Around the car park is a pleasant walk (Tane’s track – Tane being the Maori god of the forest) through fairly lush low land beech forest.
The track up to the top is used by service vehicles attending to the many communication towers that have sprung up on the skyline. It’s also used by trail bikes and mountain bikers but we saw only a couple of these. The vegetation changes as altitude is gained and it's a reasonably consistent hard upward slog.
The prevailing moist conditions give rise to wonderful moss and lichen growths on the trees.
Half way up it was time for a rest and refreshments!
One of the larger microwave towers on the ridge.
We had chosen a glorious day for the trip. The air was still cool but it was warm in the sun and there was scarcely a breath of wind. (The last time we did the walk it was cloudy and we were in the mist at the top so had no views). There were good views of Upper Hutt at the head of the Hutt Valley and the Tararua range on the way up to the ridge line. Above the tree line it was possible to see east to the Wairarapa, south to Wellington and west to Mana Island and the top of the South Island.
Looking across the head of the Hutt Valley towards the South Island. Mana is the long low island just off the coast. 
The journey down was a lot quicker. This is a rimu which has been damaged by fire or lightning but has survived to flourish again.
Afterwards we went round to Jane’s for tea and view her photos from her recent trip to Chile. We ate her prize home grown cauliflower which was a beautiful specimen – apparently even more impressive when it still had its green leaves! 
