Wesley Church Group Walks

Looking Glass Gardens, etc

By Maurice Boniface

24th September 2007

St Peter at the top of the The Kaiate Falls

stairway to heaven

Well, here I am back at writing tramping stories after my visit to Wellington and Melbourne, which was very enjoyable. Monday's weather report was for showers so Ken decided not to go too far afield. Neil picked up Dave and Ken, then came over to our place and picked me up and we set off for the Papamoa Hills Regional Park. We put on our gear and walked from the car park up through some pine trees to the first lookout. Motiti Island was straight ahead with Plate Island not far away. I had been happily taking photos but noticed that the camera beeped after each one - Dave had a look at it and said that it said on the screen "No memory card" I had forgotten to put it in before I left home! Neil kindly offered to take more than he usually does so I would have a record to write this story.

We continued on up the track and found there were lots of lambs with their mothers all over the paddocks, some of them had grown quite big. There were groves of trees in some of the gullies, in one there were some Rewarewa Trees whose flowers were still there although they had past their best, the Tuis have been having a good feed of nectar. We got good views of Te Puke and one of their water storage tanks just below us. Up ahead we could see the Trig Station on the top of the highest hill which used to be a fortified Pa and has a flattened look about it with a dip in the middle. A lady had passed us earlier and she was getting near the top at this stage. We kept going and were soon at the top and what great views you get from there. We could see White Island but it was pretty misty, Mayor Island didn't seem to be very far away and looked a different shape from here, the Aldermans were just past it and of course, The Mount was looking its usual self with Tauranga just below it and Matakana Island. Down the coast was Whale Island and Mt Edgecumbe. It wasn't windy today so we stayed up there and had a good look around including the Quarry just below us. We could hear a strange sound like a cat meowing and Dave said it was a Peacock - we have seen them down in the valley on previous trips. We made our way down to a couple of Pine Trees where there was a picnic table so even though it was only 9.45 we decided it was a great place for morning tea with all these magnificent views all around. I rang Mum who was busy ironing - someone has to do the work! We continued on down the farm roads with the sheep and lambs all over the place. Dave said he has seen ewes lying down asleep while its lamb sits on top of it and looks all around!

We got back to the car and went down Manoeka Road and Quarry Road to the Looking Glass Garden which is a property owned by Gael Blaymires and she has developed it over the last twenty years into a lovely park like environment and lets the public come in and enjoy it. We parked the car and paid our $5 each into the honesty box at the gate, picked up our map, which said to look for the chapters of Alice Through the Looking Glass and set off down the path. There were green signposts with pink petal hats and leaf arms with the sign on. We came to the Looking-glass House which had a looking glass for a window so Neil took a photo of the window and it looked as though I really was looking in the window. There were imitation flowers and real flowers - there was a white garden gate made of metal with a fancy design at the top of some wooden steps but they didn't need a gate! There were little signs all over the place like the one that said 'Thyme Share'. Then there was the tree with a red teapot cut-out on its trunk with the words "Tea Tree" on it and one of its branches had a whole row of teapots hanging along it! Just past it was a building with a kitchen inside which looked very neat and tidy. To the right was a big circular lawn called the Main Circle on the plan, it had what looked like tiered wooden seats nearly all the way round with trees behind it but the tree branches were coming right through it. Gael told Ken later that originally it was used for a production where they expected 100 people to come but 500 turned up so they had to run it for a week. It obviously isn't used now. There was a notice pointing towards the kitchen which said 'Servants'.

Down the path there was another sign which said "Bread and Butterflies" and there were brightly painted wooden butterflies on stands. The next sign said 'Looking-glass Insects' and we could see a large grasshopper on the top of a tree stump. In the middle of a circle of trees there were three tall ladders - the significance of them escaped us. The next sign said 'Never Never Land' and in the middle of a lawn was a stone panel with the faces of lots of children carved on it. Up on a hill to the side were duck models one behind the other. Further along was a lawn with three little houses - one was made of straw, the next one of wood and the third of bricks, presumably built by the three little pigs. Inside they each had beds with toy animals on them, one had a fireplace with a mantle surround with all sorts of ornaments on it. To the side was a ring of bright red toadstools and further over a peculiar looking bird that looked like the cross between a parrot and an eagle. Past that was a little pond with a small fountain playing in the middle of it. Beside it was a sign 'Warning - Pathway to Big Bad Wolf' but it looked slippery so we didn't go that way but went up the hill with signs along the way like 'Red Queen' - 'Wool & Water' and 'Humpty Dumpty'. He was sitting on a wall made of concrete blocks and was hollow so was made on a wire frame with cement plaster on it. The next one was Little Miss Muffet, but she wasn't there, just the big spider made out of wood beside an empty 'tuffet' !

We then came to a sign which said "Stairway to Heaven" and my word it was a stairway, wooden steps that went up straight up a steep hill which dominates the whole property! At the gate there had been a sign which said "Steep steps are for visual effect - no responsibility taken if people climb steps"! We decided to take the 'Snow Drops Path' instead which sounded much more appealing. We passed 'The Guardians' which were strange looking statues on the top of poles. We didn't see any snow drops but there were big beds of daffodils which had finished flowering and we could just imagine what it had looked like a few weeks earlier. We passed a model of a boy in blue with his horn in his hand and some sheep in the meadow. Ken and Dave went up some stairs to the top but Neil and I kept on the path and got there just the same. At the top there was a nice grassy area with views all around and a gateway at the top of the Stairway to Heaven. Further over was a tall statue of Saint Peter - Neil took a photo of him so I will attach it - as you can see, he has been there for some time but looks very dignified so I went over, removed my hat and had a word with him. Ken said that Gael told him later that all the statues have been created out of Hinuera Stone by a local carver. There was a brightly painted dingy lying on the grass called Gail Force ! A family were sitting on a seat at the top having their lunch, the lady told us they had come up the stairway and the children had managed very well. There were more children climbing up it while we were there. We made our way back and passed the house where Gael lives and she happened to come out. She said they were having trouble with stoats and weasels because there quite a few chooks of various sorts all over the place, so she was trying to train a little Jack Russell dog she had there to go for stoats but not the chooks! She was amazed how much walking we were doing today. Down the path was a sign 'Pot Plants' next to a stand with all sorts of pots on it. Another thing that surprised us was how many wheelbarrows there had been scattered all along the paths with flowers and other plants in them. We came to a shed with an old Mini car in it with the sign "Old Thyme' next was an old digger whose sign said 'Thyme Machine' and the last one was 'Home Thyme' so we got into the car and drove to the Kaiate Falls car park where we got out and had lunch at a picnic table.

I had rung Mum earlier because we were so late, so I sent my usual texts and got replies very promptly. There were quite a few cars in the car park so we were going to all go and look at the falls together but a small black car came in with two young chaps in it who didn't get out but just sat there smoking. This car park is notorious for car break ins so we decided to split in two - Dave and I went first leaving the others sitting in the car. There had been a flood a few years ago which damaged the two bridges on the track and they had closed the track while repairs were made, so we were keen to see what it was like now. The first bridge had been completely replaced but had no sides so any flood would go straight over it but the second one just had new sides made. It started to drizzle but soon stopped so we took off our coats again. We got back in quick time and let the other two go - the little black car had driven off because they could see there were 'guards on duty' ! Ken had thought we would go and walk around Johnston Park but when I suggested we have afternoon tea at our place they all voted for that! I rang Mum and warned her so we turned up at 2.30 p.m. for early afternoon tea. Neil suggested I down load the photos onto my computer which I did, so we all had a look at them and then they set off for home.