Trip Reports

Crossing the Rimutakas: Late 2012

DominicOberhumer — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 18:20:53 GMT

Ivan wanted something with lots of rivers. I wanted something that would take a while. Achim was happy to oblige and wanted to throw some bush-bashing into the mix. Sergey just wanted to take some nice pictures.

After catching a bus to Wainuiomata there was a brief time spent on the track heading up Nikau Creek. Roughly twenty minutes was spent on the track before a turn uphill was taken. A proper DoC walking track would not be encountered again until the next day. The uphill was reasonably short-lived though rather intense and at a pace that was not really sustainable. We walked along a bushy ridgeline and through the catchment area for a water treatment plant which you’re not really supposed to do according to someone.

Strolling down into a valley there was the loud roar of a chainsaw the owner of which might not be pleased about a group of trampers walking through what was technically a restricted area. Walking into the valley was fine as there was plenty of bush cover and little chance of being spotted but at the bottom there was a bridge which was part of the water works that we had to cross. It was decided that we should just cross the bridge briskly and nonchalantly. If someone yelled out at us that we shouldn’t be there we’d just walk faster until we couldn’t hear them shouting anymore. That went off without a hitch and we found a tunnel which we could use as a short cut to the river that we were going to spend most of that day walking up: the Orongorongo and one of its tributaries. The tunnel was long but not quite long enough to need a headtorch. After a small dam in the river (the last sign of civilisation) we stopped for half an hour to have lunch in the sun; we walked from 9am to 9pm that day and that half hour for lunch was the only time we weren’t moving.

Walking up the Orongorongo was pretty fun, never getting very deep but wet boots were inevitable. At some point it started to drizzle but it was still quite warm so it didn’t really matter. After a few hours we reached the tributary we were going to take up to Waiorongomai saddle. Bush bashing was back on the menu heading towards the saddle, interspersed with walking in the stream from time to time, still fairly easy going. When we got up to the saddle things got a bit rougher.

There was mud, lots of it, knee deep in places and filled with supple-jack and the odd piece of bush-lawyer here and there, it was not easy going. After some time trudging and some discussion as to where exactly we were and how best to avoid cliffs and canyons that were in the generally vicinity it started to rain. Within five minutes of the rain it started to hail and then soon after there was thunder and lightning. I will never forget the brief conversational exchange that occurred in response to the new walking and weather conditions. Sergey turned to us, knee deep in mud, wrapped in supple jack, being pelted with hail stones and having to compete with thunder to be heard and said “this is awful, what are we doing here? Why would anyone want to do this?” Whether it was Achim or Ivan who responded I can’t recall but the reply that came out was delivered perfectly “Well, you wanted to see the real New Zealand” and that was that.

We found our way to the other side of the saddle and realised we weren’t we wanted to be and would have a steeper down climb than we had hoped into a valley and would have to spend more time in the stream at the bottom as well. After part falling, part climbing and part sliding down to the river it had turned dark and head torches had to come out. Walking over the saddle had been bad (it was slow, frustrating, a little cold and just a little bit filthy) but now, now it got miserable, or I thought so at least. It was that really impressive kind of miserable as well where you can really sink your teeth into or drape it over yourself like a cold, wet blanket and really just fester and grumble in it. The sort of misery that leads you to denounce tramping as a pass time and decide that this is your last one, you’ve had enough, it’s not worth it. Worse still is the knowledge that this is entirely your own fault, you didn’t have to come, you didn’t have to be here and this was your choice. With that comes the thought that the only way to get out of this god-awful situation is to keep walking, to grit your teeth and push through it. The river was filled with slime filled rocks, the banks covered in supple jack, bush lawyer and now a healthy dose of ongaonga for good measure. I couldn’t see anything in the river and kept falling over. So I was cold from the air, wet and cold from the river, bruised from falling onto rocks constantly, I was tired and hungry, sore and scratched up and this went on for several hours. You either fell over in the river or you got stuck on the bush along the banks. At some point since this experience I realised that I’m addicted to that sort of thing.

