Around Dargaville

This morning we drove south of Dargaville with the intention of climbing up the steep 770 metre Tutamoe Track. Our reasoning was to tune ourselves up just a little more in readiness for one of the highlights of our trip, the challenging 20 kilometres Tongariro Alpine Crossing. Unfortunately for us the Park Rangers had closed the track for safety reasons. Undaunted we set off for two more nearby shorter uphill climbs. On the way we took a side road diversion to have a look at Baylys Beach, another New Zealand coastal gem hidden away in a sandy cove from where one can gain access to the 100 kilometres long Ripiro Beach gazetted highway. From Baylys Beach we continued on to our first walk, the Tokatoka Lookout Track. Tokatoka Hill is itself an interesting geological phenomenon as it is the actual core of a volcano and as we approached it we got the impression of an immense conical rock thrusting itself towards the sky.  The walk started through picturesque native bush and then the vertical scrambling began, but we were able to assist ourselves up by clinging to some friendly vines and tree roots. The view from the rather tiny plateau at the summit was awesome with the wide Wairoa River directly below us meandering its serpentine path through this gorgeous countryside. We reluctantly descended from this magical vista and headed for our proposed second walk, the Maungaraho Rock, which in reality can only be described as a mammoth rocky outcrop. There are two suggested walks here. One can take the path around the base or one can emulate a mountain goat along with the use of ropes and ladders to reach the summit. We settled for the path and were satisfied just to walk next to this massive rock.Early New Zealand settlers were extremely God fearing. As one travels around rural Aotearoa he will come across tiny wooden churches with their distinctive steeples. On our way back from Maungaraho Rock we saw such a one . This All Saints House of Worship had been built in 1882 and then transported from its original site to the hamlet of Mititai by means of three river barges in the mid 20th century. Just another charming aspect of this remarkable country! After this we returned to our last night at the superb Kauri Coast Holiday Park well satisfied with our substituted excursions.