Auckland Baptist Tramping Club 2004

Friday We left The Bracken at 6:15pm and travelled to Waitomo and checked into the Top 10 Holiday Park in the village just doen from the well-known Waitomom Hotel. We were in 4-bunk cabins Saturday

We left the holiday park at 9am for the Tawarau Gorge tramp. We split up into two groups, one of 10 and one of 11 people, each group starting at a different end of the track and swapping car keys when crossing each other. The group that started from the north end, led by Phillip and Katrina, stopped on the way to see the Mangapohue Natural Bridge and the Marakoopa Falls on the way. The other group had a look at the natural bridge on the way back to Waitomo. The Mangapohue Natural Bridge was exactly that - a ten-minute walk through a narrow limestone gorge brought us to not just one but two bridges across the stream, one directly above the other. It was very spectacular. Time did not allow us to complete the round trip through pasture and limestone outcrops. A 5-minute track led downhill through bush to the spectacular Marakopa Falls, whose spray we could feel from the viewpoint. We set out on the tramp proper at about 11am. There was about 45 minutes travel across farm land first, along rough tracks, with the final 100 metres or so scrambling up to a gate with an orange marker on the bushline, being the start of the DOC reserve. The track followed an old vehicle track all the way to the end. It was much overgrown and badly in need of maintenance, with a few scrambles across streams. In one place the recent rainstorms caused a massive slip across the track, very muddy in places. Shortly after that we had to negotiate a large tree that the same storms had caused to fall and block the track. We arrived at Blackberry Flat at 1:15pm, and could see limestone bluffs in the distance. Just as we arrived at the clearing so did the other group, led by Roger and Alasdair. Very well timed for our lunch stop. Phillip gave a short talk about rocks, especially rocks and Jesus. In His lifetime Jesus was familiar with rocks - Phillip opened a book about Israel that showed the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, one of many rocky places Jesus had been to. Jesus referred to Old Testament ideas about rocks, such as offering shelter from a storm. Israel was a country full of limestone caves like those at Waitomo.  Jesus often referred to rocks in His teachings, such as the parable of the wise man who built his house on a rock.  Jesus is our Rock whom we can go to for our spiritual and other needs.The devotions finished with singing Thank God, a song the Tasmania summer tramps group sang at a church service in Hobart, and was also sung at the Summer Tramps Reunion recently. The track after lunch was easier, though still very much overgrown. As we progressed southwards limestone outcrops began to appear across the stream we were following, becoming more spectacular as we continued. After a short farm walk, very boggy in places due to the rainstorms two weeks before, came out at the Were Rd carpark at 5pm. Both groups arrived almost the same time back at Waitomo, just after 6pm. A hot pool at the holiday park awaited to give us a welcome soak In the evening we dined at the Morepork pizzeria restaurant in the nearby Kiwi Paka YHA hostel. Our wallets were given a good whirl as we enjoyed delicious mains, pizzas and desserts. This was a BYO restaurant - all wine had to be bought from the nearby tavern.

Sunday

After packing up and putting our luggage in the vehicles, we set out on the Waitomo Walkway, which started from the Waitomo village close to the holiday park. We climbed up to an interesting assembly of limestone outcrops in the bush. The track then went out of the bush into pasture and climbed to a lookout over the Waitomo valley. From there we continued through pasture, dropping down to cross the main road and follow the Waitomo Stream underneath the Tumutumu Road bridge and on towards Ruakuri. Further on, the ground resembled a street map of a large city with cracks formed by mud drying out after the recent rainstorms. Katrina’s theme for devotions was trees. She told us how trees give us all sorts of things, just as God does. Trees give us oxygen which sustains life; they provide food for insects, animals, birds and humans; they give the comforts of the rhythmic seasonal cycle; they provide wood for us to make things both practical and aesthetic; there is a visual beauty in trees; they are an invitation to play in God’s playground, the great outdoors. Katrina then read a children’s book The Giving Tree that tells about a tree who loves a boy so much she (the tree) likes him swinging on her branches, gives him apples to sell, provides wood for him as a man to build a house, gives him her trunk to make a boat to paddle overseas, and finally as a stump gives him a seat to rest on. The walkway dropped into bush to follow the stream to the Ruakuri carpark. As we came out to the carpark we passed a group of intending blackwater rafters practising The Eel, a manoeuvre where, once over the waterfall inside the Ruakuri Cave, they would link up in a long snake-like line and float through the cave’s glow worm grotto to the exit. Paul’s car was waiting - but our tramp wasn’t over yet. The best was yet to come - the Ruakuri Scenic Reserve walk. In contrast to yesterday’s overgrown track with all sorts of obstacles, the track was very well formed and would even be suitable for jandals. It had just been covered in a new layer of metal; during the rainstorms the stream had apparently risen to the height of our heads - not only did the floodwaters damage the track, they ruined the picnic area by the carpark and also washed away a footbridge in the reserve, forcing part of the loop track within the reserve to be closed off. The track went past the exit of Ruakuri Cave, where the black water rafters come out at the finish, before climbing up to the viewing platform of the Natural Tunnel. The steady ten minute climb to the platform included a walk through a small God-made tunnel and a stretch of level boardwalk along the side of a sheer limestone bluff. We had spectacular views of the natural tunnel, where the stream enters a cave to come out further downstream.

A short loop took us to the stream’s edge just before entering the tunnel, then we had to return the way we came to the car park. We stopped for lunch in Otorohanga about 1pm before heading home to Auckland, arriving at The Bracken about 4:30pm, having enjoyed an interesting weekend with plenty of variety. COSTS: $62 (travel $25; food - 2 breakfasts and suppers only - $5; accommodation $32)