We got to Waiorongomai Hut, had dinner and crashed. The next day Ivan, Achim and I went up another stream to try and find a waterfall. It was large enough that from no vantage point could we see all of it in one go. After that we splashed out through the Waiorongomai River towards western lake road. This was a really easy day, the track was good, the river was nice, the sun was shining, everything was just kind of fantastic. When we got to the road we hitch hiked back to Featherston; Achim and I got picked up by a couple that had just come from a wedding rehearsal. Smelling very trampy and still being quite muddy I spent that car ride sitting next to a pristine bridesmaids dress, it was nerve racking. From Featherston we caught a train back to Wellington and that night I slept amazingly well and ate a lot of peanut butter.

With: Ivan Andrews, Dominic Oberhumer, Achim Gaedke and Sergey Maximov

Meeting the Kaweka Tops: Easter 2012

DominicOberhumer — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 16:58:28 GMT

Most trips into the Kawekas involve clear skies, good views, lovely hot pools and relaxing with a choice beverage or five. This was nothing like that at all.

This was the third club trip I’d been on, the first was Freshers which apparently didn’t really count and the second was an overly ambitious trip to Maungahuka and that didn’t work out so well. The plan this time around seemed flawless in its simplicity; there were hot pools and we were going to them, marvellous. The car ride was long but I spent it asleep so can’t really complain there.

Trouble started when we reached a river we were supposed to cross in the cars. I later learned that there was a metal pole in that river: bottom half painted white, top half painted red with the implication that one should not attempt to cross if the water reached the red. We could not see said pole on this particular day so plans had to change. We agreed to head to another road end from where we could head out along the tops and ridgelines of the Kawekas and there was a hut five minutes from the road we could stay in that night. Things still sounded pretty good, we just accepted that we wouldn’t need our togs after all and tried to put out from our minds the reason for the rivers being so high.

We didn’t sleep in the hut (Makahu Saddle Hut) but for a cause still unclear to me decided to set up flies to sleep under. There were nine of us but we had large flies and tarps so we figured it’d be fine. We cooked up a meal and got into our sleeping bags at 6pm, we didn’t get out of them till 8am the next day.

It had been wet throughout the night, it hadn’t been raining or anything, it was just wet, really wet. We packed up, had breakfast and started walking, the weather decided to remain wet. We strolled up to Kaweka J and in the process experienced several types of the “are we there yet?” question: first joking then genuine then desperate. When we reached the top there was nothing to see and it had started to rain in that most fantastic of directions: horizontally. The next four of five hours were a complete blur. There was rain, there were rocks underfoot, there was rain, there was a complete lack of views and there was rain. We may have stopped to eat at some point and we may have talked a little but mostly we just put our heads down and walked. For not the first and certainly not the last time on a tramping trip I thought to myself “Am I actually enjoying this? Is this supposed to be fun? Are the people around me having fun? They don’t look like they are. Is this perhaps a little dangerous too?”

I learnt two things that day 1) Good friends are made in bad conditions. 2) Calling anything waterproof is laughably arrogant… and just plain incorrect.

We finally ended up scrabbling down a rocky slope towards Ballard Hut, sure it was a four bunk hut and there were nine of us but we were bedraggled and it had a roof and better yet a fire. I arrived at the hut first and put my head through the door. Two hunters stared back at me, clearly bewildered that anyone would have the audacity to walk here and join them in this weather. “Uhm, would you guys mind if another nine people were to come in here?” I asked trying to sound as unimposing as a person can under such circumstances. The bewildered stares were now accompanied by hanging jaws as a response. “Well ahh, six of them are girls if that, um makes it any better” I had no idea what I was meant to say but felt that somehow that fact might help things along. One of hunters retained his blank stare whilst the other gave me a more interesting look. It was a look that suggested that not only did he believe that I was pulling his leg but that at this point he thought the entire universe was taking the piss. “Ok, well, we’ll just let ourselves in then” I said quietly as I realised there was a queue forming behind me outside the hut. So in we walked and that was that.

We hung up or wet clothing, went about making dinner and then sat around the hut drinking and chatting and laughing until we went to sleep. Two of our group slept outside in a tent, some of us double bunked and some of us slept on the floor.

