Today I headed up the Rimutaka Railway Incline, hoping to find some good surrounding areas to check out if there was any goat sign. After about 10min of walking, I realised this probably wasn't the best spot as it's very well used by trampers! This place looks like it could get pretty busy in the warmer months. I had no idea that it was so established or that this was even an old railway line (I just let my fingers do the walking on google earth and thought Cross Creek would be a nice easy entry to the forest park).
Anyway I figured it'd be a good walk for me and the boy. By the time it was a bit too late I saw a sign warning that there had been a 1080 drop late in May and that it probably wasn't safe for my dog. We continued anyway and stuck to the track. The surrounding bush was a real mix - it was super cool to see the more water loving plants like pungas and flax growing on the eastern side of the hills with a mix of broom, pine and matagari growing on the drier sides. This variation in flora made it interesting to me as there were some other familiar looking plants I couldn't put a name to and some others that I have never seen before!
If you have not heard of the Incline, I should let you know that (as I learned today!) it includes a few pretty sweet tunnels, one of which is nearly 600m long. I was glad to have the boy and man with me then as it was actually pretty bloody creepy wandering in with no torch (I had one in the pack but was feeling brave at the start so figured it could stay there) as there are some bends, bumps and holes.
We made it to the summit with only a few sightings of poo that I was not sure if they came from sheep or goats. I had pretty much come to terms with not seeing anything on this trip. We broke off north of the main track on a cockies farm trail and continued around the bottom of a large feature. This track looped back around to meet the main rail. Along a short, uphill stretch on the return journey, a couple of Tui's followed and teased us. I love Tui's and Kea's (do you get many Kea's in the north?) how they tag along to see what you're up to in the bush. Jet got to gawk at a large Kereru a bit further up the trail too.
We caught up to some tourists going for a stroll and just as we came around a sweeping bend to motor past them, WOW there were nine goats just wandering on the track!! Jet took off before I could call him back and he managed to split the group in half. He followed the lead nanny down a very steep bank through matagari. After about 90 seconds I could hear him wayyyy down the gully crying and squeeling. I was praying that he hadn't hurt himself and equally hadn't got himself one of the smaller goats. I'm not sure I could manage trucking down there to find that I had to slit the throat of a chewed up billy. Luckily though after a few whistles he clambered back up and appeared on the bank up ahead, all smiles with blood all around his mouth. With a quick wipe and a poke around it turns out the mutt probably just ripped his lip on some scrub and that's what was bleeding. "Phew!!" says his mum!!
We wandered back down to the car, Jet feeling a bit sorry for himself for being a stupid git and me looking forward to taking the boots off. We ended up doing just over 20km and the chocolate bar left in the car was happily gobbled down.
All in all a pretty great day - it started pissing down as soon as I turned the key in the car. I probably wouldn't return here for a hunt but enjoyed the walk.
Me and the boy - around about where the goats were, but on the way up.
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