disrepair.  We fossick around the outside - it is well secured which is hardly surprising this close to readily accessible tracks.  

Back on the trail I lose track of the markers (probably a pest management trail) but it's not that steep and it's easy work up the slope to the top of the spur.  The trail along the spur is good and we rock along.  Stan's Hut is marked on the spur just before it starts climbing from the 200m contour - we keep our eyes peeled but in the end it is close to the trail and impossible to miss.  

It's a small and simple wooden structure with room for a bed inside and a wee deck out front.  The original log book is still there with (I assume) Stan's invitation to all dated May 1975:

"This shelter was constructed so that one could enjoy nature.  The trees that have been planted near this shelter are "food trees" for native birds.  To anyone who finds this shelter please use it, it is not private.  Please remove litter.  While you are here, listen to the insects and birds, rest a while."

It looks like Stan brought the materials in, built and maintained the hut and planted trees to attract birds.  There's also some news paper cuttings with a 2019 obituary that gives a bit more information about his life.  We take a bit of time to scan the log which has many entries from Stan and those that have appreciated the hut since.

With the official business of the day dealt with the plan is to head up the spur and along the ridge to drop down Kereru Track to Days Bay.

It's a bit slower than expected and it's easy to be a bit optimistic about progress as we roll over wee knobs and along the reasonably flat sections of ridge.  

Rata with an impressive root system

A couple of joggers potter past and we pause for photos at the foot of an impressive rata that has a  large exposed, convoluted root system.  As we head down Kereru track a couple of women pass in an upwards direction - punter one is swinging along, punter two looks ready to expire.  She gasps: "how far to the top?"  Mike replies that it's about 10 minutes - accurate for us but I suspect half an hour at the pace she is maintaining.  Ah well.

The support crew is enjoying a late lunch at the cafe at the bottom of the hill but by the time we turn up the kitchen has closed.   Ah well ano - back home via Zany Zeus it is.

Possumers Hut - Kapakapanui

As an end in itself, hut bagging is not usually my thing.  However, it's as good as an excuse as any to go somewhere and Janine will sometimes rope me in when the objective is off track.  Today it's an old possumer's hut off the side of the Kapakapanui Circuit Track.

  

What:   Hut bagging - Possumer's Hut
Where: Kapakapanui - behind Waikanae
When:  28 March 2021
Who:    Janine and Angela

Website

The hut baggers website has the location and details so I'm not expecting this to be a difficult navigation exercise.  They list it as "Thornhill Possumer's Hut" noting it is the second on the site - the previous called Kohlers Hut.

I don't know where the name 'Thornhill' comes from, but the search prompts me to try to find the significance of Kapakapanui.  The first website that comes up is the local school seeking feedback on a proposal to change their name from a shortened and meaningless 'Kapanui' to the correct form.  They note that:

"The name Kapakapanui came from a waka (canoe) which travelled to Kapiti in the 1800s.  Along with other waka, these name[s] were used to symbolise mana whenua or land occupation."

I won't prolong the trip description here - I've passed through this area a few times, the first trip write-up is in 2013 has a halfway useful description of the Circuit.  

It's a slow climb to the wee knob at 852 which signals that the turn-off to the hut is a bit over 100m higher.  Janine has her GPS, but I'm interested to see if the access point is obvious through more traditional means of navigation.  I find what I think is the likely spot and wait for Janine to confirm.  There's a distinctive bent branch on the track and a faint foot trail turning off to run downhill.  A short way down the hut comes into view.    

It's seen better days - the roof has a disintegrating tarp over it, there's no glass in the window and the inside is a bit ... slimy.  However, the hutbagger website indicates that by May someone has done a bit of reno including perspex in the window and plywood repairs to the floor.  Someone fairly determined I think, as it would be quite a proposition wrestling even a small sheet of ply up that track.      

And that's pretty much it really.  We complete the circuit with the cloud ceiling high enough that we have reasonable views from the top. 

