Lake Okataina Eastern Walkway... (well, 45 minutes walk of it)

 Quinn has been wanting to show me the historic Te Koutu's holes at the edge of Lake Okataina.

The bush is much cooler on a Summer's day, so we went exploring along the Eastern edge of Lake Okataina.

Rock rubbed by visitors over the years

 The track wound itself around the edge of the lake.  The urchins loved the boulders and managed to pick up lots of sticks.

Quinn, Tighe, and Carenza

There are plenty of tree ferns obstructing the views to the lake.

 A small side track takes us to a tiny beach in Manuka.  Looking back, we can see the cliff face that we are walking alongside.

Mosses growing alongside the track

 The only fungi we could find were these velvet ones attached to trees.

 The track had steady climbs, and we walk for about 45 minutes in the bush.

Looking towards to the West

 At one stage, all the trees were covered in these cobwebs.  A reminder of too many movies that had large spiders in them!

 About 20 minutes into the walk, we happened upon the crack in the cliff.  A hidden tunnel had been dug into the cliff.  The tunnel was full of wetas.

We couldnt see the end of the tunnel, even with a torch.

Wetas at the top of the tunnel

Next to the cliff crack, was a shelter carved into the cliff.

 Instead of continuing the Eastern Okataina Walkway, we took a right turn to explore the peninsula, the bay and the bush.

It kinda has a misty feel to the place, even though the sun is shining

 There are some magnificent trees twisted into fantastic shapes.  We wondered if they were once signposts for the locals to know where to find the hidden village

 There were many "holes" on the hill.  Some were small and long, others we could stand up in them. The early people before the Maori lived here, known as the Fairy People, the small people, the People of the Mist.  Their homes are carved out of the rock.  Impressive building skills.

The urchins described them as something similar to "Hobbit Holes"

Carenza and Tighe in a small cavity

Tree showing the way

Tighe and Carenza could stand up in this one

Quinn climbing out of a deep one

 There were lots of fungi, beetles and fallen trees in the area.  The urchins explored to the shoreline.

Huhu beetle

There were a few other walkers taking advantage of the secluded bay.  Tighe loved it as it got deep really quickly.

The urchins found skimming rocks a pleasurable past-time, and we had a small picnic on the lake shore.

Leaf skeletons in the water

The water was clear, and lots of different coloured lava rocks to scratch the children's feet.

 The leaves collected on the lake's edge were full of texture.

 Gina had suggested I try these delicious bite sized morsels.  There are 2 in a packet, and perfect.

 On the walk back to the carpark, the urchins had to climb down to walk on this water monitor station.

This is the peninsula that we explored.  Total walk time one and 1/2 hours return to the carpark.  We spent 4 hours exploring, swimming, and walking.

Plenty of manuka in flower

I dont know what these are, fungi of some sort perhaps?