Harper's Pass

We spent an outrageous amount of money in Hanmer Springs. First there were the delicious hot springs, then there was the chiropracter who inflicted great pain on Rob, told him that on a scale of 1 to 10 he was near zero on flexibility and if the cannibals got him they would have to put him through the mincer first. He gave him some stuff to take to aid flexibility and charged him a heap of dough. Coffees and cakes, dinners and wine, a replacement spoon (Rob's spork broke), a pair of slip-on-shoes for Rob, a pair of togs for Debby because she liked them...we really had to get back on the trail!
Phil from the YHA charged us a very reasonable amount for driving us back to Windy Point, where we set off in cheerful spirits and had the joy of dry feet all the way to Hope-Kiwi Lodge - a somewhat superior tramping hut almost like a house.

Lake Sumner

Next day we finally got a glimpse of Lake Sumner, but the track skirted around it and we saw little of it. It started to hail in the afternoon - call this summer? - and we were glad to spot the swingbridge over the huge Hurunui River which eventually took us to the Hurunui hut. We found it unswept, dead flies on the benches, a live robin trapped inside, rubbish around the place, a broken saw and a blunt axe. We soon straightened things up, made it habitable and lit a fire - Adi did wonders with the broken saw.

Famous Japanese climbers with Rob and Adi

Next day was a delight - only 3 hours to Huruni hut no. 3, and along the way a welcome soak in the natural mineral spring up above a waterfall of warm water. The only difficulty was getting dressed again without being murdered by sandflies. A Japanese couple arrived at 6 that night, very tired after a long day. It was great to see other people out here enjoying the wilderness, and this was the only time we shared a hut. There was plenty of room - the bunks were 3 tiers high, and in an outer room were 4 canvas bunks.

Along the way to our next hut we chose to use a 3-wire bridge to cross Cameron Stream  - quite an interesting experience balancing on one wire and hanging on tightly with both arms to the other two. We heard what were probably mohua in the forest, saw kakariki, robins, bellbirds and fantails, and were soon at the historic Harper's Biv where the weather decided to improve just in time for our climb to Harper's Pass at 962 metres.

Adi with us on Harper's Pass

It was gorgeous in the sub-alpine vegetation along the top of the saddle - there were mountain buttercups the size of dinner plates. The descent was a knee killer and at one point my foot got jammed in between two rocks. I had to take my foot out of the shoe before I could extract it! We stayed the night in Locke Stream Hut, built in 1941 from hand-sawn and adzed totara and kaikawaka (cedar).

Taramakau River from Harper's Pass

We travelled along and across and over and around the Taramakau River all the way to State Highway 73, but not without Rob having to come and rescue Adi and Debby who had become hopelsessly entangled in a forest jungle at one point. We crossed many, many streams and the Otehake River where we met a party of trampers just coming in. We didn't envy them the ascent of Harper's Pass from this side. We heard kaka and enjoyed having our lunch in the sun, without sandflies, yay. Adi's knee was really bad by now, and after lunch he left ahead of us so he wouldn't slow us down. Unfortunately he got too far ahead and at a track junction went one way while we went the other. This caused some confusion when we reached the Otira River and there was no Adi in sight. Rob nobly went back and found him wondering where we were and writing us a note. All was resolved and we headed across the Otira River together - the biggest river of the day, but only thigh deep.

We had decided not to carry on and do the Mingha-Deception route over Goat Pass as we had been told heavy rain was forecast and there were a great many river crossings. Adi had decided his knee wouldn't cope, and Rob decided his back needed a rest, so that left me and I wasn't doing it on my own! So we hitched a ride to Arthur's Pass and spent a comfortable night at the YHA.

We have now said goodbye to Adi - we will really miss our trusty guide and support. It's back to just the two of us and it feels lonely. Today we head off to Bealey Hut with severe gales and rain in the offing, then south to Lake Coleridge and beyond. Hopefully Sam and Lorraine will remember to pick us up at the Potts River Bridge in a week or so for a few days off in Geraldine.

Notes:

Day 26: Windy Point to Hope Kiwi Lodge. 16 km
Day 27: Hope Kiwi Lodge to Hurunui Hut. 19 km
Day 28: Hurunui Hut to No. 3 Hut. 10 km
Day 29: No. 3 Hut to Locke Stream Hut. 15 km
Day 30: Locke Stream Hut – SH 73 at Otira River 17 km

The real thing - over the Waiau Pass

Rob on the way to John Tait Hut

Rob decided he would be okay to resume our journey, so after 2 relaxing days with Tom and Heather, they kindly dropped us back at St Arnaud, and off we set again, heavy packs on our backs - but thanks for the delicious sandwiches Heather! We walked along the edge of Lake Rotoiti, and on up to John Tait Hut, situated between 2 avalanche debris piles. 