The hut itself is such a short way off the track it's worth popping in for a look as a point of minor interest on the circuit.  For the truly avid bagger, further around the circuit near the Kapakapanui Hut the hutbagger website notes that Henderson's Shelter was located but subsequently removed.  It was in the saddle between pt 890 and the Pukeatua Track - I found some bits of iron and other debris when passing through which I suspect were the remains.

A happy hutbagger

Turere stream daytrip

This is a trip from a couple of years back - in the times before I got sucked into working in the great COVID machine.  There are a few others on the drawing board from around that time that I haven't quite got around to tidying up .... 

Another weekend with just time for a day trip.  This time Mike is too slow to find an excuse and is roped in alongside Angela.  

Using the same old map as last time, the plan is to visit a waterfall on the Turere stream in the hills between Wainuiomata and the Orongorongo Valley.

The waterfall came to my attention by accident some time ago when trawling through TTC trip reports. Someone had identified that the waterfall was marked in the wrong place on the map (downstream) and had taken a trip to visit its correct location - it has been subsequently moved (on the map that is).

Our starting point is a track up a spur by Nikau Stream.  It's shown on the old map and I vaguely recall coming down it in the dark so have absolutely zero confidence of finding it again. 

What:    Navigation day trip
Where:  Turere Stream 
When:   30 August 2020
Who:     Mike, Angela and me

About 8.15 we leave the car at the end of Hine street and head across the field to Nikau Stream.  A pause at the map board where the team estimates how far up Nikau stream before we look for the old track hiving up the side of the gully - about 12 minutes is the consensus assuming a leisurely 2 km/hr.

The regen bush in the gully is cool, manuka is being topped out with the exception of some big old specimens.  

After (fairly close to) 12 minutes a faint path looks like it heads left, closer inspection reveals an old mossy cairn and piece of faded tape.  We follow to where it ducks across the stream and starts scrambling upwards.  It looks familiar - but when I came through here in the opposite direction it was pitch black after a long day.

The track takes us up to the spur where a good foot trail with markers heads on up. About 400m past pt 492, just before the spur steepens, the old map shows a sidle track heading south around the hill side.  We can see a foot trail so follow it.

It's rough but a good wee bench for a short stretch - until we hit the first tree fall. After that it's pretty variable - in and out of gullies, quite a few large treefalls and our time estimates blow out. The odd marker and section of benching confirms we are in the right vicinity. Eventually we reach a spot where we can duck a short way up to the crest of the ridge and the modern track.  Not a recommended diversion. 

Angela notices a sticky damp spot on her trousers which, on closer inspection proves to be blood not sap. A closer look reveals blood on hands and other places but no obvious source. A quick down trou determines that the blood is from a tidy hole in her leg, probably from bush lawyer.  

We should be near an intersection with one of the routes to our ridge so head in the most obvious direction to find it (right).  It doesn't turn up so we return and continue up to where we know our ridge track starts (looking at Angela's Strava log later we must have stopped metres from the intersection).

At the top we join the Whakanui track (west) and head south along a long flat topped ridge through pretty goblin forest. 

After a while the newer sidle track joins from our right - and our first and only other tramper for the day potters into sight from down ridge.  He's spent the night by the river and is heading out again.  

This section of ridge is flat and long so we are keeping an eye on the clock to estimate when we will need to start looking for a point to drop west to the stream valley below.  We're close when the track breaks into an area of dead trees and regrowth - it allows the sun in and gives us views across to the opposite ridge.  It also allows a stiff cool breeze in but it is the perfect spot for lunch.

After lunch, and Mike stepping up to the Jelly bean challenge (in a blind taste he guessed the colour of most correctly), we take bearings off a couple of bumps on the opposite ridge.  Much to everyone's surprise the bearings meet at one point on our ridge, giving us an accurate fix.  

It's surprising how seldom this technique is useful as it relies on: a break in the canopy, no clag, identifiable point(s) roughly parallel to the feature you're on, those points being not so far away that they're on a different map or you can't draw an accurate line from them on the map.

Happy that we know where we are, we potter down trail, and back into forest. The ridge top broadens for a bit before we reach a junction of sorts where markings indicate a route down an obvious spur above our target waterfall - we want to arrive below the falls so continue on the track.

