Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve: Tawa Walk: 14 October 2021

Covering some short walks at Pelorus Bridge...

I stopped in Pelorus Bridge on my way north to the Abel Tasman NP last week. Pelorus Bridge is roughly half way between Nelson and Blenheim and there is a campground here with a network of excellent short tracks in the immediate area. 

DOC information kiosk at Pelorus Bridge

I had a bit to eat at the café located there and then went for a couple of shorter walks in the surrounding Scenic Reserve. The quality of the food in the café has vastly improved since it was taken over by new owners in 2019. I had a coffee, roll and a slice and they were very tasty...

Inside the café at the Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve

Pelorus Bridge is a point of intersection with the Te Araroa Trail as it is the direct entry-exit point for the Richmond Forest Park section of the trail. If you are heading NOBO from Pelorus Bridge you will cross farmland and then do a road walk to Havelock and then to Anakiwa. From Anakiwa you are on the last TA section in the South Island along the Queen Charlotte Track.

The silver surfer parked at Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve

The carpark was busy on this warm sunny day...

The Tawa Walk starts from the carpark as does the Trig K Track and a side track to two waterfalls close to the far end of the Tawa Walk.

Tawa Walk, Pelorus Bridge:

The Tawa Walk is a 30 minute loop track through a lovely patch of old growth native forest on the southern bank of the Pelorus River. As the name would suggest there are Tawa Trees here but also some massive Kahikatea, Red Beech, Rimu, Totora and Matai. 

Start of the Tawa Walk at Pelorus Bridge

Map: Track network at Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve

The track is flat for most of its length with only a couple of very small hills to climb up as you amble along the track. All streams are bridged so once again this is an all weather track. 

Setting out down the Tawa Walk, Pelorus Bridge

Tawa is a rare species in the South Island and Marlborough/Tasman are just about the only two places you will find it down here. There is an extensive grove of Tawa Trees starting a hundred or so meters along the Walk. Birds like Tawa as they have fat juicy fruits over summer...Maori used to grind the nuts to make a kind of flour. 

Tawa Tree along the Tawa Walk, Pelorus Bridge

Information about Tawa Trees, Pelorus Bridge

The forest canopy stretches over most of the track with only the odd gap in the canopy here and there to let the sun in. There is a real jumble of species in this area with temperate, sub alpine, alpine and Podocarp trees all present. There are also a lot of Red Beech in the forest...it is likely that they will eventually dominate as they will outlive all the other species...

Big Kahikatea to right of the Tawa Walk

There are a number of excellent information panels along the track with details of the flora and fauna of the area and the why and how this area of bush remains. You are basically on the northern edge of Richmond Forest Park at Pelorus River Scenic Reserve. You could walk through thick forest from here to St Arnaud if there was a track down this side of the valley....

Tawa Walk: information panel showing forest life cycle

The forest is a mixture of large trees and thick understory...

There are also some large Kahikatea trees in this forest...it is surprising as you do not find them anywhere else this far inland. They are usually a coastal montane forest species. No doubt they are climate refugees that made a small niche for themselves in the cooler and damper valleys and gullies which line the sides of the Pelorus River. 

Large Kahikatea Tree at Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve

The Tawa Walk features many tree Ferns...

I stopped to look at this old trunk of a fallen tree along the track...it was easily 2+ meters around the trunk and came up to just above my knees (which are not especially noted for their closeness to the ground)...

Large fallen tree along the Tawa Walk, Pelorus Bridge

Jon on the Tawa Walk at Pelorus Bridge

The eastern end of the Tawa Walk is an area of large Red Beech trees and they are the most numerous tree species along all of the walk. Some of them are 2-3 meters around the trunk so they could be 500-700 years old. These trees were mere saplings when the first Maori arrived in New Zealand...something to consider!!!

Red Beech Tree along the Tawa Walk

The Tawa Walk starts down towards a small stream...

Another of the information panels on the Tawa Walk

After about 800 meters the track drops down to follow along the side of stream....the understory in this area is especially dense as it is cool and moist here encouraging fast growth...

In an area of Red Beech on the Tawa Walk

Young Rimu Tree grove, Pelorus Bridge

I struck a grove of Mahoe/Whitey Wood trees along the walk. I was just commenting on these on the blog a couple of weeks ago as they leave a carpet of interesting leaf skeletons under them. Again these are not that common in the South Island with this reserve, the Marlborough Sounds and from Abel Tasman down to Fiordland their main habitat down south. 

Leaves of the Mahoe Tree, Pelorus Bridge

Information about Mahoe/Whitey Wood trees in the reserve

There are a couple of small streams along the track all of which have bridges over them. I imagine it would get super wet here when it really decides to rain. I stopped here on the way home on the Sunday in a heavy rainstorm that blanketed the whole upper SI. There was a discernible river running across the carpark and down SH6 to the Pelorus River Bridge so these streams would have been full of water...

There are several small streams along the Tawa Walk

There was a lot of Old Mans Beard on the trees along the walk...its is an introduced species and did not exist in New Zealand before European colonisation. It is quite attractive but it does damage the trees as it keeps them wet all the time and makes them vulnerable to rot and insect attack. 

