Jim Barnett Reserve Picnic – Sunday 17 March 2024
Seven Jaguars, twelve people gathered at the Hautapu Z Station for a 10:30 am start on a coolish Autum morning to travel to the Jim Barnett Reserve at Waotu, South Waikato.
After a bit of socialising, petrol top-ups, caffeine injections, a short briefing and route instructions, we were off with Anne leading the way in her magnificent XKR, top down, wind blowing through the hair.
We took the scenic route, travelling through Cambridge, Leamington and onto the back rural roads, passing through Roto-o-rangi, Pahue Quarry, Pukeatua, over the Arapuni Dam, thru Waotu and up the hill to the Jim Barnett Reserve.
We had the Jim Barnett Reserve to ourselves, great spot for a picnic, permanent rustic picnic tables in a grassy clearing surrounded by native bush complete with native birds, Tui’s, Fantails and couple of Kererū watching over us (Bernard at no time did we place ourselves directly underneath them).
By the time we arrived at the Reserve the sky was almost cloudless, no wind and temperature in the low 20’s. We spaced ourselves around one of the large picnic tables and tucked into our picnic lunches washed down with beverage of choice. There was some great conversation and banter, Easter eggs all round (thanks Jane), and shared crackers, Over-the-Moon blue cheese and smoked salmon (thanks Shane).
Having consumed our picnic lunch, nine of us decided to take a short (15 min) bush walk. The Jim Barnett Reserve has 16ha of native bush with thirteen distinct tracks of varying lengths to choose from, allowing for a combination of routes in a single outing. These paths offer easy walking, featuring occasional short, manageable inclines suitable for most fitness levels. The tracks are well sign posted, there are a couple of track maps. So off we went, enjoying the magnificent native bush. A high light was the 1000-year-old giant Totara with trunk measuring 2.5m diameter. After walking for about 30 min and traversing several of the 13 tracks we decided we were lost – Maybe? Yea–Nah? None of us had a map, but we worked out which general direction we needed to go – thanks to Di’s mobile with google maps. Eventually we got back to a familiar track and returned to the picnic spot some 60 mins after starting. Lesson learned – take a picture of the track map when you start.
A pleasant day out, travelling through some great rural scenic driving roads in South Waikato.