7 December 2016 - Kaitoke Regional Park, Greater Wellington

Our departure from the Carterton area this morning was delayed with a Messenger call from Chris’s sister from England, one we took on my iPhone, a first for us, always in the past having dragged the laptop out for the purpose. The downside is of course that the call becomes more private, which in principal, is the way such telecommunications were always meant to be.

Once back on the road, we headed south through the more elegant township of Greytown which caters to the spillover Wellingtonians rather than the plainer rural folk of further north. Had we not been more intent upon our final destination of the day, we might have stopped and walked about; it really is a charming spot although for us, a place to look rather than shop. Boutiques and specialist cafes fail to draw us in. 

On down past the Tauherenikau racecourse where we once spent such a fun day, and on through Featherston with its brilliant Fell Museum well worth calling into if you have not already done so. And then it was up and over the Rimutakas, the lower section of the Tararua Ranges. The road, although wide enough and with an excellent surface, is winding and steep and we frequently pulled off to one side to let faster traffic through. We did not stop at the summit which is marked as being 555 metres ASL; the parking and information area is on the outside of a wide bend and better suited for travellers heading eastward.

Posing at Rivendell

We have walked and cycled the rail trail that takes the fit or want-to-bes over the top a little to the south of this road crossing.  My enjoyment is more of retrospect than of the time; I found it tough going. But the wonder of that trail is the fact that trains ever managed the climb at all, although this is well explained in that Fell Museum in Featherston. 

We pulled off the highway after the descent and headed back into the ranges, or more particularly  this Wellington regional park here near the Kaitoke water works. I remember coming to the river for a picnic back in the sixties with my parents, sisters and another family. Those access roads are now closed and the shape of the park has changed over the years. In fact there have been changes even since Chris and I came here on a return trip from the South Island almost ten years ago. Then we arrived late in the evening after disembarking from the ferry. It was Wellington Anniversary weekend, a fact we did not realise until too late, and we found ourselves in the midst of most of Wellington’s camping types with trouble finding a flat open space to park our motorhome. There were hundreds of children, all of whom remained up very late, noisily running about or riding their bikes. It was a kind of bedlam and after that experience we swore we would never return here in the middle of the school holidays or on a holiday weekend.

Hence it has been a surprise today to find so many other campers here. There is a large party of gypsy types, partying at some distance but their music still audible. There are several tent communities of students now finished their exams for the year, and then there is us, the old fogies in the corner. Actually the weather is to pack up later so that should quieten everyone down. For all that, this park is absolutely lovely, offering camping for $6 per person per night and wonderful walks. 

The Kaitoke Regional Park covers an area of 2,860 hectares of steep bush clad hills, the Hutt River Gorge and centuries-old rata, rimu and beech forest. The area was purchased back in 1939 to supply water to the Wellington region. World War II interrupted construction works and it was not until 1957 that the dam-like water intake weir, an underground aqueduct and the first treatment plant were completed. Since that time, the Kaitoke area has been popular for picnicking and swimming although the park as it is today, began in 1983.

Swingbridge across the Hutt River

It was interesting to learn that up here in the rain forest rainfall averages 2.3m per annum while just down the road in Wellington, the rainfall is only 1.2m per annum.

From 1954 until 1987 all the treatment of water supplied from Kaitoke to the upper Hutt valley, Porirua and Wellington’s northern and western suburbs, happened here. Until 1971, water was distributed by gravity alone all the way from Kaitoke to Karori Reservoir in Wellington. Pumps are now used to boost the flow. Apparently on a typical day, 150 million litres, the equivalent of four baths full per person, are sourced from here, aided by four modern treatment plants, fifteen pumping stations and 180 kilometres of pipes. And Chris and I manage with 15 litres a day, although that does not account for laundry use! 

Today after lunching, we set out on foot long the Pakuratahi River walk which takes one from the camp to the car park, a very pretty walk through mixed podacarp broadleaf forest, across pedestrian bridges, all on a dry gravel path. Our intention was to walk the one hour Swingbridge Track once we reached the car park, however we also added in the little Rivendell circuit.

If you are a Lord of the Rings fan, you will know exactly what I am speaking about; Rivendell was the home of the Elves, and here beside the Pakuratahi River, the scenes at Rivendell were shot, with an awful lot of tampering once the initial shot was done; the waterfalls and cliffs of Fiordland were cunningly added in.  In the story, Gandalf tells the injured Frodo that it is October, the autumn, which of course is nonsense to folk from down-under, hence the import of truckloads of autumn leaves, real and plastic, to add authenticity to the scenes.

As with all the sets, apart from the reconstructed Hobbiton just out of Matamata, everything was removed and nature restored after the filming. However here in “Rivendell”, the farewell arch has also been resurrected, although at apparently half its set size.

Back to the waterworks

While this was all quite fascinating, we enjoyed the walk across the Hutt River on a long swingbridge and on down along the high banks through old rimu and rata forest, from where we had splendid views over the gorge and the fork where the Pakuratahi River flows into the larger river. Further downstream a high concrete bridge takes one back across the river to the waterworks and the massive pipes which I recall playing on about fifty years ago, linking back to the walk we had taken from our camp; all this in just under two hours.

 Well exercised, we returned to our now noisy camp and wondered whether we had again made a bad choice. No doubt we will know in another few hours, as night falls, whether the rangers here actually have any teeth.