A wet morning in Richmond saw four of us gather at Badminton Hall in Richmond, and picking up another two along the way as we headed out to Tapawera. After last minute forestry access was granted, Michele enabled our trip to get off to a dry start. Without forestry access it would have been a river crossing and wet feet from the get-go. Although we had a dry start, we did have an extra half hour walk to the start of the track as we encountered two trees across the forestry road along the way. The first tree was moveable – the second tree was not!

After a nice little amble through pine forest we hit the track proper. It was wet, but not too muddy, and gaiters certainly helped keep our feet somewhat drier. The first section was a steady climb that soon warmed us up, with a short stop to refuel along the way as it had been an early start, and our tummies were starting to rumble.

Then the real work started as the incline considerably steepened, and this saw us huffing and puffing somewhat. We reached just below the summit (approx. 1150m) a bit later than planned due to the extra walk to the start of the track. A very light drizzle had come in, and it was decided that we would stop here for lunch, and not push on to the summit. Being mindful of daylight hours at this time of the year, and the fact that there wouldn't have been a view at the top (it was cloudy), there seemed no point in pushing on just for the sake of saying “we made it”.

We marvelled at Oliver's ability to crouch balanced on his feet for the duration of lunch, all the while holding his umbrella. I haven't tramped with someone carrying an umbrella before, and it certainly isn't to be sniffed at. A very handy piece of equipment enabling him to shield Michele's phone from the rain as she checked our progress.

The variety of mushrooms on our walk was amazing – I felt like I was stopping every few paces to take yet another photo. White, brown, black, red, yellow, orange, blue, purple, frilly, smooth, rough, domed, conical, flat, large, tiny – the varieties were endless. The highlight for me had to be the blue mushrooms, which I later found out is the one on our $50 note – Werewere Kokako.

Mushrooms galore

Thanks Michele for leading our trip – I always appreciate your inclusiveness when making decisions for the group.

Participants: Michele (leader), Oliver, Chris, Maaike, Alison, Linda (scribe)