The map shows the track going over some knobs on the ridge but these are not really apparent.  We know we're about in the right place so strike west and scramble down a steep face through messy bush. It gets a bit hairy at the bottom navigating a bit of a loose face but we get to the stream edge in the end.

Angela negotiates the last few meters ...

... with moral support

Regrouping, we head up the respectably sized Turere Stream.  A few bends later we reach the base of the falls - it's not the most picturesque spot but the water cascades over a bit of a drop into a greenish pool.

Men with sticks

We want to continue up valley but there's no climbing the water fall or up the sides near it - we retreat to the first side stream (true left) and find a cairn opposite it.  Sure enough there is a steep scramble up the true right onto a spur which we follow up to drop over the other side, just upstream of the waterfall. 

Waterfalls are nowhere near as interesting from the top so there's not much point hanging around here.  Shortly upstream there's an impressive and recent erosion scar on the true right - the different ages of surrounding bush indicating it's not the first in this spot. 

The stream is a good size and wide enough that it's a pretty straight forward ramble most of the time, barring the odd log jamb.  There's also a few cascades - I climb around these in the interests of dry feet while Mike and Angela elect for the safer but wetter direct approach (mid-rift for Mike and chest high for Angela) .

About 3.30 we figure we could head up stream for a little longer but note that the spurs on the true right for the next kilometre all reach the ridge at the same point - i.e. we may as well head up now.

We clamber onto the chosen spur.  There's little sign of a trail for a start but after a while we start seeing the odd piece of old old tape then a faint foot trail.  This gets stronger as we climb with marking at strong side spurs. Towards the top there are traps, tunnels and we're obvious in an actively managed area.

Soon enough we pop out on to the McKerrow track.  Wainuiomata is already losing the late afternoon sun - hills fade to the horizon and although we can pick out the South Island, the air is so hazy we can't even see any details on the Hutt hills.

Mike pauses to check face book and we potter along the wide albeit a bit muddy track.  

Ignoring the route down to the Boys Brigade camp (and possibly access to Sunny Grove) we follow the main, and very large, benched track that drops us all the way back to the car right on the edge of dark.

Another good day in the local hills.  From subsequent visits I've found that Turere Stream changes noticeably as logs move and shingle backs up behind the jambs.  And the TTC website notes that there are lots more wee waterfalls in the surrounding creeks - so there's plenty more scope for exploring.

  

 

Gollans stream

What with Covid and winter ennui I have become lamentably sessile.  However, if you scratch around there are trips to be had around Wellington that aren't on the maps but are well known to locals.

I've pottered around a few of the tracks around the Eastbourne hills - enough to know there are informal tracks, pest control lines and a bit more space than you would guess from the car.

Angela has clearly forgotten the expensive rips in her underarmour from the last time we wandered off track and is keen to come out for a bit of compass practice.

What:     Day navigation trip
Where:   Hills behind Days Bay
When:    20 August
Who:      Angela and me

I must have lent my Lower Hutt map to someone so I have to resort to one that shows some tracks that are no longer there, and is missing some that are. However the streams and contours haven't changed so it will be fine.

The start isn't auspicious - we can't find the track on my map marked as running SSE to the ridgeline from Lowry Bay, so we follow our noses to Cheviot Road.

The well marked track dives immediately into dim forest with Nikau and supplejack. We pick a spot where there might be a bit of a spur and climb directly away from the track.  It doesn't look like people come this way, but it's open enough with the morning sun lighting the canopy.   Every now and then we get a glimpse out to the harbour.

Just short of the top we cross an old benched track that is still easy to follow.  It seems to sidle around to join the ridgeline a bit further south.  

At the top, the noise from the Wainuiomata Hill road is a bit intrusive and we can see cars flashing by not far below.   However, the sun is on our backs and as we head south along the ridge the sounds fade behind.

It's an easy amble up to the view spot just short of Mt Lowry where we meet a runner - the first person today.  A bit of a stop to transfer control of the map and compass to Angela (no separation anxiety at all) then a short hop along to the survey peg marking Mt Lowry. 