The Upper Travers

Next day we walked alongside the tumbling Travers River and climbed up and over Travers Saddle (1787m) - it seemed to have got higher since we last did it - and down the scree on the other side. Rob whizzed down the scree slope like a mountain goat and when I finally arrived at the bottom he said in a somewhat scornful voice that he had waited for me 4 times and didn't know why people were so tentative on it. Pah.

Debby on Travers Saddle

The descent carried on for ages through Beech forest down to West Sabine Hut where the first person we saw was Adi, just as we had planned. We shared the hut with some interesting company, and were the grateful recipients of some delicious fried Rainbow Trout - what a treat.



Sabine River

Blue Lake

The following day was wonderful - along one of the most beautiful pieces of track in the whole of New Zealand - beside the Sabine River, through rich forest, moss gardens, pretty tarns, little bridges like you would find in a Japanese garden and up to the stunning Blue Lake with its deep blues and lime green colours, a delight for the eye. It has the clearest and purest water in the world - well, that was true until Adi and I leapt in - we were both out in seconds, the water was between 5-8 degrees. I admired Adi who leapt back in for some more ice torture. We did feel great afterwards, but couldn't persuade Rob to follow suit. We spent a lazy afternoon gathering strength and courage for the assault on the Waiau Pass at 1870 metres.

Rob with Adi below, Lake Constance

We got to the top of the moraine wall above Blue Lake in good time and headed out across scree slopes high above Lake Constance. Some of the descents were totally hair-raising, down almost vertical slippery gravel slopes, the lake gleaming in the early morning light far below.
I was mostly too scared to look.

Deb and Rob climbing Waiau Pass

Finally we reached easier ground, but then I looked up and all I could see was an endless scree slope stretching up into the far horizon. We had to climb that????!! We did indeed, and on top of that there was another 500 metres which thankfully was not so steep, and I admit to even enjoying it. It felt great to reach the top, the weather was perfect and in every direction was a mountain peak. Stunning.

Rob, Waiau Pass



Waiau Pass descent

The reality of the descent soon hit us however, and although it was mostly okay, at one point we had to climb backwards about 15 feet down a narrow rocky chute. When I finally got down it and looked back up, I just knew that Rose, Sam and Emily would never believe their mother could do such a thing! I hate rock climbing, but that's exactly what it was, little narrow toe holds and finger holds. Ugh.
It was still a long way to the bottom, and then another couple of hours over many tiring boulder fields to Caroline Biv where after 10 hours we finally made camp, fending off armies of sandflies. 

Next day it rained, our legs felt like lead, then turned to jelly, and then it snowed. It was freezing, so we were very glad to reach the lovely new Anne Hut, and felt extremely fortunate to have got over Waiau Pass at all.




Anne Hut

Snow on the ranges

  Next morning we had to walk through waist-high, ice-encrusted grass for a couple of hours, it was very painful on our tired legs and turned our toes to iceblocks. We did enjoy seeing wild horses, including foals, near Anne Hut. Tiny riflemen, strident bellbirds and our old friends, Paradise Duck, kept us entertained all the way to little Magdalen Hut which we had to ourselves like Anne Hut. Where is everyone?

Debby, Rob and Adi on the St James Walkway

From Boyle Village we got the regular service (except Saturday) East-West shuttle at about 10.30 am to the Hanmer junction, and were waiting for the connecting Hanmer bus but decided to stick out the thumb, and we got a ride within minutes. The joy of soaking in the hot pools and relieving our variously aching backs, knees and achilles is hard to describe, as is the thought of an extra day off here in pretty Hanmer Springs. The YHA is excellent and we are resting and hopefully getting fit for the Harper Pass track tomorrow. Two days behind on our planned itinerary, but we need the rest. Next stop, Arthur's Pass village.

Notes:

Day 18: St Arnaud to John Tait Hut. 25.5 km
Day 19: John Tait to West Sabine Hut. 14 km
Day 20: West Sabine to Blue Lake Hut. 7 km
Day 21: Blue Lake Hut to Caroline Biv camp. 12 km
Day 22: Caroline Biv to Anne Hut. 28 km
Day 23: Anne Hut to Magdalen Hut. 21 km
Day 24: Magdalen Hut to Boyle Education Centre. 8 km
Day 25: Rest day, Hanmer Springs

An aside

Don't read this if you don't like toilet humour, but I just had to tell you about a couple of minor disasters.

In the morning at Slaty Hut in the Richmond Ranges, I went out to the long-drop loo and discovered to my horror - too late - that I had only 2 leaves of toilet paper left on the roll. Well, let me tell you, I performed a miracle with those 2 leaves. When I told Rob of my situation, he suggested that I would have to resort to the Eastern way, using a cup of water. Hmmm. But he did, reluctantly, let me use his roll.

