And the dog came too... dog walks in New Zealand
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Lake Ngaroto

A long and easy walk around a fascinating peat lake, formed 17,000 years ago when the River Waikato changed its course 

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Lake Ngaroto

As far as dog-walking is concerned, Lake Ngaroto is a veritable oasis in the green and verdant desert of north Waikato. It's also a lovely walk, so it's well worth the detour off SH1 to find it.

We start at the car park at the end of Bank Road - just beyond the rowing club. If we retrace our route a little along the entrance road, we find the gate to the path in the corner behind the club building. There, we pause and read the information board which gives the background to the area. The lake has formed in a depression left in a huge glacial floodplain, some 17,000 years ago. Since then the depression has slowly filled with peat so that the lake today is just a small version of its original self. 

The first 200 metres or so of the path are along a rather rickety boardwalk (at least it was when we last did it), which winds between tall reeds (bull rushes) and a tangle of bog vegetation.  In tghe aftermath of recent rains, the air is warm and humid, and flies mob us as we pass. Under our feet the boards sway and bounce as we walk - the whole construction half floating, half bedded into the peat. It also leans quite startlingly in places, so that cornering gets exciting. But quite soon we step onto terra firma, in the form of a flat and well-formed gravel path.

Now, we weave along the lake edge, through shady groves of tea-tree, then sunny areas of grass that buzz and throb with insects, and then sedgy area of bog. Now and then we get another short boardwalk.  To our right there's a fence, and beyond the pastureland of Waikato stretches away. We pass an old willow tree, gnarled and crippled with age and an uncertain foothold at the edge of the peat, yet with vigorous young shoots sprouting upwards. Red damsel flies hover above small streams that drain into the lake. Cicadas scratch and screech, filling the air with sound. There are scents too - sweet, musty, foetid, fungal, all layered and overlapping. The colours are layered likewise: green at our feet, then the black and brown of manuka stems, the pale blue-grey of the sky. 

At the far side of the lake, a bridge takes us across the outlet stream, and the path loops back. We walk through a grassy glade, which a sign tells us was a pa site. We cross small streams in which myriads of tiny fish dart and disappear into the mud. At one, Midge forgets the golden rule about peatland - of keeping to the path - and steps off into peat up to his tummy. He comes out looking dung-coloured and sheepish. We stride over new boardwalks, showing how active the local walking group is in keeping the path maintained. We cross a ditch that is pinky-white from milk escaping (or dumped) from a farm upslope. The vegetation changes. Willow replaces the manuka, English oak appear - but intermixed with cabbage trees and palms, so there's no chance of forgetting what country we're in.   And then, all of a sudden, we come to a gate and out past a final information board, into the car-park.

It's been a good walk. Not pretty, not spectacular, but sensuous from beginning to end - a good workout not just for our legs but, for each of us, for our eyes, ears and nose.  

Summary

Location: end of Bank Road, ca. 1.5 km off Paterangi Road, 9km north-west of Te Awamatu

Access: on verge beside bridge on Avenue Road, or roadside on Studholme Street

Length: 5 km

Configuration: loop

Grade: flat, well-formed track

Status: on-leash

Cafes and restaurants: several cafes in town (ca. 1 km)

More information: http://www.teawamutu.co.nz/info/attractions/ngaroto/
If you've found this website helpful, you might also want to look at some of my novels and poetry. These, like my dog-walking, are drawn from a love of nature and the countryside. To learn more, click here.