About the Eastern Haywards Reserve
The Reserve was originally private property owned by the late H M Hayward. Hayward is now recognised as one of the Hutt Valley's very early conservationists. He noted that erosion and topsoil fertility failure soon followed the then widely followed practice of clear-felling and burning of the native bush cover on the valley's eastern hills, and decided not to adopt this practice on all of his land. He was apparently unpopular in some quarters after publicly warning that pastoral farming of these unstable slopes, using the slash and burn technique, was unsustainable and would give rise to serious erosion problems. Over the years an extensive network of interconnecting tracks was cut by Mr Hayward's farm hands, from his homestead at the top of Tyndall Street, to give access to the more scenic parts of his property and lookout points.
Regular visitors have enjoyed many hours in the Reserve walking the tracks and enjoying its peace and tranquillity. It takes some considerable time to find and traverse all the historic tracks and routes, some of which are quite challenging. Whilst the Hutt City Council maintains the main tracks, the remainder are maintained by nearby residents and a group of "hands-on" volunteers called "Friends of Waiwhetu's Hayward Scenic Reserve".
The cache is a 200ml sistema containing logsheet only so PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN PEN. Reception is patchy at GZ and co-ords are +/- 8 mtrs
Placed by a member of The Kiwicaching Association of NZ