Maraetotara Valley, Mohi Bush and the Ferocious Ongaonga

On a lovely fine 24 degree Tuesday in mid April, we decided that I would make Bookshop Cafe muffins & that we would head out to the Maraetotara valley for an autumn adventure. We soon realised that we hadn't been up this way since the cyclone & we found (to use an Aboriginal term) a sorry river- a very sorry river & valley indeed.

Although it's not so apparent in the photos.

So much destruction and sickness and fleabane and rough terrain.

Even the Kawkawa was desperately suffering and had developed black sooty mould.

When we looked down to our next step along a very bumpy riverside trail and saw a dead cow, we realised we needed to leave this place. We scrambled up the 20 metre vertical bank to the road (grabbing handfuls of grass as we went) & met the cow rescuers at the top. Oh how sad- the cows were being moved down the road this morning when an impatient person drove past too quickly scaring the poor darling and causing her to leap down the 20 metre bank- to her death.

On we drove, only to meet a herd of rather beautiful cattle, also being moved down the road.

We pulled over, turned off the engine & waited patiently.

A lovely autumn rural view out one car window

and a cow's back end out the other!

After the cows had passed by I realised there was a large wild cape gooseberry plant randomly growing right here.

Soon enough we drove on again and here we were, halfway to Mohi bush when we began to spot ripe banana passionfruit hanging from vines all along the roadside. People get a bit hysterical about this stuff here in Aotearoa- but we loved them as kids. It's now illegal to sell the fruit or plants or even to propagate itin most areas. So I figure we were performing a valuable public service when we stopped to gather dozens of ripe fruit from the wild. The only trick was that the road was narrow & there weren't many ideal places to stop. We were still feeling gutted about the poor cow, when we saw more golden glory waving in the breeze. Rob was assigned to getaway duty & I plunged in to the undergrowth to gather up the fallen fruit. Just at that moment a little car tootled around the corner & screeched to a sudden halt. "Are you alright?", she cried? Lifting my hands full of passionfruit splendour I cried back, "Absolutely fine, thank you for asking- just collecting banana passionfruit". Oh, that's ok then. Thought I'd better ask." And off she whizzed leaving us giggling as she sounded just like Dame Kate Harcourt from days gone by. I swear that was the very car...

You can see the short film "Sweet As" featuring Kate Harcourt just here.

Oh and there were pinecones so we filled two sacks full.

An unusual tree to see in a paddock- a money puzzle.

Interesting country abode with another spare seven vehicles.

Eventually we ended up at Mohi Bush Scenic Reserve where we had our afternoon tea

enjoying the profound peace of the countryside.

Bookshop Cafe Savoury Muffins make perfect picnic food.

Lots of rocky bits up here- look a turret.

The resilience of mullein- growing in limestone rock.

This native rongoa (medicinal plant) tataramoa is also known as bush lawyer and this particular variant seems unique to the area to me. There's not a lot of it here so I harvest sparingly. This plant is happy growing up in to the boughs of a titoki tree.  

The native nettle ongaonga is extremely abundant up here so great caution is required. It must be the stingiest stuff ever and we don't want to test that theory- ever. It can kill you if you were to fall in to a patch. Fortunately we don't have many truly deadly things in our forests. Eventually ongaonga (urtica ferox) forms stiff, prickly shrubs.
It's good to know what the seedlings look like as these were found right on the edge of the forest path- lying in wait for uncovered ankles. It's amazing to think that our endemic red and yellow emperor butterflies have been so smart as to employ the protection of these feisty plants to keep their pupae safe from predators. 

There's a lot of miro, matai and rewarewa trees in the forest. There must also be tawa as I found a berry on the ground.

A magical forest.

The light is amazing coming through these trees in late afternoon, adding a sparkling reverence to the walk.

The tracks are pretty wide and easily walked and well kept too.

There's always fungi to find in the forest- just to observe.

So nice to see a rimu through here. The draping effect and brighter green given them away.

Kawakawa The Holey one!!

I think we nearly got lost (the sign posts were ambiguous) but we could see footprints in the mud so we kept going up this way. I think it was a dry-ish river bed. Probably not the route to take after rain.

Pigeonwood with unripe berries that are apparently toxic ripe or not.

Lovely to see horopito in the understory. Known as the New Zealand pepper tree. It is a nicely spicy culinary native, but also has some useful medicinal attributes. I read once of a woman badly injuring her knee while tramping and in great pain she nibbled on horopito leaves finding relief sufficient that she was able to walk out to safety on her own. I'm not sure I have ever seen the flower buds before. Apparently eventually red berries will appear.

Quite a bit of the walk involves traversing farmland that is peppered with native trees in quite a different habitat like these two miro. Well I think they're miro. We are still learning. So if you're thinking "she doesn't know what she's talking about", you might be quite right so please do give me a hand.

A view out to sea!

Country landscapes are so pleasingly rustic.

A rather nicely symmetrical miro, I think.

Well I guess docking is to help with preventing fly blow and she seems happy enough, so tails are a go around here. Docking habits on large farms are now so entrenched you could be forgiven for forgetting that sheep are born with tails!

Along this bush margin there's a pronounced presence of ongaonga. There'll be no stumbling in to the bush from this side, that's for sure. I did catch a waft of exquisite fragrance that apparently may have belonged to a native orchid, so perhaps ongaonga is a super protector, not just an aggressor.

No, do not touch!!

And the seeds.

