NZ Department of Conservation Gifts

Tracks

I stopped beside the winding track

And from my shoulders let slip the pack

I sat amid the silent trees

And felt the coolness of the breeze

And as I sat I mused and thought

Upon the hands this track had wrought

The hands that cut and cleared the way

To make it easy, lest we should stray

So long ago now it all seems

Since saw did cut and axe did gleam

And forests echoed to their sound

When early feet did tread the ground

So when you tramp on down the tracks

Think on those that bent their backs

To show the way through forest green

So we may walk ’neath towering leaves.

Contributed by Mike Deavin of Foxton to Te Ara, The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. For 30 years tramping in the bush was enjoyed by Mike Deavin, as a Department of Conservation guide, an honorary ranger and a hut warden.