Forest Walks and Blue Canals on the Methven Walkway

We have a new walking buddy!

Robin appropriately points out: “We’ve driven this road four times since we’ve been here, and now we’re walking it?!” Indeed, all Methven activities, from Washpen Falls to Awa Awa Rata Reserve, from the Rakaia Gorge to archery at Terrace Downs, (not to mention the Mt Hutt Skifield), and now the Methven Walkway, are taking us down this long straight road. However, by getting distracted by a field of pied oyster catchers amongst other birds, this gives Wendy the time to catch us up for a surprise visit on the walkway! We have a new walking buddy!

It’s not long before we can turn off the main road and walk down a track nestled in conifers. Three different signposts ensure we DO NOT MISS IT!

Warming up as advised by the walk

The beginning of the walking track is also marked by a “warm up” section with several information boards giving you ideas on all the ways you can warm up for your big walk. We’ve never even considered warming up for a walk, but we give it a go, twisting our waists and stretching our calves. We’ll see if we notice a difference later, we guess…

Gazing across the Methven Canal

Tall trees, dry streams and those walking conversations

We follow a single track running over the roots of exotic trees reaching so high that only the echoes of birds taunt us. It’s too high up there to really see anything but the odd flutter in the sky.

Pine cones carpet the floor giving a satisfactory crunch as we walk, having nonsensical conversations – you can end up talking about a lot of random stuff when you’re walking.

At one point, a stream used to flow right through this little reserve. We cross a few simple bridges over a ditch that has been long dry, but we appreciate the sentiment. Thank you, bridges, thank you.

The local’s insight

The great thing we always find about doing these walks with a local is that they can tell you heaps of stuff about what you’re seeing! For example, we learn that the dramatically shaped tree stumps left in the ground have produced so much gum that it is great for burning, as Wendy says she used to have to go out collecting it. As well as fixing everything with duct tape, Kiwis really know how to utilise the forest.