The Wilderness Gardener

In Raupo Valley, below and parallel to the present Waiheke Road, there was to have been a public road. The proposed road is shown on a very old survey map of what was to become 'Onetangi Village.' I found the map in the Onetangi Reserve Log Book. Though mostly covered today by a lush bush canopy, this 'road,' and the remains of a number of others, can be clearly seen in the valleys below the Halls and Roy Nelson Gates.

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Robin & Brian Griffiths - Yes just us,  we planted a lot that day, up on the ridge... Janet

Dracophyllum traversii on the track between Flora Saddle and Mt Arthur Hut

^{Click to enlarge - Kahurangi National Park, November 1994}

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^{Before the fire - Hovding St in 1883}

After 16 years of sheer will to survive the settlement was pervaded by a marvelous feeling of progress, a feeling quickly shattered when on 18th March 1888 the smell of smoke turned anxious eyes to the distant hills. A strong wind was blowing and soon it gained velocity and the cry of "Bush Fire" came from every direction.

Chapter 6 - Burning Off

From 'Pioneering in Poverty Bay' By Philip T. Kenway (1928)

With rush and crackle and ceaseless roar
The demon fire is free.
And the noble clouds that to heaven soar
Are the breath of his devilry.