After a six-year closure, Auckland Council has reopened this park to the public. Nineteen eager WOPpers led by Elizabeth arrived on this beautiful sunny day to explore these old but new tracks. Cascade Kauri is nestled within the northern section of the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park and is home to some of the ranges' oldest and most precious stands of kauri. Many tracks through the kauri forest were closed in 2017 to protect these special areas from the spread of kauri dieback and a rahui was placed on the forest by mana whenua.

The trees here were inaccessible to the loggers who decimated kauri forests in this region in the late 1800s. The tracks do offer a bit of an uphill grunt, which we were soon to find out, right from the word go. We started off on the Upper Kauri Track where you are rewarded with the most magnificent stands of kauri, a photographer's dream – at least an excuse to have a wee rest on this uphill section.

We stopped for morning tea in a lovely area just before Long Road Track. On reaching this point, I thought it was all downhill – well, for a while it was – then yes more uphill, changing from kauri to rimu and pungas. From here we walked across the dam to a nice sunny spot for lunch. Then we went back across the dam and entered the long downhill section of the Fenceline Track. This area had a lot of kahikatea and huge nikau groves. I'm not sure whether it was harder going downhill or uphill, definitely hard on the knees.

As we neared the end it was very picturesque, following the stream. We all remarked that Auckland Council in partnership with local iwi Te Kawerau a Maki have done an amazing job in restoring this track with boardwalks etc to protect the park's unique ecosystem and preserve it for generations to come. How lovely was it to be back in this stunning area in the Waitakeres.

Many thanks to our wonderful leader Elizabeth in reintroducing this area to us all again. A great day was had by all.

Carol Walker

Click here to see photos by Colleen