Angela takes a bearing from the top towards the spur we want to take to Gollan Stream.  The track continues our way for a bit but then hives off to the left leaving us to find our way into tiger country.

It turns out that someone has a well cared for trapping line with possum and stoat traps, and rat bait stations. The state of the flour lures for the possums indicate someone has been through not too long ago.  The bark on a few coprosma trees show signs of being chewed by something bigger than possums though - goat or deer by the look of it. 

We studiously ignore the markers for the trap line as Angela takes more bearings, estimates rate of progress and matches the map to the landscape. It's a fairly gentle spur so the hills on either side gradually get higher as we drop and pretty soon we can only hear the sounds of the valley.

The spur meets the valley floor at a flat area in tall, rich forest - there's a bit of of treefall, kiekie and supplejack and the stream wanders around. We're pleased to discover that a trap line continues down stream (as well as other lines going up various spurs).  It's almost a track barring a few overgrown sections. 

I try to make sure that Angela doesn't pick up my rather agricultural approach to navigation so we take time to estimate how long we think it will take to get to the next side stream in this terrain and study the map to work out how we will know when we have reached the points where we might follow a spur out of the valley.  We identify a kink in the stream where the map shows it briefly looping back to flow north - we estimate it will be a stretch about 200m long so it should be pretty obvious when we get to it.

     

It turns out that there is an informal camping spot with an improvised swing and homemade sign, so it would indeed be hard to miss. The stream comes hard back on itself so we are fully confident in our navigational prowess.

We've been taking it slow so decide that we will head up to the ridgeline rather than further downstream to Butterfly Creek.  To avoid taking the obvious spur straight up, we continue downstream for a bit as it steps down through a narrow section with deepish pools.  It's surprising how good the bush is, sandwiched been Eastbourne and Wainuiomata - there's some pretty big rimu and the occasional elegant nikau looking out of place below the canopy.

At the next side stream we cross and immediately follow our noses up the side of a spur towards a marked spot height on the ridge (named on some maps as Hawtrey 343m).  

A short way up we bump into a deer fence.  It's a Regional Council vegetation monitoring plot built in 2001.  You find them in the oddest places and of various sizes. After this there is a reasonable ground trail up the spur with more possum traps.  

At the top we're on the main ridge again.  Heading south from here the Hawtrey track ('route') follows the ridge to join Mackenzie track (to Butterfly Creek) it looks like you could also follow a long spur that drops to the junction of Butterfly Creek and Gollans Stream.   

We can smell the iced coffee at Chocolate Daze cafe though so we head right, along a solid marked track which drops gently to join the main ridgeline track just as it starts the steep descent down Kereru track to Days Bay.

Our relief driver is already happily ensconced at the cafe. Aching knees are soon forgotten over coffee and sticky toffee cake while the late afternoon sun slants in from across the harbour.  A day well spent.

The Giantest rata

The search for a suitable local adventure sees a memory emerging from the depths - a colleague talking about a giant Northern Rata in the bush near Karapoti (Akatarawa).  A casual search quickly finds coordinates for the tree.  There is a named height nearby ('Mount' Barton 627m) and a tricky looking series of spurs that look eminently suitable for a Sunday wander. 

What:     Day trip
Where:   Akatarawa
When:    Sunday 16 August 2020 
Who:      Solo
Map

There's 10 or so cars in the carpark - many with trailers. The idling quad and motorbike with attendant riders indicate that the petrol brigade are out in force. It's a popular road end for pedalled and powered off road activities.

Around 10:40 I head along the gravel 'track' (narrow gravel road).  Six riders hurtle past in the next five minutes, the smell of exhaust is heavy in the air and the foliage on either side is covered in muddy spray.  

Less than 10 minutes later there's a stream crossing - I take the benched track on the right immediately before and start heading up the true left of Little Akatarawa 'River' - and away from the motorbikes.  Around the corner there are a couple of old chimneys - presumably the relics of the buildings still marked with black squares on the map.

There's a good foot trail that leads into the bush, across a wee stream and then starts climbing.  I ignore the odd trail that sidles left up the little river valley on the assumption that the bulk of the feet are likely to be heading where I want to go.

