April 2009: Tutira Tramp
By Jane Fitchett
By On Sunday 29th March a small group of six from Run/Walk HB travelled up to Lake Tutira to enjoy a day out in the beautiful sunshine. The weather was superb, the Lake looked very pretty with new signs of autumn - we could not have asked for a nicer day.
At Tutira we decided to do the smaller of the two tramps on offer to allow time to travel on to Bell Rock after lunch. The Tutira tramp followed the Kahikanui track saddle up to the Galbraith track. Rather than continuing on up to Table Mountain we turned back towards the Lake at this junction to make a round trip of 2 hours which included a rest in the sunshine for morning tea – it was a Sunday!
After a picnic lunch back at the car park, half the group returned home and the other half went on to Bell Rock. We travelled further on along the Napier/Wairoa Road turning left at the Tutira store on to Pohukura Road. The Bell Rock scenic reserve can be found 2km past the Boundary Stream Walkway. Bell Rock may be accessed by walking a 3 hour return trip via native forest or by travelling a further 700 metres further up the road to the Pohukura Saddle. We decided to walk the Saddle option and enjoyed some superb views along the way. The Saddle option is a 3 hour return walk.
(Photo of Bell Rock from Gerard, from a trip about 5 years ago)
Bell Rock is well worth making the effort to visit. The views from this rocky outcrop perched high over the Mohaka Valley are awesome.
We arrived back in Napier about 5pm, rather tired but we had enjoyed a great day.