Old Mans Beard growing on a tree on the Tawa Walk

The Tawa Track is the route for a number of tracks in this reserve including the Trig K Track, Waterfall Track and down to the Kahikatea campground. All of them follow the same track to start and branch out at various places along the way...

Track Junction for K Trig and Tawa Walk, Pelorus Bridge

Heading further along the Tawa Walk...

Tree Ferns at the far end of the Tawa Walk

There were some really big Kahikatea Trees down at the eastern end of the reserve and they were mixed in with some Red Beech Trees. You don't normally get Podocarp and Beech trees in the same area but this forest is unusual. It would have been on the border between the pure beech of the Richmond Range and the Podocarp forest that would once have filled this valley right down to Havelock. 

Tawa Walk: a big Kahikatea Tree

Tawa Walk: a big Beech Tree....

There is a small no name stream running along next to the track down here in a eroded gully...it will eventually feed into the main flow of the Pelorus River.

The track quality is excellent right along the Tawa Walk

....I like the visual effect of this section....Tawa Walk

At the far eastern end of the walk there was a track junction which continued along the Tawa Walk and also a side track to Trig K and a set of waterfalls at this end of the reserve. A short track leads out onto SH6 so you can walk back down to the carpark along the side of the road if that is your fancy. 

Trig K is a four hour walk from Pelorus Bridge

The Tawa Walk heads off to the left and drops down to a bridge over a small side stream before climbing back up onto an old river terrace. 

This side track leads to the Trig K track, Pelorus Bridge

Tawa Walk...crossing a small stream

Large Hinau trees ahead...Tawa Walk

Information about the forest canopy plants....

There is a section of Red Beech near the half way point...

There are a number of small streams, creeks and water seeps along the track...this is a good example below. It was flowing down the side of the old river terrace and under a foot bridge on the track. Most of these would be dry in the summer months and only flow after a significant rain storm as the forest drains...

Tawa Walk crosses another small stream

A small seasonal stream that runs alongside the Tawa Walk

From the bridges you are making your way back towards the carpark...the track meanders through the forest and you can hear the noise of road traffic passing just out of sight. 

The Tawa Track meanders back towards the car park...

A big Beech tree had fallen over in the forest and it had smashed a big hole into the forest canopy as it crashed to the ground. This is the normal cycle for a beech forest...old trees eventually fall over in wind storms and leave a patch of sunlight to be exploited by smaller trees. The debris of the old tree rots down over time and feeds the forest...

...wind fallen Beech tree on the Tawa Walk...

This Red Beech was three meters around the trunk...

SH6 is off to the right of the Tawa Track...

There is a small grove of Rimu trees along the track with a number of large members of this species growing close together. Rimu are one of my favourite trees as I like look of the cut timber and the spiky needles of their foliage is very attractive. 

A trio of Rimu Trees along the Tawa walk

Information about the Rimu Tree, Pelorus Bridge

There was another side track along this track section which leads out to SH6 but I was continuing along the main track....

This side track leads to SH6 and Pelorus River Bridge

Tawa Walk is a loop...you walk along the start of the track twice!!!

This forest must get wet at times as the packed gravel track is elevated above the level of the forest floor. It has a definite camber to it to allow water to run off the edge of the track. It would be interesting to see how much a big rain storm would affect your experience of walking this track.

...the Tawa Walk is slightly elevated off the forest floor...

There are many of the typical understory plants you find in a Podocarp forest along this track and it was quite dense in a number of places. I suppose you could get lost in this area but you would really have to work hard to do so...

Moss and lichen covers most of the trees at Pelorus Bridge

Information about plant propagation in New Zealand forest

...there is a stream running along the right of the track...

After about twenty minutes I found myself at a track junction which joins back onto the track near the start...the last hundred meters of the Tawa Walk is back along the track you have already covered.

Back at the first section of the Tawa Walk

The carpark is right along the Tawa Walk

The Tawa Walk is basically two big loops almost in an elongated figure of 8 shape. Technically you could walk the track in the other direction by just taking the first marked turnoff on the left just after the start of the track. 

The carpark is ten minutes walk along the Tawa Walk

Heading back along the first part of the Tawa Walk

Approaching the start-end of the Tawa Track

Back at the start/end of the Tawa Walk, Pelorus Bridge

The carpark at Pelorus Bridge.....it was busy!!!

Once back at the carpark I headed out onto SH 6 as I was going to walk another track on the far side of Pelorus Bridge...this was the circle Loop Track. It was busy in the Pelorus Bridge Reserve car park as it was nearly lunchtime.

This is the Pelorus River Bridge on SH6

I really enjoyed the Tawa Walk...it is a very nice short walk through some fine forest. If you are walking this TA section or the next time you are traveling between Blenheim and Nelson why not stop by for coffee and a bite to eat and have a walk along one of the many tracks in the reserve. 

Access: Tawa Walk starts from the carpark at Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve. The reserve is 20 km's north-west of Havelock and is clearly signposted from SH6 between Blenheim and Nelson.
Track Times: Tawa Walk is approximately 2 kilometer's or 20-30 walking time.
Miscellaneous: This is an easy all weather track with all streams bridged and a good quality track throughout. There is an excellent café at the reserve with public toilets nearby. Kahikatea Campground is next to the track and can be pre booked on the DOC campsite booking site. 

YouTube link: Tawa Walk, Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve