Because It Was There.

About a year or so ago the Wellington City Council (WCC) was approached and the idea put to them that the reserve on the Miramar Peninsular be developed into an area for bikers and hikers.
They said "Okay" and nothing much happened for a while. Then something did happen. Ben Wilde and Grant Perry had another chat with the council and went for a walk through the bush. What they found deep under the trees was some benched tracks. "Well this is good" said Ben. "Yes it is" said Grant. "Lets get cracking" they said together. So it was that about mid November 2008 I got a call inviting me to join their first foray into the Miramar Tracks Project (MTP).

This photo was taken in 1938 and if you look closely you can see some of the benching. You may also notice bugger all trees. 70 years, in some circles, is not a very long time but it's certainly been long enough to grow a lot of big pines and brush and that was going to be our first job. Clearing enough of said brush back to expose the track underneath.

I wasn't there for the initial walk (I use this term loosely) through the reserve. It was pretty hard going. Think bush bashing. You see, they weren't expecting to find benched tracks in there so they weren't looking for any. Therefore it came as quite a pleasant surprise to stumble upon them an hour or so into the "walk" and once they found one they found more. But don't be fooled into thinking that meant hardly any work to do. These tracks were buried under 70 years of growth.
So it was that we headed in with loppers, saws and spades in hand and wondered.... where the hell do you start? Certainly not at the beginning. We cleared enough so we didn't have to crawl through the bush and started in the middle. The idea was that we'll come back and pretty up the track later. Let's just make it a couple of levels above bush bashing first.

Initially, there was lots of scratching of heads and leaning on tools deciding which step to take next but once the decision was made it really was full steam ahead. Over the next 3-4 months one track had been completed, barring a couple of fallen pines that the WCC Tree Team have to deal with and Phase 2 (the first link track) has been started.

Just a couple of things before I go on. These tracks have been started with full co-operation with the WCC, following all their guidelines and required paperwork. Of which, Ben has been the man in charge. The other thing is I say we, but really, Ben and Grant have been the instigators of the MTP. I just happen to live close to both of them so I was invited along.