Owhango Pa

...continuing from the Owhango River Planting trial entry ...

If you continue up the walkway from where the RAFT plantings are the path eventually swings away from the river up the Te Hikuwai stream. Coming from this direction it is easy to miss the sign on your left that marks the track up the hill to the Owhango Pa site. The sign demonstrates a brilliant collaboration between the Hamilton City Council and Nga Mana Toopu o Kirikiriroa. Bilingual in its presentation, it tells of the Maori and geographic history of the area. Indeed, it leads me to believe that Flagstaff, with all its colonial implications, might have been better named "Owhango" or "Te Hikuwai". I have reproduced the english version of the sign here. Annoyingly, someone had thrown mad at the sign and the others parts were not photographable.

Beyond the sign is a short climb up to the actual pa site. I suspect that many would want to covert this piece of real estate. The site is perfectly flat and the views brilliant. It is also very easy to see why it was selected as a sanctuary and point that could be defended. This is a must see if you are ever in the area.

image slide show

Owhango - Riverside Planting Trial

...continuing from the "Pukete" entry...

Once over the Pukete to Flagstaff footbridge you can either continue up the hill to River Rd, or drop back down to the river and pick up the walkway in front of the Allandale rest home. On the river bank directly in front of the rest home is a really good example of what the River Action Focus Team have been up to. There are a number of riverside planting trials along the river and these Harakeke look like the last five years have treated them really well. The RAFT website tells me that there are also plantings at the following sites:

• The Alandale site was planted in 12 May 2002
• Claudelands Bridge site planted 5 May 2002
• Malcolm Street was replanted in October 2003
• Ann Street (St Andrews) November 2000
• Sycamore Place (Pukete) November 2000