By Ken Muscroft-Taylor
On Sunday 17th November (Show weekend) a group of photographers met at the Awa Awa Reserve, below Pudding Hill and Near Mt Hutt.
The reserve of about 2ha, planted in rhododendrons and surrounded by native bush, is 14km from Methven and 2km from the Mt Hutt ski field turnoff and is widely known for its spring display of rhododendrons. These shrubs were first planted in 1968 in the picnic ground and have continued being planted and maintained by the Awa Awa Rata Reserve Society (Inc.). Backed by virgin native bush on the hillsides, the rhododendrons are a brilliant sight in the late spring.
A pleasant walk follows a stream through native bush and rhododendron plantings, while for more adventurous there are a number of bush walks on Pudding Hill and up to Mt Hutt.
The weather was excellent, being cloudless, and warm, with no breeze. The Rhodos were in mid flowering, with early ones finished and late ones still to come out.
