Council / DOC Reserves Well Worth A Wander

With warmer weather approaching it’s time to think about outdoor activities and maybe the variety of reserves and bush walks in the area.


Recently I visited two, whetted my appetite and resolved to discover more during the summer months.


A couple of stray chooks provide a patch of colour at the bush edge while a notice board invites you to “read the signs written by 8-9 year olds from Palmerston North College Normal School” as you wander through the bush.


I am at the entrance to the Gorge Walk at Ballance which is out of my league being a four hour experience - albeit on a well maintained track - ascending up the hill and along the ridge to the southern end of the gorge. Either drive back to the beginning or do the round trip. As a bonus grab a latte at the nearby Beyond The Bridge Café.


The alternative is the “10 minute Totara Loop,” a pleasant little bush meander taking in the kids signs which add a delightful dimension and are packed with information.


We are invited to look up into the fronds of the Ponga fern which “curl up to make a bed”, we learn that leaves from the Rangiora double as Bushman’s Toilet Paper, that “birds poo out the seeds” of Perching Lilies high up in the trees, and that Giant Maidenhair leaves “look like green teardrops and feel like soft feathers”. There are about 20 signs altogether.


Bush fringes both sides of the road at Ballance; there is a kids’ playground, picnic facilities and of course the café along the road.


Totara loop is to be recommended as an ideal way to introduce your children to the bush and to see it through their eyes.


Closer to Dannevirke find the Makirikiri Reserve, just five minutes out of town and very accessible. This is a council administered reserve involving eradication of Old Man’s Beard and a combined planting project with local members of the Forest and Bird Society.


Evidence of hard work is already obvious with well laid tracks and flourishing young pittisporums, manuka and lacebarks sheltered by the bush.


Greet a herd of dairy cows before heading towards the large arms of a totara tree, listen to a creek bubbling at the bottom of a hill, and wander alongside flower laden tree lucernes fringing the bush before descending the hill through the bush to a clearing at the bottom. At the top enjoy open views beyond the bush to the eastern hills heading to the coast.


Tararua district is fortunate to have a large number of reserves - 103 council, and 104 DOC - throughout the district. Enjoy them.