The next day was miserable in the morning but much better from just before midday onwards, we still got no views but we were lower down and everything was just far more pleasant. There were river crossings and valleys to walk into and out of and it was all just quite nice. Someone assumed that I knew how to navigate by map so I ended up doing a bit of that though I’ve no idea when or where I learnt to do so. We got back to the car park in reasonable time and though we were a little tired everyone seemed pretty pleased with the experience. It was a good trip.

With: Pia, Dana, Sacha, Joe, Ashley, Mae, Dom, Anita and Anna.

Te Urewera Trip between Easter and ANZAC day 2014

achim — Tue, 27 May 2014 17:23:39 GMT

Mon, April 21st

We (Matt, Keith and Achim) started in the afternoon on Monday, trying to drive up as far north as possible. In one go we reach Pak'nSave for shopping in Napier. I (Achim) had three different tramps in mind (Waikareiti/Manuoha Loop, Whakatane/Waikare Loop and something at the Te Urewera Mainland Island / Tauranga river with access from further north) and we decided to settle on one of them once we were in the Urewera Ranges.

In the evening we drove up to the Waikare River Mouth campsite (at the Waikar*i* river!), that is about 20min off the SH 2. We pitched our tents on the free campsite and had a quick evening tea - expecting a long day tomorrow.

Tue, April 22nd

The campsite turned out to be a beautiful spot at the river mouth, it takes about a quarter of an hour by foot to the coast. Matt and I enjoyed the sweeping morning view of Hawkes bay.

Back on the road we did the final shopping in Waiora and drove off to Lake Waikaremoana, where we had a planning session in the visitor centre, we were quizzing around the staff on shuttle prices, track conditions and safe places for cars. After we got the numbers, we discarded the option of closing a potential gap in our tramping routes by hitch-hiking or shuttle - finally we decided to go the Whakatane-Waikare-Loop. There is no intentions book in/around the visitors centre, so we asked DOC to call Cécile - our emergency contact - from the land line to update our intentions. (I had some trouble spelling Mataatua properly!)

We reached Mataatua at 2PM. Makarei in the last house promised to take care of our car for the next days (a koha of 40NZD). We did a 2.5 hour walk along the Whakatane river, had fun with the walk-wire over one of the side streams and reached our destination well before darkness. We had Tawhiwhi hut for us. It features a big open fireplace and funny three storey bunk beds.

Later in the evening we had a chat with Sarah and ??? - they gave Matt a little big fright on entering the hut, as he bumped into two bright head torches and a gun. They were roaming around to hunt some possums in darkness.

Wednesday, April 23rd

The early morning fog hung in the trees magically, the tranquil Whakatane valley looked exactly like one of the plenty haunted and misty photos from the Te Urewera national park. We slept in and started late-sih. Once the sun broke through the mist the day started promising and - indeed - becomes quite warm!

We were walking up the Whakatane past Ngaheramai Hut, and meeting another couple doing hunting and chilling out. They seem to know everyone but also wanting to learn everything on them and dear trails. We were warned about some sections of the track after Hanamahihi Hut, as people left heaps of complaints in the hut books.

A fairly easy tramp brought us Hanamahihi Hut, which was a bit of a ***-hole in a beautiful spot. On the front porch we had a sunny lunch time here. After crossing the Whakatane via a swing bridge, we were climbing over a hill and we did good progress while listening to a number of roaring stags - sounds all in all like massive digestion problems.

After reaching the river again, the track sidles along the steep valley side and crosses several gnarly slips with tree fall and loose gravel. We had some great expectations on 40m slide and (hopefully) taking a plunge in the river. Progress was pretty slow. Less dangerous but more tedious were the flat bits, the track just vanished in lush high grass. We discovered one or the other hunters camp. One of them featured a quad-bike in a makeshift garage! At the end of the flats it was some effort to find the track again. At the 3rd flat, I became impatient and dropped into the river bed. Though the Whakatane river was well filled, but the banks were still wide, so we did more than 1.5 km in no time!

