Early in October we spent a week or so exploring Old Forest, finding all 9 of the surveyor boundary pegs and walking over as much of the property as possible, also working out where a driveway could be made. Below are the photos we took.

At the top of Mokihinui Preserve Road, the tree ferns are at the start of Old Forest.

The tall trees above our car are on Old Forest.
Looking back down Mokihinui Preserve Road.

The tops of mamaku, also known as black tree fern or king fern.

Some of the big trees

View north from ridge looking out to the Glasgow range.

View looking west from a ridge on Old Forest, Seddonville can only just be seen at bottom left through the leaves. The wee glimpse of blue in the V of the hills is the Tasman Sea.

View of Mokihinui River from the ridge.

Nathan's photos of a weka that came looking to see what insects we were disturbing. He even tried to drag Nathan's day pack away!

Nathan's photos of a beautiful South Island Robin who came to see what we were doing on Old Forest.

Jeff helping Marilyn who has fallen down again.......... it's such a rough piece of land that this happened many times!!

Jeff and Nathan using a GPS to try and find positions on Old Forest, such as the boundary pegs, there are 9 of them. It is difficult to get an accurate GPS reading as the tree cover is so thick. The surveyors plans give very accurate GPS positions though because of the aerial system they use.

Nathan is making a small diversion channel to divert spring water that had been running down our walking track and making it very muddy. He is using old tree fern logs to edge it.

The spring water running well in the diversion channel that Nathan made.

Jeff and Nathan transplanting very young nikau that were growing where the driveway up into Old Forest is planned to go. Not sure if they will survive the transplant but it is worth trying as they would be cleared when the road is formed. If nikau are very small they have a reasonable chance of surviving but once they get bigger than around 18 inches high the root system change and it is almost impossible to successfully move them we have been told.

Murphy Creek which is at the far end of Old Forest... Jeff and Nathan exploring the creek area.

Marilyn at Murphy Creek.

Burke Creek ford which is just past the Mokihinui Preserve. This will remain as a ford. Mokihinui Road becomes very narrow at this point and is really only a 4WD road. It crosses another ford and after that it is just a tramping track up through the Mokihinui Gorge. It's an 8 hour tramp to a hut.

Coal Creek ford on Mokihinui road. A bridge has been built over this ford by the developers and is council owned and maintained. The Mokohinui Preserve is on the other side of Coal Creek from Seddonville.

Below are a few photos taken on Old Forest, Jeff is in one of them, making his way through the dense growth.

On Mokihinui Road looking directly at the Preserve which is the lower hill in the front. Also a zoomed in photo of the Preserve, almost in the middle of this photo is where the ridge on Old Forest is.

Here is the sales blurb about Section 8:

SECTION EIGHT

An exceptional property offering a homesite with world class views.
25.22 acres.

We've been dreading writing this description, because we hate to part with this noble piece of earth. But life moves on, so here goes.

Murphy's Creek crosses the far point of the property, to which, by the way, there is an alternative legal (but logistically problematic) access. For a bit of magic, creek hike or fish this stream … and please take us with you. On the way, you can cross your 530 metre boundary with Department of Conservation estate.

Above Murphy's, back toward the rest of the Mokihinui Preserve, the section is home to a high flat expanse of mature rimu trees. It's a park-like treasure, pure and simple. We encourage the fortunate new owner of Section Eight to consider placing this area into a QEII Covenant; it certainly deserves the honour.

From up on the plateau, one encounters a small, deep canyon. Very odd, and beautiful, with a small waterfall ("Lost World" stuff). Who knows what else awaits discovery?

Heading back toward "civilisation" there's a sharp backbone ridge - we call it Bellbird Spur - which is where your homesite is perched. The ridge hosts giant beech, rimu and rata, and boasts 360º views taking in the Mokihinui River up towards the gorge and all the way to the Tasman Sea, the Radiant Range toward the north and the Glasgow Range in the east. The driveway to your homesite will wind up to the ridge through king ponga and mature nikau.

A truly world class property.

The Mokihinui Preserve subdivision. Old Forest is section 8.

The Mokihinui Preserve. Section 8, Old Forest, is at the end of the diamond shaped subdivision, at the right of these photos.

The Mokihinui Preserve Road comes off Mokihinui Road on the right, a kilometre or so after Seddonville just before Burke Creek.

Mokihinui Rd runs from Mokihinui, through Seddonville, past Mokihinui Preserve Rd and on to the start of the Mokihinui Gorge track.

Mokihinui river