I completed the second part of my exploration of the Kopurererua Valley walkway, from Wylie Street out to the Lakes, last week. It was a little shorter than expected but still a pleasant ramble through farmland that is gradually being returned to its natural wetland state. If you’re a fan of waterfowl, this could be one to put on your list.
The trail to the Lakes is the same as that to Marshall Avenue for around 30 minutes before they diverge, and you can find many hopefully useful details in this earlier post. After that, it is essentially just a matter of hanging right at the turn-off and following the well-kept trail across a couple of bridges and through a gate or two for about 20 minutes until you reach the end at state highway 29A.
You’ll know the end is near when you pass a tribe of rabbits that seem to have taken over a paddock just before the highway. Large numbers of feral rabbits is not something you often see in New Zealand so I was surprised and a bit town boy excited. Once you reach the road, there is an underpass that allows you to enter the Lakes walk without dodging the traffic. At this point, you are quite close to the Tauranga Crossing shopping center.
Impressions
The Lakes trail stays closer to the Kopurererua Stream than the Marshall Avenue branch, hence the more abundant birdlife. However, it also takes you toward the K Valley highway and later state highway 29A. This may be something to consider if, like me, you don’t find road noise to be particularly relaxing. It doesn’t seem to worry the birds, though. I don’t think I’ve seen so many ducks together in one place before.
On a side note, I’ve become very fond of ducks. Are they not the ultimate New Age bird? I mentioned to a friend that they looked like flying bricks with their large bodies and relatively small wings but she thought they were more like rugby balls (New Zealand ducks, in any case). Either way, when they fly, they seem to be giving it everything they have just to stay in the air, held aloft mostly by the strength of their conviction. If I believe, I can do it. If I believe… You gotta love that kind of positivity.
I could have used some of their energy on the way back. Because this section was a bit short, I didn’t feel like I had explored enough and pushed further into the Lakes trail than I planned. While I try to be mindful, I tend to operate on the principle that if a little is good, more is better. It mostly isn’t and in this case, the net result was I shuffled home with no time or focus to write this post.
Insights
It may be a little hard to understand but I was really kicking myself for letting my writing time slip away. Managing your energy is definitely a skill but not a very sexy one, unfortunately. It usually feels better to go at a thing and burn off some energy than to make the often tougher choice to limit yourself so you can do other valuable things.
As you may have surmised, today has been better. And now, though I would love to keep writing, it’s time for my evening stride around the local golf course. I’ll have installment three of the Kopurererua Valley saga sometime soon.
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