Lush: the Ōhau River route

Adjective. 1. (of vegetation) growing luxuriantly. 2. sexually attractive. The bush cladding the hills overlooking the Ōhau River certainly was lush. I’m not sure sexually attractive is the phrase I would use, but it definitely made me feel some kind of way.

How did I get here? A trip up to the Northern Tararuas sounded like a perfect excuse to experience the wonderous $1.25 billion 11 minute time-saver that is Transmission Gully (Te Ara Nui o Te Rangihaeata). Mat was heading up that way on a trip with someone from WTMC so I decided to jump onboard. It was a cruisy 9:30am by the time we set off across the farmland from the roadend (despite Mat’s best attempts to drive us back to Wellington before we had even gotten on to TG). After a kilometre we left the paddocks behind for podocarp forest. This forest was nothing especially special, but it certainly was green. Not just any green — 50 shades of green. We trotted along the track at a good pace, underneath a canopy of towering tree fern. For some time the Ōhau river alluded us, our view obscured by a terrible tangle of supplejack.