Whilst on my exercise jaunts up Parihaka, I have noted that a lot of the manuka trees in the area are a very black colour. This is a dark sooty mould, possibly made more common by the soil types on the mountain. It doesn't seem to affect the trees much though, as most of them still seem quite healthy.
I thought it would be a good idea to get cachers to stop and have a closer look at these unusual coloured trees for themselves. Best parking is opposite this cache, on the western side of Memorial Drive, i.e. when heading uphill. Cache is a large bison, hanging.