Historic Advisor Neville Ritchie tells us the story behind Bog Inn Hut, in Pureora Forest.
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Des Williams takes a 30 minute drive out of Hamilton to walk the popular Mangakara Walk in Pirongia Forest Park.
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Anyone who thinks swamps and bogs are merely dirty puddles of water to avoid at all costs is missing out on hidden treasure! DOC’s Jack Van Hal explains…
The swamp helmet orchid, otherwise known as Corybas carsei, loves life in the bog. Once upon a time it could be found in several bogs, but today these little beauties occur only in one site, in one peat bog within the Whangamarino Wetlands in the Waikato.
Swamp eye view
It is a tiny nationally critical orchid, only 10-30 mm tall at flowering, which has suffered from orchid thieves and wetland drainage.
The single remaining population at Whangamarino is currently at risk from vegetation succession within its preferred habitat, among open sedge and wire rush.
Corybas beauty
The flower is a conspicuous maroon-red in colour and is raised above a single leaf. It appears from September through to November. It is such a rare thing that New Zealand Geographic recently came to photograph it for an article, but they were not allowed to identify its exact location.
New Zealand Geographic photographer, George Novak, on assignment at Whangamarino
At Whangamarino, DOC staff have been managing the threats to this little beauty and monitoring shows that numbers have increased from a low of 77 individuals in 2008 to 195 individuals by 2011.
Rangers have been helping to create disturbance regimes by controlled burns to promote growth of the orchid.
Controlled burn of Corybas carsai habitat
Other management and research options being explored include translocations to appropriate habitat within and to other nearby wetlands, and time lapse photography to determine how the orchids are pollinated and what time of year they flower and produce seed.
Thanks to the concerted effort under the Arawai Kākāriki wetland restoration programme the plight of Corybas carsei looks promising.
By Jack Van Hal, Delivery Planner Biodiversity
Yesterday (2 February) was World Wetlands Day. To celebrate, we’re putting the spotlight on Whangamarino Wetland in the Waikato.
Whangamarino Wetland in the Waikato
World Wetlands Day is held every year, on February 2, to mark the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and the Day provides an opportunity to highlight the important role wetlands play in our environment.
Wetlands play an important role in the environment
Whangamarino Wetland is one of the largest swamp and peat dome wetland complexes in the country at 7,000 hectares. A Ramsar site since 1989, the wetland is also important to Waikato-Tainui people as recognised in the Waikato River Settlement.
Australasian bittern/matuku, black mudfish and swamp helmet orchid are just some of the threatened species thriving in the wetland. Other species include marsh and spotless crakes, fern birds, dabchicks and various gamebirds, making it a popular spot for game-bird hunting.
Mudfish
However, the wetland faces a number of threats, including excessive inflows of sediment and nutrients from the wider catchment, altered water levels due to the lower Waikato River Flood Scheme, predators, stock trampling and weeds. Despite these threats, large areas of raised peat bog remain in good condition, supporting communities of threatened wetland plants.
DOC has been implementing innovative wetland conservation initiatives at Whangamarino Wetland under the Arawai Kākāriki wetland restoration programme.
Kayaking through the wetland
This year, my family left behind the craziness of Christmas and went camping. Very few New Zealanders were holidaying at this time, so the roads, attractions and campsites were quiet. The weather was also wonderful—packing up only after we’d packed up and moved on.
Today, I thought I’d share with you three of the special DOC managed places (your places) that I visited:
Rangitoto Island
To celebrate my birthday, and our first day in Auckland, we took a harbour cruise and briefly visited pest-free Rangitoto Island.
It was a balmy Auckland morning and the island was so summery and serene—such a contrast to the city I’d just left behind.
While the kid’s played around the shore and climbed pohutukawa trees, I nostalgically imagined what summer would’ve been like staying in one of the remaining baches nestled into the bush.
Unfortunately you can’t stay on the island now—as much as I would’ve loved to. But you can camp on neighbouring Motutapu Island, and I’m sure as eggs going to do that.
This was my first visit to an island in the Hauraki Gulf and it’s easy to see why it’s rated as the number one attraction for Auckland on Trip Advisor.
Waitomo Walkway
Feeling smug that the weather was finer here than at home, we worked off Christmas lunch on the Waitomo Walkway. At just over 3 km—starting at Waitomo Village and ending at the Ruakuri Scenic Reserve—it was a manageable length for the kids.
The karst landscape (a fancy-pants way of referring to the limestone features—arches, tunnels, caves etc) was magical, and quite Tolkienish.
The boys enjoyed climbing and launching themselves off stiles and rocky outcrops, while my four-year-old daughter delighted in the wildflowers and the sheer number of downy white seed heads she found for dandelion wishes.
With all the climbing, launching, and wish making, it took us longer than expected to complete the walk one-way (at least double the 1 hr 15 mins time suggested on the DOC sign).
In order to make our dinner reservation at Huhu Cafe (yum!) I sent hubbie running back to camp for the car, while we played Octopus Tag in the large, empty picnic area by the Ruakuri car park.
Note: Hubbie prides himself on doing everything in significantly less time than what’s stated on DOC signs. Missing the deadline on this one is no reflection on his manliness (read: craziness/stubbornness). The blame must fall entirely on the rest of us layabouts.
Ruakuri Caves & Bush Scenic Reserve
While a number of our extended family were suffering from a post Christmas tummy bug in Wellington (food poisoning perhaps?) we enjoyed Boxing Day at Ruakuri Caves and Bush Scenic Reserve.
With beautiful native bush, limestone outcrops, caves, tunnels, gorges and cantilevered walkways high above rushing water, this site definitely deserves its recent international award.
Once again it took us much longer than the 30-45 mins suggested to complete the loop walk. It would’ve been achievable if we’d steadily walked but, given the number of marvels we had to stop at, admire, and photograph, it was never going to happen.
And, while the budget wouldn’t stretch to a guided caving experience in Waitomo (we’d blown it all at Huhu for Christmas dinner!), we went back to Ruakuri at nightfall for a wonderful show of glow worms. They’re right near the beginning of the track, so you don’t have to walk far.
I love glow worms. Love them. I like to think of them as nature’s fairy lights rather than the larvae (maggots) of the fungus gnat, which is actually what they are.
Your holiday highlights
So, that’s three holiday highlights from me. I’d love to hear about your summer adventures in New Zealand’s great outdoors. I may be back at work now but I’m sure another chance to get away is just around the corner and I’d love some inspiration from you. Of course, Motutapu is always a good idea.
