Bush Bash 9

Engaging in a few small bush bash adventures in locations overlooked in prior journeys.

With a couple of hours up my sleeve and harbouring a foot injury, I embarked on a series of smaller expeditions into the bushlands of Wainuiomata. The first location was to go back to the hut that I discovered in bush bash 05, where I had explored south from there, following a couple of small creeks. This time, I bush bashed my way to the hut and headed north, toward private property, to see if there was anything of interest. I followed the flow of the main creek in this valley and discovered nothing but forest.

Next, I navigated out of this valley, to a ridge and dropped down to the next valley where Skerretts Creek is located. In fact I dropped down behind the abandoned water tanks near the Whakanui Track. I then walked around the tanks and explored further out in the surrounding area to see if I could find water catchment artefacts. In a 1969 aerial photo of this area, you can see 4 or 5 water tanks and what appears to be a few straight lines in the bush near the first tank. I reasoned that this could represent later forest growth than the surrounding area perhaps due to the existence of an old pipeline. I found what looked like an old path in the bush, but found no artefacts or water catchment infrastructure remnants.

I then headed out slowly toward Sunny Grove and drove down to Hine Road Recreation Area and took some photos of the bridge that spans the Wainuiomata River toward top Pool. I followed that up with a bush bash, starting near the bridge and toward Sinclair Cemetery on an overgrown section that use to be part of the Whakanui Track. I then dropped down to Sinclair Cemetery and explored the bush around that site and found an old Sinclair Cemetery sign lying on the forest floor. It then started to rain, so I walked to my car in the Hine Road car park and headed home.