Orongorongo River - Rimutaka Forest Park, Wellington region, New Zealand
This 22,000 ha park encompasses much of the Rimutaka Range, a steep mountain barrier between Wellington’s Hutt Valley and the Wairarapa Plains. Easily accessible from Wellington, the area is popular with walkers, trampers and hunters. The popular Catchpool Valley and Orongorongo Valley, where these photos were taken, is just 30 km from Wellington. The drier slopes of the mountains are dominated by beech and rata forest, but the more fertile valleys host giant rimu, tawa, miro, nikau palm and many other forest trees, tree ferns and associated plants. The higher ridges tops are dominated by drought tolerant manuka, rata and storm-blasted beech. Storm damage is a very typical part of the dynamic natural system of this forest, with the Rimutaka ranges the first major barrier encountered by fierce southerly storms off New Zealand’s infamous Cook Strait. The winds and high rainfall brought by these storms create an unstable environment, with slips and wind throws and floods. The large Orongorongo river valley that drains most of the range is dominated by this cycle; fast growing colonising plants and shrubs establish on river islands of alluvial gravels, sometimes lasting long enough for more mature forest to establish, only to be swept away again in the next big flood cycle. Unfortunately intorduced pests such as deer, goats, rats and possums have played havoc with the native wildlife in this park, devastating both plant and bird populations. Some areas are now being intensively trapped, poisoned and hunted to give the natural forest and its associated species space to recover.
Orongorongo River - Rimutaka Forest Park, Wellington region, New Zealand
This 22,000 ha park encompasses much of the Rimutaka Range, a steep mountain barrier between Wellington’s Hutt Valley and the Wairarapa Plains. Easily accessible from Wellington, the area is popular with walkers, trampers and hunters. The popular Catchpool Valley and Orongorongo Valley, where these photos were taken, is just 30 km from Wellington. The drier slopes of the mountains are dominated by beech and rata forest, but the more fertile valleys host giant rimu, tawa, miro, nikau palm and many other forest trees, tree ferns and associated plants. The higher ridges tops are dominated by drought tolerant manuka, rata and storm-blasted beech. Storm damage is a very typical part of the dynamic natural system of this forest, with the Rimutaka ranges the first major barrier encountered by fierce southerly storms off New Zealand’s infamous Cook Strait. The winds and high rainfall brought by these storms create an unstable environment, with slips and wind throws and floods. The large Orongorongo river valley that drains most of the range is dominated by this cycle; fast growing colonising plants and shrubs establish on river islands of alluvial gravels, sometimes lasting long enough for more mature forest to establish, only to be swept away again in the next big flood cycle. Unfortunately intorduced pests such as deer, goats, rats and possums have played havoc with the native wildlife in this park, devastating both plant and bird populations. Some areas are now being intensively trapped, poisoned and hunted to give the natural forest and its associated species space to recover.