That was the opportunity to train Matt and Keith up for river crossings, at each crossing a bit more - till disaster stroke. At the bent just 300 m from the bridge over the Waikare (here with E at the end), I made a bad judgement and we crossed the river at the bottom section of a rapid instead of wading or swimming through calm but deep pool on top of it. The water turned out to be waist deep, we didn't train the caterpillar to turn around and also Matt and Keith had no idea how to swim with backpacks. - More than half way across I got knocked off my feet and swam back to the shore, while Keith and Matt thought it would be a good idea to take refuge at the logs inside the river a little bit more downstream... (The water flows beneath the logs and tends to drag people into submerged branches, me shouting out that they should swim past the logs were unheard. - Ok, always give the full set of instructions beforehand.)

No good idea, it took me a while talking to get them out of this situation: Keith being in an awkward position hugging a log and Matt ending up with the foot stuck under the roots. (Furthermore, the PLB was with Matt in his backpack. It is advisable to have the PLB in a pocket or on the belt to have it REALLY handy in case of emergency, one might decide to abandon the backpack - typically without the chance of unpacking it.)

Once we were out of the water (quite wet, shaken in confidence), we changed clothes and bush bashed up steeply till we found the track again. The bridge over the Waikare was reached soon. A final climb over the hill should bring us to the hut, dusk was setting in. And again, at another clearing we lost the track and I wasn't able to find it in the darkness. Using my (very basic) GPS bought us finally back to the track and into the Waikare Junction Hut.

The hut was welcoming us with a lit candle in the window and a radio transmitting static, so we knew some other occupants were not far away. We settle in one half of the hut and soon the other half is full of three generations male Maoris, they came by horse, had more dogs than they could count for hunting. Initially a bit reserved, but later quite friendly and chatty. They told us about a Dutch exchange student coming to one of the Maori settlements out there, who went out into the bush with them some years ago. The contrast must have been overwhelming for that kid.

Thursday, April 24th

We got up at 7AM, not too early (would be damn cold for the river) and not too late (assuming this is the most difficult day). Without many deliberations we started the 3 km river bash up the Waikare river from the confluence with Whakatane till the valley widens - after yesterday's ordeal it was surprisingly easy! From there we found track markers for sidling tracks. Progress was surprisingly good, we made it in roughly 3.5 hours to the former Waikare Whenua hut site next to the swing bridge in the middle of nowhere. Short after dropping down into the creek Keith is celebrating the 50th river crossing, we all had fun bashing up Motumuka Stream (indeed, one can't miss the distinct Te Kumete stream fork in order turn sharp left.) The creek was just beautiful (Ivan would have loved it!), there were two canyon-like sections which we bypassed using marked tracks. After the 100 and so-and-so-th creek crossing (Keith gave up counting just before the hut.) we reached Takurua Hut - finally a hut which was used more frequently for tramping than hunting.

One note on the vegetation of the Te Ureweras: It is a lush green rainforest with a much thicker fern cover on the ground than I've seen it before. Whenever we stopped, we've heard birds singing and coming closer. The forest makes a much more untouched impression than the normal Tararua forest.

After a good lunch time, we faced the biggest uphill on this trip: 360m (oh, what an easy tramp!) - and also the highest point on our tramp: Te Wharau with 666m (nearly disappointing, but beautiful with groups of tall trees without much bush, these places remind me of Europe). The track was hidden under a dense fern cover and on the way down we had trouble to find the right way from time to time. But finally, we made it back to Tawhiwhi Hut - just an hour before sunset, this evening Keith's knees were crushed.

Friday, April 25th

Our way back starts with a short sprint back to Mataatua and picking up the car, it was well guarded, thanks! We continue the way on the SH38 towards Rotorua - completing this SH becomes another achievement on this weekend. Driving along the wiggly and sometimes narrow road is nearly as beautiful as tramping, the bridges are shared with the horses - The surface is slippery, so hitting the ditch seems to be a kiwi habit (I was told).

We made an hour long stop in the hot pools in Waiotapu - we and our sore legs loved it! The SH5 to Taupo was blocked anyway (we've seen the totally destroyed truck on a long truck) - unfortunately the cleanup wasn't finished when we were on the road again. So we had to take the detour, which offered some more excitement with more slippery backcountry roads - sharing the road with trucks, buses, campervans... having another near miss - this time with traffic on the other side. Anyway, after that we drove non-stop and without any incidents to Otaki in no time. There we got a Subway and someone was distracted by a beautiful waitress.

