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KAUBRANGA VALLEY sce J (A report from the Auckland Branch of Tongue and Meats in Exile) This particular odyssey begins with the telephone jangling harshly ~in the. darkness of 6.00 aim. .- Fendall- picks up’ the receiver and, through the pizza and red wine ‘swirling through his brain, mumbles "yes", to be greeted with "gidday, you ready to go*tramping?". 6.30 a.m. sees our party of three heading south, in the half light of the new day, for the Coromandel i ss9% 2.0 tis vere ae pee tee = 8 ewe The Haureki Plains showed-littleé sign of the: recent ‘flooding, but around Thames itself there were great heaps of red river silt and driftwood in high ‘places. Our objective was the Kaueranga Valley. 4 short distance up the access road-the roadway’ disappearea into the riverbed. so the footslogging began rather earlier than anticipated. The Kaueranga Valley is.part of the Coromandel State Forest Park, an area completely cut-d6ver in the périod 1860 to 1920 and’ now dominated by regrowth and: pine’ treé plantations in the lowe¥ reaches. ° 7 be Ral oa RT. ‘After 14 hours of. road walk it was time to cross the river and head into.the bush, up the Billy Goat track. © o a The area ‘quickly- impressed us with three things a complete lack of Gecent sized trees; an abundance of native birds; and the Kaurj Gams across tributary streams. _These. dams were used by the bushmen to pond the stream which was then: released to wash the logs felled from the bush and dragged into the stream bed below, into the Kaueranga River and. down.to the.sea at Thames. .This practice was continued until the early 1500's, when the local farmers began to complain*about this ‘periodic flooding of the farmlands further down: stream, - es i we Le @ RE Figg. 5 The first day ended at. Pinnacle Hut, adjacent to some spectacular columns: of rock formed from the lava core of extinct volcanoes, the soft outer rock having eroded away to leave’ a pinnacle protruding from the landscape. A short climb the next morning rewarded us with‘a magnificent view of. the Waikato, Coromandel, Mercury Islands; White island, and the Bay of Plenty. The Hauraki Plains remained shrouded in mist,:the well known. "Hauraki Fog". The objective for Sunday was a large flat-top hill on the opposite side of the Keueranga Valley, "Table Top" Mountain. . This proved a more difficult objective than anticipated, despite wire cables and footholds cut in the soft sandstone of the slab-like sides of the mountain, Upon reaching the summit’ at 2.30 p.m. we found the plateau area on top of the mountain to be a.mass of fallen trees. Unfortunately, the recent heavy rains had turned this large, poorly drained, flat area into a knee-deep bog. The traverse of the plateau was a laborious two hours of scrambling over an endless succession of fallen trees, only to sink into the black bog inbetween... i = “hay. “5 a y.. We began the descent into the Kaueranga Valley at 5.00 p.m, and the gathering gloom of dusk. By 6.00 p.m. we were stumbling over tree roots and groping for large boulders crossing the side streams. “We finally emerged,-tired -and relieved, onto the ‘Kaueranga Valley .access ‘road at 7..30°pime- ie" 6: Be or one Co , The long plod back. to-the car seemed interminable,’ but was quickly forgotten at the prospect of a hamburger ang an-ice-cream in Thames. The Party: Fendall Halliburton, Keith Rassmuessen, Carin Pronk