At around 220m a benched track cuts across the spur. Again - the feet have it, I head left and follow an easy track - possibly an old bush tramway given the benching.

There's fresh foot prints on the track so I'm not entirely surprised to hear voices ahead.  It is surprising to come across three chaps wearing wet-suits and helmets. They are practising canyoning skills and confirm there are some waterfalls to navigate downstream.  Probably not the most adventurous trip but maybe the most accessible place to practice - it confirms that following the stream would have been a mistake.

Although the track is pretty good, there is a bit of loose edges in places and at one point a bit of a scramble through an erosion gully.

twenty minutes after leaving the fireplaces at the bottom, the track crosses the stream.  Coming down valley it should be obvious as the stream abruptly narrows and starts dropping.  A piece of yellow plastic marks the spot.  

The track potters up the flat valley floor, crossing back and forth across the stream. It's all easy going with no water getting into ones boots.  I catch up with a couple from Wellington - confirming (if it was needed) that this is hardly off the beaten track.  Surprisingly, they are just exploring and not looking for the rata I'm interested in. 

As I approach the bend marking where to start leaving the stream and looking for the rata, the tramway heads away from the stream a little on the true right. I follow it as it crosses a creek follows another and branches (I turn left) - it could be a little confusing but I follow my nose and end up on the true left of the wee creek marked from near pt 386.  I'm thinking it's about time to head north east onto the flat spur where the tree should be - a couple of bits of old tape seem a good enough spot and a foot trail soon develops.  

I potter up the gentle slope and around 11:40 come across a large rata.  It's bigger than anything else around but hard to see how tall - I take a few photos and sit to contemplate the insignificance of my brief existence against the 1000 - 1500 years I read on line.  But to be honest, I'm a little disappointed.

The trail keeps going towards Mt Barton so I follow along.  A couple of old Good Nature possum traps seem a little out of place with none others seen to date but a few seconds later I bump into a wall of wood that explains their presence, and why the last tree was a bit of a let down.  It's taken less than 1:15 from the car park.

The twining stems that make up the trunk of the old monster disappear through the canopy.  Skirting around the base there's a clearing and an old branch you can shimmy along to get a better view upwards. 

The vital statistics are available on the intriguing notable tree register - 39m high, 15.39m girth, largest Northern rata, 1000 - 1500 years old.

There's limited viewing spots so I only stick around for 10 minutes before continuing upwards.  The track is still pretty clear but I don't notice any good views back to the rata - it would be good to find a vantage point to see how it looks above the canopy.

Someone has kept the track very well clear over the years - including with the use of a chain saw.  There are a few junctions with solid foot trails heading in other directions and no marking.  You have to know where you are going, have a GPS or reasonable facility with compass and map.

I reach a high point but work out that it isn't Mt Barton and have to backtrack a little and use the compass to work out the correct route.  The proper top at 1pm is unmistakable with a decaying trig, but the clearing is reverting to bush and the flat top may be hard to distinguish one day.    

Up to this point the bulk of the navigation has been up and consequently uncomplicated.  The map now shows a winding series of branching spurs.  I've figured that although there are a lot of options the most aesthetically pleasing is to thread the needle to the mouth of Little Akatarawa Valley where I started. This could be interesting. 

The spur zigs and zags and whenever there is a side spur, there seems to be a solid track heading determinedly in that direction. The canopy is high enough that there's little assistance from views of surrounding ridges. Things go smoothly though and although the 'track' is fairly faint I'm still sure of my location when I drop the last 100m to emerge bang on target at the benched track I had followed in the morning (approx 220m contour). 

Rather than continuing down to the fire places I turn left to see where the old tramway will lead.

The track sidles along the valley side gently dropping towards the floor. I'm mildly concerned that it will deposit me in someone's backyard, but it's well enough travelled to suggest a more publicly accessible start/end.

In the end it deposits me about a minute's walk from the carpark. There's not much to mark it - coming from the car park there are some concrete blocks, then a steel post and a wee gap under the trees just past it.

It's about 2.20 so the whole trip has taken about 3 hr 40.  A nice wee wander to an impressive tree.