TRIP REPORT : Te Oranga Whenua, Queen Elizabeth II Covenant, Stokes Valley

 4 May 2002 :   Te Oranga Whenua, Queen Elizabeth II Covenant, Stokes Valley

For once, BotSoccers excelled themselves at phoning to indicate they were coming on the trip.   A wonderful turnout of 38 people assembled at 17 Horoeka St to be welcomed by covenanters Joy and Phill, who told us the fascinating story of finding and securing this forest in order to protect it for ever.   Its name, Te Oranga Whenua, has connotations of healing and well-being, as well as signifying that it is the place where Joy and Phill's grandchildrens' placentas (whenua) are buried, marking their connection with the land in perpetuity.

Having added redpoll to the list of birds, we set off to explore, soon diverting to admire the kahikatea and totara towering above the wetland with its Dicksonia squarrosa and Gahnia xanthocarpa understorey and occasional swamp maire, Syzygium maire.   A high-quality, benched, sidle track constructed nearly 150 years ago, wound in and out of gullies with massive hard beech, Nothofagus truncata in the canopy, where whiteheads, popokatea, could be heard chittering.   Before long we passed the “Gnome House” set into a beech trunk, an enchanting sight.   Trackside, luxuriant ferns clothed the banks, among them eight species of Hymenophyllum, and plentiful Leptopteris hymenophylloides, Lindsaea trichomanoides, Trichomanes reniforme, Pneumatopteris pennigera.   The fork fern Tmesipteris elongata was uncommon.

Shortly we came to a gully where kiekie, Freycinetia baueriana ssp. banksii was in fruit, a very rare sight which had the shutters clicking madly for a while, and a tribute to the pest control which Phill and Joy are maintaining.

On the drier slopes we saw the strap fern Grammitis ciliata, and plentiful, prickly Leptocophylla (= Cyathodes) juniperina with its deep red fruit rivaling the equally showy Coprosma rhamnoides.

At lunch, Pat produced a specimen of Pittosporum divaricatum to puzzle those who had not met it before, but if you just scrape the bark and smell it you get the typical Pittosporum smell. Hall’s totara, Podocarpus hallii was common throughout, its larger, very pungent leaves, stringy bark and closely-furled resting buds differentiating it from P. totara which was present but not common.

We made our way downslope under manuka, with many Gahnia pauciflora, and a few, dainty Pterostylis trullifolia in flower.   Soon we were thrashing about in the wetland, under an enormous hybrid black × hard beech with unfortunately a wasp nest at its base.   Phill was badly stung here, and we made haste to retreat after he had taken antihistamine. Ropey Japanese honeysuckle has partly ensnared the podocarps to their tops but fortunately the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust has obtained funding to undertake initial control of this invasive weed.

We had the company of three members of the Trust including Tim Park who, working with Phill and Joy, had just completed the processing of this new covenant, his first.   Steve Urlich recently arrived from Kaitaia and now with the Wellington Conservancy of DOC joined us, along with many Forest and Bird members and BotSoccers Sheila and Gordon Leary, back from many years overseas. All in all, a very pleasant day, and about 30 additions to the list.

Participants: Beth Andrews, Peter Beveridge, Don Brooks, Bev Bruce, Stan Butcher, Barbara Clark, Rae Collins, Delphine Cox, Jack Cox, Jenny Dolton, Pat Enright, Annette Furkert, Kathleen George, Jill Goodwin, Robyn Hills, Ian Hogie, Dave Holey, Chris Hopkins, Chris Horne, Ros Iles, Olaf John, Darryl Kee, Rodney Lewington, Cath Mathews, Margaret McKee, Anne Milburn, Barbara Mitcalfe (Deputy Leader), Tim Park, Phillip Peek, Emil Schmieg, Darea Sherrat, Julia Stace, Steve Urlich, Joy Waddington (Co-Leader), Phill Waddington (Co-Leader), Nancy Watters, Julia White.   Apologies: Mark McAlpine, Robyn Smith.

Barbara Mitcalfe