I took a spin out on Scenic Drive today in the West, on the edges of the Waitakere* Ranges. It passes through dense rain forest full of vine-draped tree ferns unchanged since prehistoric ages. Scenic Drive makes for a memorable trip. The Ranges are steep, craggy, and tortuous veins of ancient lava flows, thickly blanketed in their rich, green riot.
Building a road through them must have been no easy feat. If you were concerned with travel efficiency and the bending of nature to human will, you would go in with a bunch of dynamite and bulldozers and engineer a level, straight-line pass through. But if you're concerned about getting there while having an experience along the way, not to mention if you're a number-eight kind of person, then you work with the hills. You wind the road around the ridges. You unfurl it to follow the path of least resistance through the valleys and around the errant cones. You sculpt a little jog to preserve the thousand-year stand of kauri pine.
Speed limits on the my drive ranged from 70 to 15, depending on the topography. Lanes were narrow and there were no shoulders. To say it was curvy was an understatement; I got to exercise my steering wheel's full range of motion. Portions were on a bus route. With a surprise around every bend, driving didn't bear too much thinking about. Driving was just about doing.
Despite piloting a decidedly non-performance family sedan, when I was done I felt exhilarated, as if I'd been testing out a new sports car. And when I parked, I took a moment to stretch my tight shoulders and flex those white knuckles.
*Why-TOCK-er-ee
Building a road through them must have been no easy feat. If you were concerned with travel efficiency and the bending of nature to human will, you would go in with a bunch of dynamite and bulldozers and engineer a level, straight-line pass through. But if you're concerned about getting there while having an experience along the way, not to mention if you're a number-eight kind of person, then you work with the hills. You wind the road around the ridges. You unfurl it to follow the path of least resistance through the valleys and around the errant cones. You sculpt a little jog to preserve the thousand-year stand of kauri pine.
Speed limits on the my drive ranged from 70 to 15, depending on the topography. Lanes were narrow and there were no shoulders. To say it was curvy was an understatement; I got to exercise my steering wheel's full range of motion. Portions were on a bus route. With a surprise around every bend, driving didn't bear too much thinking about. Driving was just about doing.
Despite piloting a decidedly non-performance family sedan, when I was done I felt exhilarated, as if I'd been testing out a new sports car. And when I parked, I took a moment to stretch my tight shoulders and flex those white knuckles.
*Why-TOCK-er-ee
3 comments:
Wow. I continuously clicked on the forward arrow on the googlemaps streetview and felt as if I was driving it too. I don't have time to go far before leaving for Lakestate this morning, but the glimpse I saw was beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Sounds like a wonderful, revitalizing, perfect "Artists Date" (re: Julia Cameron). I'm delighted you took a special day just for yourself. What a soul-filling expedition!
I clicked on all the links and saw the pix/info. Very interesting and cool place! Love the tree ferns!!!
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