Tree-hugging on the Timber Trail

Tree-hugging was pretty cool in the 1970s.

Just too tempting...

It wasn't necessary to LITERALLY hug said tree, mind you, but to be branded a tree-hugger, a derogatory term for environment activists, was probably a badge of honour amongst greenies of that generation.

A badge of honour because, as Kermit the Frog knew so well, It's not easy being green.

Today,  Pureora Forest Park, to the west of Lake Taupo, is home to majestic 1000 year old trees, remnants of the native podocarp forests that blanketed the central North Island.

Thousands of trampers, cyclists and campers enjoy what the DOC brochure describes poetically as "a hidden wonderland of tall trees, clear rivers and rare wildlife ". (The English teacher in me revels in the alliteration, assonance and triple construction therein.)

Scroll back 40 years though to 1978, a far less enlightened era. Those greenies who risked their lives perching on treetop platforms to bring native logging to a halt provided the impetus for creating today's forest park of some 78,000 hectares.

Carving a path from Pureora village to Ongarue, the 84 km Timber Trail is a most excellent two-day bike ride through the forest, following a network of bush tramways built when logging began in 1946. Signboards are dotted throughout the trail, documenting not only the logistics of the forestry operations but also the daily lives of the families who endured this harsh and often bitterly cold environment.

To start this adventure earlier this month, Bill the motorhome took us on a long and winding road from SH 4, via Ongarue. Long and winding, and dusty, I should add, with the final 15km on gravel. We left Bill to his own devices at the Piropiro DOC campsite (basic but free) and decamped to the new Timber Trail Lodge just up the road.

Later that evening, the young ones arrived to share this adventure with us. They kept Bill company overnight while joining us for meals in the lodge.

The young ones in action

This place is a gem. It offers dorm and en suite accommodation, hearty home-cooked meals, as well as packed lunches and shuttle transport (if you opt for the package deal).  And loads of TLC. Wet and muddy after our first day on the track, we arrived mid-afternoon to be greeted with freshly made pizza and banana cake.  The team behind the lodge have created something special.



And though less than a year old, it's already hugely popular. Local bike shuttle businesses are also stretched to keep up with the numbers of middle-aged men and women in lycra (Mamils and Mawils?) keen to ride this trail.

It was with a great sense of satisfaction, along with a good coating of mud, that we rolled into the Bennett Road car park near Ongarue at the end of our second day. And there was Bill, ready with cold beers, cups of tea and a shower on board. What a legend!