A Beautiful Day

Today was the best day, weather wise, that we have had for a long time. Maybe my memory is just clouded by all of the rain and cloud we have had as of late. I decided that we would all get out and try to make the most of this as we never REALLY know how long it will last. So, after Ivy completed her phonics work this morning (she is just starting Explode the Code Book 4) we ran a few errands and headed off to Mount Thomas for a hike.

Mount Thomas is what we see each day when we look out of the living room windows onto our patio. It is THE feature in our view. All of the kids were really excited to head out for a hike and Ivy asked if we might have a picnic while we were there.

Here you can see the view that we enjoyed from the spot where Melody chose to set out our picnic blanket. After a lunch of delicious sandwiches that I had picked up from Rangiora Bakery, we set off on our hike choosing to follow the Kereru (NZ pigeon) Track.

Here is part of the track as we headed up the mountain.

We love to try to spot different birds at Mount Thomas. If we are unfamiliar with one, we will look it up in an attempt to identify it when we get home. The first bird that we saw on our hike was the NZ Tomtit. It is a beautiful little bird that we do not see near our home. I was hoping to see a kereru, as I have seen them on this track in the past, but we were unable to sight one today.

We did see some lovely native plants which the kids enjoyed immensely. The forms these plants take captivate me and I love learning more about them.

Many of the beech trees that are near the walking track are covered with a type of sooty mold which is black in appearance. Here you can see several tree trunks partially covered with the mold.
From what I understand, this mold grows on surplus nectar that is exuding from an insect that is living on the trees and this nectar/modified sap is what is involved in the production of honeydew honeys.

As we continued to walk uphill, we crossed more waterfalls and little streams than I could keep track of and the children loved hopping across.

Many parts of the track on the way down were terribly muddy. Ivy's shoes were sucked down into one muddy spot where she had some difficulty freeing herself. Cruz was wearing a brand new pair of gym shoes so I was stuck carrying him over all of the muddy patches- no matter how steep or slippery. Melody was the only one of us that had the proper shoes for this expedition. She couldn't find her gym shoes before leaving the house so she decided to wear her gumboots. Smart girl!

We continued to make our way down the track and ended up at a lovely stream where the children were able to cross a bridge and climb down a bank to dip their tired toes into the water. The water was cold but refreshing and I think they all thought that that was the best part of our hike. It was hard to get everyone back in the car as no one wanted to leave but after a 1.5 hour hike, I was ready to have a relax myself.

Our hike turned out to be the perfect way to spend a truly glorious spring day.