Walking the Dogs

Part of my everday routine is to walk the two dogs in the family. I really do walk the dogs every evening. We have an agreement. I walk them every day and they stay in the yard. We have walked out in the evening to find that someone forgot to shut the gate and the dogs are sitting in bed. It also works the other way as I have been known to take midnight walks. We were stuck in a rutt in Australia and I took them down to the TAFE park every day. There are so many different places to walk here. We can go to the:
beach
river
Harcourt Park
Birchville Dam
Rimutaka Hill

Walking at the Beach

This is the first time Harley and Queenie have ever been to the beach. I expected that the dogs would enjoy the view at the beach. Stupid. They ran around and sniffed everything with vigor. They're dogs! Queenie was not impressed by waves but Harley was fascinated by the froth and the way the bubbles pop with you sniff them.

It is generally windy at the beach. Here is Harley 'flying his ears' Peanuts style. You can probably spot Queenie sniffing in the background. The sand is actually grey and the white that you see is millions of sea shells.

Walking Along the Hutt River

The Hutt River runs fast and clear with deep water holes in some sections. When it rains the water runs off from the hills further up the valley and runs orange. I estimate there is about 3 meters of water here. Note the houses on the bank. Flood is a serious risk in the Hutt Valley. This is the view looking south.

And this is the view to the north. The water was rushing past quite quickly and bringing with it large logs. The noise was quite loud. Harley and Queenie once again weren't worried. Queenie got in to chase a distressed duck but the duck got away and she quickly got out again. The best thing about having water come down the river is that you get to see how the river bed has changed when the water goes down. Deep holes are ripped out and others filled with sand. The next day people drove their cars out and filled the boot with wood that had floated down the river.

It never ceases to amaze me how nature can be beautiful one day and a terror the next. In behind the bushes on the far side of the river is a duck pond. Harley and Queenie disgrace themselves by eating duck dooh so we don't go there often.

I was out on a rock in the river taking this photo when Harley fell in. He swam out again. It caused some excitement for a moment or two.

Harcourt Park

We should not be proud of this but the Hutt river runs along the Wellington fault line. This photo was taken in Harcourt part and is within 2km of our house. The area is parklands and is a popular geology outing for students.

This shot would have worked out much better had I remembered the landscape setting on the camera. This is a suspension foot bridge that spans the Hutt River and links Harcourt park with a suburb on the other side of the river bank. The bridge bounces a little when you walk over it.

This photo is taken from the suspension bridge looking up the Hutt River. The model in the photo is my husband.

This photo is taken from the same bridge as above but on a day when there was some flood water coming down stream.

Birchville Dam

I can walk to birchville dam from our house. The walk starts with a sweet little rope bridge and crosses a shallow stream that appears to run all the time. This is the view when you arrive at the dam wall.

Rimutaka Hill

The top of Rimutaka hill is about 30 minutes from our house. The hill is 600 meters above sea level and makes the drive up the Toowoomba range look trivial. There are walking tracks off in several directions from the car park at the top and when we were here there was patches of melting snow.

The view from the top of Rimutaka hill.

© 1999 symjud@topnz.ac.nz