Te Wao Nui o Tiriwa, Auckland's beautiful bush playground
July 2nd 2010 07:59
To the West of Auckland, little more than an hour’s drive from the CBD is the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, or Te Wao Nui o Tiriwa (the great forest of Tiriwa)
700 years ago, the Tangata Whenua (people of the land) Te Kawarau o Maki, hunted and gathered here, in a forest rich with berries and birds and fished a coastline rich with seafood. With the arrival of the pakeha, the area became the domain of farming and forestry. Dams were built to float logs downstream and mills were set up to log them. Thousands of hectares of bush were destroyed.
Fortunately much of the forest survived. Nowadays, Te Wao Nui o Tiriwa is a giant playground, which includes more than 16,000 hectares of native rainforest and coastline. There are 250 kilometres of walking tracks, dotted with beautiful, secluded spots for fishing, swimming and surfing, picnicking and camping.
Within the park are some of the country’s oldest and tallest kauri trees, as well as other precious natives, like rimu and kahikatea. Indigenous birds, like pipiwhaurauroa ( shining cuckoo), tui, kereru and piwakawaka (fantail) thrive here. Kauri snails, pupu rangi, pepeke (Hochsetter’s frog) and pekapeka ( long-tailed bat) make their homes in the trees and undergrowth. At dusk, titiwai or glow-worms light the bush darkness.
Thanks to Operation Forest Save, a campaign by the Auckland Regional Council, large areas of bush have regenerated and larger numbers of native birds have returned. However, many pests continue to threaten the area, most particularly possums, which devour 20 tons of vegetation in the Waitakere Ranges every night.
Also located in this great forest and fed by the abundant rains it attracts, are the huge reservoirs, built between 1910 and 1970, that supply Auckland city’s water.
Many bush loving, brave and ingenious refugees from the big make their homes in the Waitakere. Often, they’re harder to spot than the timid bush-dwelling birds. Letter boxes and the beginnings of driveways hint at habitation, but few rooftops break the line of the bush. By law here, you cannot displace a tree. If a tree stands where you plan to build your house, then the tree must remain and you must build around it. The bush is sacrosanct.
Tour and information courtesy of TIME Unlimited (www.newzealandtours.travel)
Pristine native bush in Te Wao Nui o Tiriwa
700 years ago, the Tangata Whenua (people of the land) Te Kawarau o Maki, hunted and gathered here, in a forest rich with berries and birds and fished a coastline rich with seafood. With the arrival of the pakeha, the area became the domain of farming and forestry. Dams were built to float logs downstream and mills were set up to log them. Thousands of hectares of bush were destroyed.
Fortunately much of the forest survived. Nowadays, Te Wao Nui o Tiriwa is a giant playground, which includes more than 16,000 hectares of native rainforest and coastline. There are 250 kilometres of walking tracks, dotted with beautiful, secluded spots for fishing, swimming and surfing, picnicking and camping.
Within the park are some of the country’s oldest and tallest kauri trees, as well as other precious natives, like rimu and kahikatea. Indigenous birds, like pipiwhaurauroa ( shining cuckoo), tui, kereru and piwakawaka (fantail) thrive here. Kauri snails, pupu rangi, pepeke (Hochsetter’s frog) and pekapeka ( long-tailed bat) make their homes in the trees and undergrowth. At dusk, titiwai or glow-worms light the bush darkness.
Thanks to Operation Forest Save, a campaign by the Auckland Regional Council, large areas of bush have regenerated and larger numbers of native birds have returned. However, many pests continue to threaten the area, most particularly possums, which devour 20 tons of vegetation in the Waitakere Ranges every night.
Also located in this great forest and fed by the abundant rains it attracts, are the huge reservoirs, built between 1910 and 1970, that supply Auckland city’s water.
Many bush loving, brave and ingenious refugees from the big make their homes in the Waitakere. Often, they’re harder to spot than the timid bush-dwelling birds. Letter boxes and the beginnings of driveways hint at habitation, but few rooftops break the line of the bush. By law here, you cannot displace a tree. If a tree stands where you plan to build your house, then the tree must remain and you must build around it. The bush is sacrosanct.
Tour and information courtesy of TIME Unlimited (www.newzealandtours.travel)
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