Kahikatea Walk

Another scenic bush walk close to Murchison is the Kahikatea Walk. It's located at the the Murchison camping grounds on the eastern side of the township.

This walk is an easy loop track, which takes about 15 - 20 minutes. I read that many forest-dwelling birds live here, such as bellbirds, tui, kererū, robins, fantails, silvereyes and kingfishers, but I was out of luck and didn't even spot one.

The Kahikatea Walk features kahikatea and mataī trees - the remains of the lowland podocarp forest, which in the past dominated the plains of Murchison.

One species of beech tree (perhaps the red beech?) had patches of what looked like blood in areas where the bark had rubbed away.

Many of the trees had moss sprawling across and down from their branches. 

If you're wondering about dogs, a lady in the office at the camp ground said dogs are allowed on this walk providing they were on leads.