God’s Creations – in all their varieties

A couple of weeks ago we had a small service project to do, so we got up early and went to the home of one of the ladies from church ... and painted her fence. (See Diane’s Blog about fences). This dear lady has been in the hospital for quite some time and will be selling her home, so she wanted the outside to look as nice as possible. We were done before noon.

Then after buying some fresh veggies at the market, we packed a small lunch and headed for a mountain range on the other side of Auckland. It was a little over an hour drive from our apartment (flat).

We parked near the trail head where we wanted to tramp (hike). The trail in this particular park is maintained with crushed gravel. It was really nice and well maintained.

One of the first things we saw was a short trail leading to a small lake fed by a beautiful waterfall. It was a breathtaking surprise that we hadn’t expected to see.

After hiking for some time we came across several places where we could sit and rest. It became obvious that these were placed strategically along the trail, each one offering a new vista.

This was typical, for along the trails we have taken in the past, the resting places are located to take the fullest advantage of the natural vistas like this one. Today was no different. We’ve noticed, though, that for many of them the views have become obscured by trees that have grown up since the trail was first made.

While this picture was taken on a level spot, there were very few of those on this particular trail. It was characterized with either steep upward climbs or equally steep downward slopes. I am sure we climbed this mountain at least three times -- as the trail kept going up, then down, then up .... We were well rewarded for our efforts, though. It seemed that each turn in the trail unveiled a new vista or feature.

Most of the time our trail followed a beautiful mountain stream. It flowed down the brush- covered valleys and over the rocks forming one small pond after another. We remarked at one point that our babbling brook was becoming a swift stream.

As we continued along our path we could tell that our swift stream had really become a roaring river. Most of the time we couldn’t actually see it, we could only hear it. The trees and the brush provided a good covering, hiding the deep mountain canyon through which the our river ran.

We hiked along the crest of the mountain for a long time (seeing both sides at the same time), before we started the last leg of our loop. As we descended from the mountain tops we had spent most of the afternoon climbing, the trail was much too steep for a gravel path, so we were very grateful for the long series of steps. There must have been 12 – 15 flights of steps in the one grouping.

At the bottom our roaring river became a lovely lake. It was gorgeous in the late afternoon /early evening sky.

Since this lake is used as a public water supply, unlike in Texas, they do not allow fishing, swimming, or boating – just looking and picture taking.

Finally our trail brooks, streams, rivers, and lake took us to this calm creek. The sun was setting and the shadows were getting long. But the reflections were soothing in spite of our tired feet.

One of the incredible things about this adventure is that Diane was able to get a pretty good picture of this native bird. We see them almost everywhere we go. We don’t know what they are called, but they are beautiful (deep blue and black with a bright red beak). We’ve never seen them fly, perhaps because they are quite large -- about the size of a grown chicken. And they are very wary and usually keep so much distance that it has been nearly impossible for us to get a good picture.

Night was quickly coming on, but we finally arrived back at our point of beginning – the lovely waterfalls. We’d had a full, but enjoyable day. Wish you could have been there with us. Are you up to climbing a tall mountain?