I think, I need to get back to the Ureweras in summer for a bit longer, as driving there and back was entertaining as well as tiring - 2 days driving (thanks, Keith) and 3 days tramping is not bad for a short Urewera Tramp. - We loved it, got wet and we had no rain!

That funny type of fun...

DominicOberhumer — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 22:40:26 GMT

Describing this trip, I might just start off with how we actually started our trip: Discussing the 3 types of fun at the Hunter’s car park: Firstly, fun you have while doing something, then the kind of fun you have after doing things which might have been not that much fun while doing them, which is type 2, and last but not least type 3, which is fun while doing something that is not as funny afterwards (e.g. things you do when you’re drunk). Our trip did indeed consist of fun type 1 at some points, for example at the estimated 50 times we “finally” found the right trail, another 20 moments we thought we knew the direction and will be out of the bush in an hour or two and especially that moment when you get out of the bush after 20 hours at 8 AM in the morning. As you can guess, there might have also been a few things which potentially tend to be more a type 2 kind of fun… I mean, afterwards it IS really funny that we got completely lost in a navigation trip. It is absolutely funny that we were thinking we are on a really relaxed stroll at day 2, telling type 2 fun stories about getting lost at tramps in the hut the night before. And it is also funny how our thoughts and sorrows at the beginning of the trip changed from “my shoes are wet”, “hopefully there’s not again a giant slug on the tree I want to hold on to”, “I have a bit of mud on my jacket”, “I hope that not another Giant Weta will jump into my neck” or “hopefully we don’t have to walk for more than half an hour in the dark” to things like “maybe the sun is rising soon so we don’t have to worry about running out of head-torch batteries anymore”, “it would be good if we had enough food to keep everybody energized at all times”, “I really want to make it out of that bush someday” or “hopefully I will make it down that almost 90° slope with my backpack” at the end of the trip. Well, what basically happened is that... I have no idea. After having had a really relaxed Saturday including a 2 hour drive to Otaki Forks, an hour at Pak’n Save, learning how to cross rivers and how to make outdoor-knots, learning-by-seeing how to Pack-float (thanks to Dom at this point), eating Nachos, drinking mannerly (no irony at this point), and a lot of sitting and talking, we started our Sunday around 10:30 AM with a really healthy and delicious chocolate-marshmallow-sweetcondensedmilk-peanutbutter-cadburrycreameggs-porridge, before making it onto the peak of any mountain in our wet shoes. Until there the type 1 fun definitely predominated. We had a stunning view over the Tararua mountains. And also the first part of strolling down the ridge off the beaten track was really enjoyable. Then it started raining. And it got dark. Which was not too bad until we noticed how difficult it could be and that it may possibly take us a bit longer to find a way out of that slightly intimidating forest. But even then it felt really adventurous going up and down steep, well, not paths, but, you know… things between, above, under and next to still living vertical or not so still living, horizontal trees, increasing tension through some bushlawyers, leatherwood and slippery mud. Another good thing was that time passed really quickly between numerous breaks used for finding bearings, keeping hydrated and ingesting as many calories as possible. Of course, not being wet and cold all over could have been nice, but, honestly, that would have been really boring. After all I feel like I do have a tiny bit more bush-experience than I had before the trip, and it was also really interesting to see how capable and enduring our human body acts in such situations. And in the end, returning to your car after a 21 hour over-night tramp, finding that it doesn’t start because of an empty battery is indeed a bit of type 1 fun as well.

Taranaki Jan 2014 - by Raquel Crosier

Josh Girvan — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 01:10:19 GMT

Taranaki Hardcore!!

Thirty hours after arriving in Wellington from the US the rowdy VUW Tramping Club welcomed me to New Zealand in true kiwi fashion by taking me on an adventure I will never forget; up to the Mighty Naks and the summit of Mt Taranaki.

