Friday, 25 December 2015
A kiwi Christmas at The Riverbank
Our beautiful Pohutukawa. Christmas time at The Riverbank Homestay and B&B
Sunday, 20 December 2015
It Looks Like We Will Get Some Blackberries This Summer
Yes. The blackberries are fruiting well. They are growing on our land beside the road at Old Mill Ln. Very precious to us they are. Looking forward to blackberry buckle, jelly, sorbet, muffins....
These are early blackberries and fruit at Christmas. We also have another king that fruit in February. Our bees are working the flowers now.
These are early blackberries and fruit at Christmas. We also have another king that fruit in February. Our bees are working the flowers now.
Saturday, 12 December 2015
Col The Kiwi Continues To Visit - Matata Pair
Col the Kiwi keeps on returning to the hole under the ponga. We first saw Col during August 2015.
Also great to get a video of a pair of Matata (Fernbirds) in our wetland.
Thursday, 3 December 2015
Our Ngunguru River 29th November 2015
To see all of the photos in order from the Quarry downstream go to our Google Drive
One of the
most scenic areas that could be classed as being in the Tutukaka Coast is the
Ngunguru River between Omaikao Road and Ngunguru Road. The river descends
through a steep sided gorge for the whole 14km. For the whole distance the
sides are covered with native bush with well established large trees. The
larger ones being Kauri, Totara, Rimu, Taraire, Towai and Rewarewa. All
typical of Northland bush. The
understory is interesting also where for the whole distance Taurepo abounds. As
a bonus it was in flower. There is much Kawakawa, Kiekie, Kareao and loads of
epiphytes. We also noted several Neinei and even one stunning little orchid in
flower.
The river is quite stunning. There are beautiful quiet calm stretches with overhanging trees interspersed with small waterfalls and rapids. Some of the quiet hidden pools had a small group of Pateke.
In several places the basalt rock can be seen, The two most notable are a large basalt column boulder. and down near where we exited a straight face with columns at its base.
Wednesday, 2 December 2015
Ngunguru River Excursion - 29th November 2015
Ngunguru River Excursion - 29th November 2015
On November 29th at 8:15 am a group of four armed with GPS, Topographical map and a camera attempted to river walk, bush and bank struggle from the bridge at the end of Omaikao Rd to Ngunguru Rd fourteen kilometres downstream.
The flow was quite low. At a point near the basalt columns all the flow was passing through a 1500 by 300mm rock gap.
After about 5 kilometres and 5 hours into the walk we decided that it would be prudent to leave the river at the River Rd ford and walk River Rd to the River Rd Bridge and then continue down the river to Ngunguru Rd thus missing about 5 kilometres of river. It was another 3.2Km to our exit point at Murphy’s farm.
We intend to return and walk the section we missed this time. It is worth noting that this trip down the Ngunguru River could also be managed in the summer with a small waka as there were many long pools divided by short rapid sections and waterfalls where the waka could easily be lowered over.
For its whole length the river travels through a steep sided, bush lined gorge including the first kilometre from Omaikao Rd where it travels through steep farmland. Throughout all the sections that we hiked it is very scenic. It is a very beautiful gem in our area. The larger trees were mostly Towai, Kauri, Tanekaha, Taraire, Rimu and Tawa. Much of the understory was Taurepo in bloom. This is the most extensive Taurepo coverage I have ever seen.
We noted very little birdlife. There were several small groups of Pateke of up to five ducks. In small numbers we also saw some Tui, Piwakawaka, Greenfinch, Riroriro, Mallard ducks and Eastern Rosellas. In the river we also saw that there were fresh water mussels, shrimp, Koura and one kind of small fish about 60mm long. In the flatter slower areas there were large areas of a grass like weed on the bottom.
Some cattle damage was noted in the earlier section at 35 36.4047S 174 25.9998E where they had been down to the water to drink. See the attached photos. The bush seemed to be quite heavily grazed by goats and pigs. In the steeper wall sections this caused frittering of the unstable wall that would easily erode in the rain. In all sections of river there was a considerable amount of fine sedimentation that heavily clouded the water when we walked over the gravel in the stream. One assumes that this is caused mostly by forestry runoff. Because of the nature of the river and its depth we were unable to check this through the farmed area.
All in all it is a stunning scenic river. One we wish to visit to see again and complete the trip.
On November 29th at 8:15 am a group of four armed with GPS, Topographical map and a camera attempted to river walk, bush and bank struggle from the bridge at the end of Omaikao Rd to Ngunguru Rd fourteen kilometres downstream.
The flow was quite low. At a point near the basalt columns all the flow was passing through a 1500 by 300mm rock gap.
After about 5 kilometres and 5 hours into the walk we decided that it would be prudent to leave the river at the River Rd ford and walk River Rd to the River Rd Bridge and then continue down the river to Ngunguru Rd thus missing about 5 kilometres of river. It was another 3.2Km to our exit point at Murphy’s farm.
We intend to return and walk the section we missed this time. It is worth noting that this trip down the Ngunguru River could also be managed in the summer with a small waka as there were many long pools divided by short rapid sections and waterfalls where the waka could easily be lowered over.
For its whole length the river travels through a steep sided, bush lined gorge including the first kilometre from Omaikao Rd where it travels through steep farmland. Throughout all the sections that we hiked it is very scenic. It is a very beautiful gem in our area. The larger trees were mostly Towai, Kauri, Tanekaha, Taraire, Rimu and Tawa. Much of the understory was Taurepo in bloom. This is the most extensive Taurepo coverage I have ever seen.
We noted very little birdlife. There were several small groups of Pateke of up to five ducks. In small numbers we also saw some Tui, Piwakawaka, Greenfinch, Riroriro, Mallard ducks and Eastern Rosellas. In the river we also saw that there were fresh water mussels, shrimp, Koura and one kind of small fish about 60mm long. In the flatter slower areas there were large areas of a grass like weed on the bottom.
Some cattle damage was noted in the earlier section at 35 36.4047S 174 25.9998E where they had been down to the water to drink. See the attached photos. The bush seemed to be quite heavily grazed by goats and pigs. In the steeper wall sections this caused frittering of the unstable wall that would easily erode in the rain. In all sections of river there was a considerable amount of fine sedimentation that heavily clouded the water when we walked over the gravel in the stream. One assumes that this is caused mostly by forestry runoff. Because of the nature of the river and its depth we were unable to check this through the farmed area.
Near the
beginning at – 35 36.4062S – 174 25.9994E in the farmed area it was sad to see
that gorse overspray had recently killed most of the Kanuka and Manuka as well
as some tanekaha. See attached photos.
All in all it is a stunning scenic river. One we wish to visit to see again and complete the trip.
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