Arataki Centre and Kauri Dieback Education Programme

We recently put together a community education presentation about kauri dieback at the Arataki Centre west of Auckland in the Waitakere Ranges. This 16000ha forest park is integral to our guided tours and a wonderful place of historic, cultural and ecological significance. Kauri dieback (Phytophthora agathidicida) is a killer pathogen with a 100% mortality rate amongst our beloved kauri tress, and stopping its spread in our favorite forest park is paramount to our ecological sustainability as a tour operator in this area.

Click the image below to play the video.

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The beauty of sharing & why we do what we do…

Our back yard is truly a beautiful place but we tend to forget that fact over time (understandably), because it’s what we see on a daily basis. This was brought back to me recently when guiding a single client (something we don’t often do) from America who was in a bit of a personal pickle & needed to get away from the city to clear her mind & settle her emotions from family pressures.

It was my luck too that I was about ready for a break from the office so perhaps this was just a match made in heaven for that day! Off the two of us went bright & early & I’m quite sure she had no idea at all of what to expect from her day tour – websites, including our own, just cannot adequately describe what kind of experience a customer will have when travelling around our gorgeous country!

Small tour groups always equal more time to stop & ‘smell the roses’ – larger groups are always slower so there’s less time to do stuff, so in light of that I made an unscheduled stop at Corwallis Wharf on our way out west. Midweek, sunny day, two people fishing on the end of the wharf, otherwise deserted, she couldn’t have asked for better!

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The charm of Blue Spring – light, shade and color
by WCT@WP | Feb 7, 2018 | Blog

With temperatures in Auckland yesterday close to 32oc, we popped down for a quick walk along Blue Spring. Baking heat, cool shadows, hot Summer sweating but we were happy! It’s been a long time!

The serene tranquility of this place is stunning – a constantly changing kaleidoscope of aquatic blues and greens in the cool spring waters flanked by the riverine forest undergrowth, cool, inviting, thirst quenching, ever changing light and shadow, punctuated by small rapids tumbling over black rocks in deep shadow.

Well worth the walk for both young and old!

 昨日,奥克兰的户外气温因该不低于32度!走在酷酷的阳光下,汗淋淋,却痛快着!炎热夏天汗流浃背的感觉,真的久违了!

 天空中恍恍的日光,丝丝的白云,与地面上缓缓而流的美轮美奂的蓝泉流水相呼应,令人仿佛行走在一个流动的画廊。。。。。心如明镜,兴意阑珊,不断地被变幻流动的色彩光影所打动!

 蓝泉蓝泉,今日应称绿泉可能更合适!但无论如何称呼,她带给人的都是自由与奔放,宁静与致远。美得让人想亲近,想释放,想自由地呼吸!

随着阳光的时隐时现,蓝泉溪流的色彩与光影也不断地变化着。

蓝泉溪水也不是永远平静如丝,也有汹涌起伏之时!轰鸣声也传到很远处!

蓝泉的美丽,引来不少上男少女的冲动,禁不住要跳进溪流里释放欢喜。虽然路口的标识牌上明确禁止在溪流里游泳。大概就像上帝明确规定不能食禁果,但是亚当与夏娃还是经不住诱惑一样!

整个蓝泉步道,很平缓,适合一家老少一起游。

投入大自然的怀抱,终是人类最好的归宿!

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We are passionate about sharing our fabulous ‘back yard’ with you

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Geoff Dunne and Lily Sha
info@whitecloudtravel.com

 

 

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