Atene Viewpoint Walk

Last weekend we drove south to Wanganui to tramp a short way (1 hour up) on the Atene Viewpoint Walk.
It was very pretty and it overlooked the Whanganui River. It was well marked and had good stairs for the way up.

Yeah I wasn't sure if this was the last visitor on the walk, but I was hoping it wasn't an ominous sign.

                 At the top

On the way down we saw a huge fungus

 camouflaged wild goats

palm tree berries

  and a funny looking guy

Along the road beside the Whanganui River we came across the Waitaha Pa.

 It was a very steep climb to the top of a ridge. Historians believe that about 200 years ago an iwi (tribe) lived on top of the ridge for protection during the Maori wars.

They don't know what iwi it was but they were sophisticated in the fact that they had deep trenches built on the flats leading to the ridge.

They also had pit cellars to store their kumara (sweet potatoes) which they harvested from their crops along the riverbed.

It was another great weekend.
Thanks for reading!