Leader: Kath Ballantine
Thirteen trampers had a leisurely start to the day, gathering at the Visitors Centre at the Brook Sanctuary Visitors Centre at 10am on a bright sunny day.
After paying entrance donations and doing a biosecurity check of our backpacks, we set off along the valley track through tall trees. Within 30 mins we had reached the start of Falcon Spur, the steep ascent to the ridgeline at the top of the sanctuary.
We were able to monitor our progress as we marked off the sanctuary monitoring lines at 50m vertical height intervals going off either side of the spur track. We had a late morning tea at 11am, then continued until we eventually levelled out somewhat near the top. We enjoyed sheltering from the cool breeze on the steps of the maintenance shed near the fence line.
We then traversed the ridgeline on a clear track next to the fence line for 25 minutes before heading down Tuatara Ridge to the valley. A few river crossings brought us back to the visitors centre.
We did see and hear some birds when we imposed a quiet listen. Total time was six hours, arriving back at the Visitors Centre by 4.15pm.
Participants were: Marianne Hermsen, Michelle Cunningham, Pete Phillips, Kelvin Drew, Susan Jenkins, Philip Palmer, Kate Krawczyk, Leah Parker, James Parker, Annette Le Cren, Graeme Ferrier, Lou Kloff & Kath Ballantine (scribe).