New Bush Track - half completed!

Bridge across stream

Two or three years ago I arranged for my cousin Hillary's husband Rodney ( a hard working farmer) to continue  a bush track that finished in a dead end. To use this track you had to be wearing gumboots to get through patches of swamp! Due to difficulty few people made the effort to enjoy the experience.


Bridge over  swampy area

When I first bought my bush valley home the previous owner ( a landscape gardener) told me it was a 'wilderness' garden. Years later I realized that I took him far to literally and over the years have had to remove a number of trees to let the light in.

Wood ready to make walkway

Hostas in early Spring

Now that I have past my 'use by date' as an educator I have become focused on developing my garden as well as taking up painting - but that's another story.

When visiting friends in the UK last year we visited Charles Darwin's house in Kent where I was impressed with a walk he established for contemplation - he placed 20  flint stones and kicked then off one a time until all finished then he went inside to write,

In my garden close to the house I have established hosta planting - plants that really enjoy the shady situation and there are a wide range of introduced trees and shrubs but it was the bush that originally attracted my attention.

The first track we completed runs along the side of a steep hill and features large puriri, tawa  , mangeo and pukatea. Rodney ( with the help of Hillary) cut a new track down to the stream and Rodney built two bridges to cross the stream and two  duckwalks through  swampy areas.  Now the track is a reasonably easy walk.

Duckwalk through swamp

The track,  now under construction, makes a loop walk through the best bush  and swamp on the property. The original owner had planted a wonderful range of native trees to complement the original pukatea, kohekohe, rewarewa  and mature mamaku tree ferns. The planted natives  include rimu, kauri,totara, tanekaha, kowhai and maire. Para ( or king or horseshoe fern) and silver tree ferns are also a feature.

When completed the two tracks will join together to make a figure eight walk.





View across parataniwha and hydrangea in swamp

If all goes well  I will celebrate my next birthday with a bush track opening.