I got my pay back at Anne Hut on the St James when his roll fell into the dunny. It was great making him beg on bended knee. Yeah.

Mountains and rivers - the Richmond Ranges

I think this posting should simply start with a big PHEW. Did I once say that crossing the Tararua tops was the hardest thing I'd ever done? Ha, that was kindergarten play compared to tramping through the rugged Richmond ranges.

The track up the Pelorous River was beautiful, and the Emerald Pools were truly that. We ate our wild pork-kumara-apple pies with sandfly seasoning overlooking the pools. We shared Captain's Creek hut with George, a young American fisherman, and set off at 7.30 am the next morning in hot humid conditions towards Middy Hut and onwards via a demanding and rough sidle track to the old 6 bunk Roebuck Hut, courtesy of the Forest Service.

Next day we climbed steadily to Totara Saddle, and lunched at the hoon-damaged Browning Hut - sited too close to the road end - carrying on to Hacket Hut. We washed our hot sweaty bodies and our  sweat-drenched clothes in the river, and dried out in the heat of the sun. We guessed our son Sam and his partner Lorraine who were kindly coming to join us and had 7 hours travel would arive at 6.15 pm. By intuition, we walked down the track to meet them and amazingly there they were  - spooooky.

They carried in fresh supplies and made us a wonderful 3-course dinner with produce from their garden. We settled down for the night only to be kept awake by a mosquito army - they even bit us through our silk sleeping bag liners. I hate mosquitoes; we all hate mosquitoes. And in the morning lined up at the door was a whole battalion of sandflies to take their place...

Starveall Hut

At least a dozen river crossings filled the first part of our morning, then up we climbed to one of our favourite huts, Starveall Hut (1200 metres) in time for lunch and just beating a very heavy shower of rain. We continued on up to lonely little Slaty Hut through rain and cloud with glimpses of the stunning Pelorus headwaters spread out below us, enjoying the alpine garden, vegetable sheep and celmesias and hoping for better weather.

Lorraine, Sam and Rob heading for Old Man

We were lucky and a beautiful day dawned. We spent an amazing morning climbing up to Old Man in strange and wonderful atmospheric conditions.

Debby heading for Old Man



Far below us we could see Old Man hut in a sunny clearing, and I was kind of glad we weren't going all the way down there.
But then came the hard part, up scree slopes to Little Rintoul, gasping at the knife-edge, tortured terrain that lay ahead.

Sam helping Debby down Little Rintoul

Then over a tricky precipitous rocky ledge which somehow Sam managed to help me over - I swear I had my eyes shut but Rob seemed unaffected by the exposure. Carefully down loose rock  to a saddle 250 metres below where the others stopped to let me catch up and eat some lunch. 

On the descent to the saddle we were delighted to meet our first Te Araroa Trail walker, Tony Walton. He was coming up the scree slope with a friend and we had a brief chat before both parties felt we needed to press on. 

This part of the alpine crossing had been giving us bad dreams beforehand but we had done it and it wasn't so bad after all. It turned out worse was to come in the Wairoa River.

Lorraine and Debby on Rintoul

The big climb up Mount Rintoul was straightforward by comparison, and the downhill was fun, virtually running down loose gravelly scree almost to the bush edge, and on down to Rintoul hut. I was so glad to see that little haven after 10 hours of hard toil; I lay down on a bunk and listened to an unreal conversation between Lorraine and Sam who were saying what a fun day it had been. They weren't even tired. Oh to be young again.

There's no rest for the wicked. Next day we had to haul ourselves back on to the track and off we went congratulating ourselves that we had managed to get over the Rintouls without mishap. Ten minutes later further down the track Rob slipped on a rock and jarred his back! He went as white as a sheet and was in a great deal of pain, but insisted on carrying on. You can judge how bad it was - I even offered to carry the tent. Sam and Lorraine caught up to us in the mist of Purple Top, and still Rob soldiered on, clambering over big chunky rocks.

Tarn Lake

We lunched at tiny Tarn hut, right next to the loveliest mountain tarn, surrounded by forest right to the water's edge. Rob said he could carry on, so we did, and late afternoon saw us arrive at Mid Wairoa Hut. Sam and Lorraine headed for a beautiful swimming hole which was one of the few redeeming features of this hut. The toilet door fell off as you pulled it open, and to get water you had to climb down a steep slippery bank to the river. To make matters worse Rob's back now seized completely and things looked grim for continuing. Thank goodness Sam had a great range of painkillers with him, without them I don't think Rob would have been able to move next day.

It rained torrentially that night, with incredible thunder and lightning, and next morning the river had turned into a turbid, raging, terrifying torrent. We were supposed to be walking up along the edge of it, crossing it many times on the way - well, we had to abandon that plan. We decided to try an escape route down the Wairoa River to the Wairoa road end, but after an hour of horrible slippery, narrow track with precipitous drop-offs and having to cling to a wire to get around a cliff face, we were stymied by a swollen side stream. So we had to turn around and go all the way back along this ghastly bit of track. I will never in my life go near that nasty river again. I hates it.

