2666 Te Uku Wind Farm, 4 Sept 2016

I can see the giant wind turbines of the Te Uku Wind Farm from my kitchen window, so was keen to join the tramping club on this trip to get a closer look.  As early spring would have it, the weather was forecasted to be overcast with rain coming in for the afternoon.  Not deterred, a small group of seven set off to walk the Pipiwharauroa Trail, which crosses privately owned farmland on the Wharauroa Plateau and takes you up to the windfarm site about 430 meters above sea level.

We could hear the blades of the wind turbines before we could see them as it was quite misty on the way up.  They really are quite impressive looking beasts, with towers 80m high and blades 49m long. We stopped for lunch at the end of the walk, almost underneath one of the turbines, and managed to get a glimpse of the lovely views out towards Raglan and Kawhia.  They would be stunning on a clear day.  Apparently, if the weather is good you can even spot Mount Taranaki!

Fortunately, the cloud lifted a little for our return trip and we got a good feel for the extent of the wind farm, being able to see 20 wind turbines from a single vantage point at one stage. (There are 28 in total).

The 18km return trip is primarily on a metalled road, which makes it easy to ‘walk and talk’, and the rolling terrain of the surrounding farmland is very pretty. There were plenty of lambs frolicking in the paddocks, quite a number of turkeys roaming around and a few cows and goats to add variety. Numerous natives have been planted around two wetland areas which not only make these areas attractive to look at but will improve water quality downstream.

The return trip took us around 4.5 hours and most of us had just enough energy left to pop down to admire the Wairenga Bridal Veil Falls before returning home to Hamilton. David has posted some lovely photos from the trip on Facebook so have a look if you get a minute.

Thanks to Lois Rowell for organising the trip.

Participants: Lois, Anne M. (scribe), Anne (from Germany), David, Fiona, Irene and Isla