Today we hiked through the Waiwhero Forest (privately owned I believe but open to the public) - a mostly pine forest with some natives around the edges of the area.
A superb day for hiking. For the most part, the trails were wide and easy to follow. A nice easy rolling path around the south-west side of the forest followed by a reasonably steep climb up.
On the way down (after a bit of backtracking) we decided to take a path down the eastern side. Here we discovered a couple of major slips. Many trees made the path almost impassable - climbing over and under quite a few fallen trees. After a short while the path became clear and we had a really nice stroll back down the hill.