So at 11.00 am we had to retrace our steps to Tarn hut, hoping that the 8 people we had seen heading there the day before had moved on. Mercifully they had, and poor Rob collapsed on to a bunk, we gave him a massage and he was soon snoring in an exhausted sleep.

Lower Goulter Hut

A much easier day followed as we headed out to the Goulter River, hoping it would be crossable. It was, and we spent the afternoon lazing around in welcome sunshine, hoping that the weather would hold and we could re-cross the river next morning to complete our escape up the north bank of the Wairoa River to St Arnaud. I lay awake listening to heavy rain in the night, but it soon abated and we were able to continue.

We wasted a good hour trying to walk along the edge of the Wairoa River, but it cut into a cliff and once again we had to turn back. Rivers! So up into the pine forest we went, (thankfully Rob had obtained permission for us), finding our way along vehicle tracks and finally out on to SH63.

We contacted my brother Tom and his wife Heather who had kindly moved to Nelson just before we started our South Island leg and had offered to help us once again on our trail. They came to collect us - only Tom didn't see us - too difficult to explain - and to our horror he drove right past us! Luckily Heather was following behind in Sam's car, she did see us, and all was soon sorted out. We said our fond farewells to Sam and Lorraine - they had been excellent company, entertaining, physically and mentally helpful with a great can-do attitude, and always cheerful.

We headed to Tom and Heather's flash new home in Stoke for absolutely the best shower and cup of tea of our lives. And as usual with this wonderful couple, we were soon sitting down to a stunning dinner, which I have to tell you was home-caught and home-made gravlax salmon (soaked in vodka for 3 days) followed by sundried tomato and basil stuffed pork loin wrapped in bacon - am I making your mouth water? It was divine. And Tom opened a fine bottle of bubbly to celebrate our safe arrival.

Today Rob saw a dentist (broken filling fixed), a pharmacist (back pain now under control with pain killers and improving, buttock bruising fading).
We will decide in another day if we can continue our journey, just a day late, to the Travers-Sabine and over the Waiau Pass, meeting nephew-in-law Adi at West Sabine hut.

Apologies for the length of this posting, but it's been a while!

Notes:

Day 6: Havelock to Pelorus Bridge Campground.21 km
Day 7: Pelorus Bridge to Captain Creek Hut. 23 km
Day 8: Captain Creek to Roebuck Hut. 11.5 km
Day 9: Roebuck Hut to Hacket Hut. 13.7 km
Day 10: Hacket Hut to Slaty Hut. 10 km
Day 11: Slaty Hut to Rintoul Hut. 14.5 km
Day 12: Rintoul Hut to Mid Wairoa Hut. 14.5 km
Day 13: Mid Wairoa Hut back to Tarn Hut. 8.5 km
Day 14: Tarn Hut to Lower Goulter Hut. 9.3 km
Day 15: Lower Goulter Hut to Wairoa River Bridge and beyond. 28 km
Day 16, Day 17: Rest days, Nelson.

Queen Charlotte Walkway

What a lovely start to our journey south. Great tracks although muddy after recent southerlies and cold at first. People en route were grumbling about the absence of summer - but it soon hit us with a vengeance, and the road walk into Havelock was over melted tar.

Leaving Cowshed Bay, Day 4

The Queen Charlotte Walkway is a wonderful trail, magnificent forest and views along the way. We shared the trail with walkers, trampers, cyclists and even had lunch with two horsewomen. At most camps the morning was heralded by a spectacular dawn chorus, and at night we enjoyed hearing the cheeky wekas screeching. They often appeared around meal times within a foot of us, beadily eyeing our food. We had to enlighten four Israeli lads that they were NOT kiwis.

Our favourite camp was Davies Bay where we refreshed ourselves with a swim, and ate our meal overlooking the emerald green waters of the Sound. The campers next to us lived just a couple of kilometres from our home - small world.

A big bonus for Rob is that he has so far managed to have a pint of beer on 3 separate occasions - this really is quite a civilised stretch of the Te Araroa Trail. However, that is all coming to an end - tomorrow we head up to Pelorus, and then go to do battle with our worst fears - crossing the Richmond Range via Mt Rintoul to the rugged Red Hills. We hope the next posting will be from Nelson around the 16th January.

Notes:

Day 1: Ship Cove to Miners’ Camp. 16 km
Day 2: Miners’ Camp to Bay of Many Coves Shelter. 19 km
Day 3: Bay of Many Coves to Cowshed Bay campsite. 15 km
Day 4: Cowshed Bay to Davies Bay campsite. 18 km
Day 5: Davies Bay to Havelock YHA. 19 km