 |
| The city of Nae Nae . Nae Nae is a Maori word that means mosquitoes |
I finally got to get out and stretch my legs. For my first hike I decided to stick close to home since rain was in the forecast. I thought it best to save the prettier places for days with better weather.
Abra dropped me off at the end of Upper Fitzthubert road at about 7am and I headed up the hill from there to walk on old roads. There are roads and trails and mountain bike paths everywhere.
I was looking forward to taking lots of photos, so I was disappointed to have left my camera at home. I did what I could with my cell phone. I also wanted to find a few geocaches but my GPS(r) battery was too low for much accuracy so I had to ditch that plan.
My goal was to head into a pine forest to look for mushrooms. It is fall in New Zealand so I get to enjoy two mushroom seasons in a row this year. Pine trees are not native but they were planted in huge plantations for their lumber.
I am really hoping to find King Boletes and they grow with pine trees so that is why I looked for the pines. Access to the woods is quite different here and many of the trails are kind of hidden.
We had tried to find this particular access point before but it was unclear that it was a trail, same with another access point that is even closer to the house. Soon I guess, I will learn the ways of New Zealand trailheads in the cities.
I did not find any king boletes but I did find a few Amanita muscaria and some other mushrooms. I did not pick any of the amanita's because they require a lot of processing to get rid of the poison. Next time I might pick some anyway so I will have something to bring home.
I ended up going off trail and joining up with another lower road. Brush crashing in a strange eco-system already! I felt brave. I as in an area that I had mapped out pretty well on my GPS though.
The best hiking map of New Zealand that I have is actually on my phone. I'm not sure how to get that same map on my GPS. I have not figured out how to get my PC topo map of New Zealand to autoroute so I can easily figure out the distance of a planned hike.
I do not yet have a container to hold my stove fuel or a container to use my water bottle filter with, so I had no hot drinks and I had to pack in all my water.
I really need to lose weight, so I plan on doing lots of walks and hikes in the next few months.
I think it might be fun to feature different New Zealand plant or bird every week.
7 miles with about 1,200 feet elevation gain
 |
| Hunters tent that I found. I later read not to go off trail due to hunters in the area. |
 |
| Amanita muscaria, very hallucinogenic unless cooked properly |
 |
| My first time finding this Orange Pore Fungus Favolaschia calocera |
 |
| A moss that looks like a liverwort except for the sporophyte |
 |
| The fascinating nursery spider |
 |
| A little pond to sit by, maybe human made |
 |
| A Pukeko sleeps by the side of the road I love these funny birds with their weird walk |
 |
| My first time finding the Spectacular Rustgill Gymnopilus junonius |
No comments:
Post a Comment