3rd May 2010
By Maurice Boniface
Ken said he thought we would go and look at the autumn colours at McLaren Falls Park and also go and look at the Omanawa Falls as we haven't done that for a while. I went to Terry's place and picked up him, Ken, Graham and Norma who hasn't been out with us for about three years she said. We drove up the Kaimai Road and turned down Omanawa Road and went to the place where you go down to look at the Omanawa Falls.
We parked the car and put on our gear then walked down the road which has been re-metalled and the sides cleared. Ken said that someone has bought the old power station and is doing up the area so people can see what it looked like. The road ends and a track goes under an old wooden structure that held a Flying Fox line that used to go down to the Power House near the Falls. A new winch has been installed on top of it and a steel wire goes down very steeply to a building which was new when we were here a couple of years ago but is now out of sight, you can just see the deck. A new steel railing fence has been built right down the side of the narrow track, so we went down to where you can see the waterfall. We got some good views of the Falls which come over a rock ledge and fall into a deep pool below, which is surrounded by huge cliffs The track ends abruptly at a steel door which was closed. It leads to the underground Power House that used to be there and was the earliest hydro scheme in the area. It stopped operating about 10 or 15 years ago. Terry went down and had a look because you could see a light shining through the crack down the side of the door and there was the sound of a motor running on the other side. There were some stone stairs beside the track which Ken said goes up to a path that goes over the top and comes down by the Power House. We walked back up the road, which is quite steep, to the car then we drove to McLaren Falls Park and parked outside the new cafe which is now operating in the building that used to be a lodge. There were several people standing around and a chap came over and asked us to shift over to the side because they were expecting a bus load of school children to arrive and they were going to go through the Rimu Walk, which we hoped to do too! The bus soon arrived and there was a lot of chatter after that. We walked up past the cafe and another building behind which is another lodge.
We went down a steep hill to a picnic area with a gas barbeque and is called Bottom Flat. There were several birds around including two ducks who were sitting on a tree stump in the water on the edge of the lake and weren't at all perturbed by us walking past them. There were a couple of black swans on the water's edge with a little cygnet with them, the male kept a sharp eye on us to see that we didn't get too close. The track goes around a headland into Cherry Bay and because there was no wind the water was dead calm except for the ripples made by the ducks. Across on the other side there were several trees with their autumn coloured leaves still, but were past their best. I will attach a photo to show you. In amongst the leaves on the side of the track was were some fungi, one was a bright red ball which looked most unusual. We came out onto a road and found that they have put up new signs telling you where the different roads and tracks go. We went down a new track beside the lake which is made of gravel and is slightly raised above the wet ground. We came to the bridge which goes across to where there is a picnic ground and we found that the lake is so low that there were muddy areas along the bank. There are quite a few trees here still with their autumn leaves on and a mother was there with her two children feeding the ducks. We found a nice seat looking out across the lake where we sat down for morning tea. I rang Mum and it was very clear. I went over by the lake to take a photo of the others and Ken said "Go back a bit Maurice!" Does he want me to fall into the water? - so I went right by the edge just to please him!
We continued around the lake, past half a dozen ducks having a sleep on the grass, taking no notice of us. Norma borrowed my phone to tell her daughter where she was. We passed a large grassy area with a new structure like a small stage for concerts. The track all along here has been rebuilt and is in good condition with new steel gates everywhere. We disturbed a flock of Canada Geese who all flew up from the lake and settled on the paddock on the other side. Just in front to them there is a spring of water coming up in the lake and we could see the water gushing up every now and then like a small fountain. The lake starts to narrow from here on and becomes a river but the water is so calm you an see the trees on the other side reflected in it even though it is moving quite quickly judging by the leaf floating past. The track then goes up a series of wooden steps to a road up through the trees. We walked down to the gate to the Lower Mangapapa Power Station. We used to be able to go and look at it but because they had trouble with vandals you can't go past here. We went up the road to where the Rimu Walk is but we could hear the children down in there so we went on to Lake Mangapapa which is formed by the dam built for the power station. It is a very pretty scene because the trees come right down to the water's edge on both sides and there is no noise up here at all. We looked around the intake and then went down onto the top of the concrete dam which has a wire netting fence at one end for you to look around. We then went along to a track which we came down last year and which had a big fallen tree across it. Ken rang the council about it but it looks as though they have just got around to clearing it because we could see the evidence all around the area. We passed the wooden picnic table which is out here on the wopwops all by itself in the bush. We presumed that before the trees had all grown up around here you used to be able to see the lake. The track comes out onto a road and there were all the children and teachers etc standing around listening to the guide telling them about the area. There was new track on the other side of the road and Ken asked him where it went to and as it comes out at the other end of the Rimu Walk we went along it. Just along a little further was a row of buckets with a pile of gravel beside them. We presumed they are using PD chaps to metal the new track. It started off with nice new gravel to walk on but soon degenerated to a new rough track and wound around all over the place. Terry, Graham and I were at the back and while we were walking along a tiny robin came and sat on the ground a few metres from us and hopped around all over the place, in fact a at one stage he perched on a branch about a metre from me. Terry and I tried to get photos of him but he moved too fast.
The track came out onto another track where there were more buckets for the PD chaps but these were filled with soil for planting new shrubs. We went down the steep steps onto the Rimu Walk and found they had put name tags onto quite few of the trees for the children to see. We stopped and had a look at the big Rimu and saw all the Widow Makers hanging up there and one of the tags said"Widow Makers". We came out at the other end just in time to see a small digger with caterpillar tracks trundling down the road with a big truck behind it with a load of soil . Where they were going we had no idea. The road goes up the hill and through some paddocks to the Top Lodge which is much newer than the other one and where we were going for lunch as we have on several other occasions. We sat on the deck and I rang Mum and sent my texts but only got one reply. There is a marvellous view from up here and it was very nice sitting there enjoying it. This is an equestrian area and we could see a young woman practising her dressage over in a paddock some way away.
We set off down through the paddocks and came to the Ponga Walk which has hundreds of them and they looked great in the afternoon sunshine, but by now a wind had got up and I was glad I had my jacket on. We climbed up Pine Tree Knoll where there is a viewing platform and you get another lot of wonderful views. We walked down another track to the Rotary Grove and looked around from the building there then carried on until we came to the Waterfall Track. This is up a small valley with a track up both sides of the stream. We went up one side and looked at the waterfall and back down the other - this side the track is much better than the other. We met a woman later who told us that if you come back here at night there are thousands of glow worms along both sides of the stream, in fact it looks like a city with its lights on. We came back and passed the bridge we were on this morning and found the lake had fallen even further. Terry said they probably use the water at the power station and then turn it off at night to let the lake rise again. We passed a pile of rocks with water falling down it but with no visible sign of where it comes from - is it a spring or is there an underground pipe to it? We made our way down to the dam which makes the lake and had a look around there and went to the other side and across the road to look at where the water comes out to go down the canal to the power station on the Wairoa River. We then walked back and got to the cars just before 3 p.m. We had afternoon tea and set off for home. They told me that Betty will be expecting us home every Monday this early so Norma said it was because this is her first tramp for a long time! I got there before four o'clock.
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