I'm afraid I do find these signs quite confusing on many occasions, but I think we've got the gist of the Mohi pathways now.

It's aways such a different journey heading home. Lots of pockets of native bush up in the Maraetotara valley.

Treasure. I gave most of them away.

Our elderly friend Audrey, who once lived across the street, told me a story once of living in Wanganui as a child and how her mother would bottle the banana passionfruit that they foraged from the thicket growing at the back of the property. I should imagine that a coal range was involved in the process. So after years of loving these wild fruits, but finding them pretty tart, I cooked some and oh my- what a transformation! And yes they need to be sweetened too.

The Magical Three Pools Of Waipatiki

 After getting a bit lost in life through March- both getting covid for the first time in four years and having kids to stay and needing to rest in our recovery and still having to contend with Watties unreasonable sleep interrupting behaviour, we were so relieved to emerge in to April with the realisation that we were going to be ok.

And what a glorious April of autumn sunshine and adventures we've had. Getting your timing right is a good plan- we looked ahead and saw that Wednesday the 10th April would likely be wonderfully fine and summery, so we juggled things to fit and after making rustic foraged apple pies, headed out to Waipatiki on a 28 degree autumnal day. A year or so ago we stopped to admire a crucifix orchid in a garden down the road and ended up chatting with the lady about this amazing place we love so much- Waipatiki. She told us about the "Three Pools" up river and so we slipped through the gate and wandered up stream, not having a clue what we would find, or if there would be anything to find at all, after the cyclone. As it turns out, we found pure magic- primeval rocks, pools of wonder and river gardens. Then we walked in the sea & drank elderflower fizzy water & headed home feeling utterly surfeit & so grateful.

Serendipity plays a huge part in our foraging life. I'm sure you could plan strategically to arrive at just the right time to harvest say rosehips, or wild apples and find that you missed your timing because the season was a bit different, or someone else had got there first, but if you just head out there trusting that you'll find what you didn't know you were looking for, then that's when the magic happens and out of that space there arises joy, peace and gratitude.

There are plenty of times where we spot trees of opportunity but we have to keep going as there is simply nowhere safe to pull over, however, on this occasion when I spied a healthy looking walnut tree, there was space to pull over just around the corner.

Most wild English walnuts don't seem to produce particularly large nuts, but they're still tasty.

"Help Mum, I'm falling...down!"

"It's alright little one, I'll catch you."

It's funny how we have come out here so many times through the years yet we have never asked ourselves- "what's that little river called?" Ah, Waipatiki river- well that makes sense.

Apple hand pies made with foraged apples from Ugly Hill road Porangahau.

Perfect picnic food. You can find the recipe just here.

Most of the year this is just the loveliest, quiet little stream.

It's gentle and clean and so beautiful. 

There's loss here but not crazy destruction like in the Esk valley or out at Sacred Hill where everything has been destroyed.

Wild apple mint- riverside.

And watercress.

Through the gate we're wandering in to Pan Pac (forestry) land but no one's been through here in ages. We always imagined a forestry road that went for miles, but it peters out after a short distance and becomes a rough path that is used by walkers & their dogs from time to time.

I hear so many people complain about the lack of bees these days, but out here in the wild they flock to the yarrow and other wild flowers.

Nikau palms, cabbage trees and kahikatea trees across the other side.

Looking back we are suddenly in another land. The terrain here is entirely unfamiliar.

Where did all the rocks come from?

It's all so beautiful and pristine and un-messed with.

Rivers are so mysterious, holding secrets and untold stories.

Amazingly, there are even native beech trees up here.

And Tawa.

We so badly wanted to cross over to visit with this majestical old being, but we didn't have other shoes.

Water coming out of the hills.

The wairua (spirit) of this river is so joyful and free.

Happy watercress.

We couldn't help but want to join in.

A moss garden mid river.

It was liking being in the most beautiful garden.

I wonder what stories this tree holds?

An astonishingly huge quartz rock.

The perfect place for a picnic really. The river just babbling, not rushing or shouting or fierce.

It was hard to tell which might have been which with the pools- it's not like going to the "baths" where everything's laid out and contained and managed.

But this was certainly an intriguing pool that appeared to have created it it's own residents.

I wonder what they are and whether this pool has always been this way? 

The rocks envelope and present a huge number of fossils so I guess they all arrived hurtling through the air at some point in the evolutionary journey of our province. I have so many questions- like why are they all clustered down here in the middle of a river bed and now water runs through and around them?

There must be nettle out here somewhere as we often encounter these endemic yellow admiral butterflies (there were red ones "kahukura" on this visit too). I imagine there's Ongonga in the margins of the forest somewhere. So clever how they make use of their prickly host to protect their pupae.

This sign no longer seems intimidating, as it once did and is probably why we'd never gone through the gate before.

It's alright we were just wandering and being amazed. No shooting happening.

Waipatiki is such a rich and wonderful destination with it's offerings of a dozen different experiences depending on what you fancy doing on any given visit. We love that there is a magical river, a unique sandy bay seascape, groves of cathedralesque nikau palms, large swathes of native forest with walking trails, and even a majestical redwood grove. 

Even just a paddle here is refreshing and fun.

Well this happy dog certainly thought so- he had become bored waiting for dad to stop fishing so he snuck off in to the lagoon by himself (all the while keeping an ear cocked in case he was called) and cavorting and barking in utter delight in the water. 

And that's how we felt about this wonderful adventure- utterly delighted.