Josh, our leader and local expert, set up the logistics. I was to meet Keith at the main Kelburn campus bus stop at 9:30am. Not having been to campus before I had no idea where on campus to go. Luckily, I wasn’t hard to spot with my large backpack and the dumbfounded look on my face. Mark found me and lead the way to the usual Tramping Club meet up spot where we met Keith and got on our way.

While stopped for fuel I asked how long the drive to New Plymouth was. The boys estimated that the trip would take four to five hours. Seven hours later, after a false dead battery, a brewery tour, speaker shopping, a fast food stop, and a few wrong turns, we arrived in New Plymouth to pick up Josh and Adam. Buried under our packs we drove up towards the Pouakai Range. We started from Mangorei Road, hiking 1.5 hours uphill to the hut. The wind was roaring when we got to the top and I was glad I had packed 4 liters of beer to keep me anchored to the ground. We cooked a delicious dinner and waited for the rest of our group (Matt, Natasha, Elliot and Natalie) who arrived at 9pm, hiking by headlamp light most of the way up. We played some cards, shared some drinks and stories and hit the bunks to prepare for the long day ahead of us.

When we woke up Saturday the clouds were starting to clear and we got our first view of Taranaki. We took some photos of the beautiful mountain from the top of the Pouakai Range and Josh pointed out our summit route. We then packed back down to the cars, did some restocking in town and drove to Dawson falls. From there we hiked straight uphill for four hours; up stairs and skree fields. Straight up… I learned that kiwis don’t believe in switchbacks. But with every vertical step we were encouraged by even more stunning views of the mountain and the landscape below.

When we arrived at the Syme hut around 6pm we found that there was already a group of six in the hut which is intended for ten. Fortunately, the group welcomed us to stay anyway making a cozy sixteen of us in a ten person hut. But with good weather and incredible views of the coast line and snow capped peaks we spent very little time indoors. During the evening, we ate a delicious homemade chickpea and chorizo stew by our chef Natasha, watched the sunset and a rising red moon before cozying up in our overcrowded bunks.

Sunday we woke up at 5:30am for a morning ascent of Mt Taranaki. But getting ten people packed, fed and geared up takes patience. We hit the trail at 7:30am to endure a long, hot, frustrating trudge through more skree. We made it to the summit of Mt Taranaki by 11am. The 360 degree view from the top made every step worth it. We stayed on the summit for a while taking it all in and exploring the terrain. After taking hundreds of photos, screaming triumphantly, playing in the snow, and some indecent exposure, we hiked back down to the hut. From there we packed our bags and headed down to Dawson Falls for a much deserved cool down.

After the falls, five of us (Josh, Mark, Keith, Natasha and I) continued on to Tahurangi Lodge for the night. We arrived at our luxury accommodation after dark, at 10pm. The lodge had heating, electricity, showers, a full kitchen, stereo and board games. We cooked another gourmet dinner, sipped on whisky and played Jenga until we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer.

On Monday morning the tired bunch tramped back out to the car, exhausted but exhilarated by the weekend’s adventure. I couldn’t have asked for a better welcome to New Zealand. Thanks to my new friends on the VUW Tramping Club!

Taranaki Jan 2014 - by Raquel Crosier

Josh Girvan — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 01:10:07 GMT

Taranaki Hardcore!!

Nelson Lakes 2013 M Group Report by Kaitlin Maddever

DominicOberhumer — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 02:28:11 GMT

We all met up the ferry terminal at more or less the right time, barring a forgotten jacket and a late bus. The ferry trip over was fun, we got to know the three crazies we'd be spending the next week with and wrestled with Bluebridge's free wifi. When we pulled into Picton we drove off and made for Blenheim (more or less) to go to Pak n Save.
We started the tramp by working out what we'd be eating. Most important. We found the wonderful potato flakes, picked up the hyperessential wooden spoon (serious) before loading back into the car and heading to the Mount Robert carpark, with maybe a stop to look at a lake and some ducks.
At the carpark we sorted the group gear and Achim and James did a funny car juggle, leaving one car at the carpark and the other in a technically safer place. The quick (read: mad) group set off without their last member and our medium group awaited the drivers' return.
When they did Achim chased after his group while we headed up the beautiful Paddy's track to Bushline hut.
The hut already had three occupants. We had some fantastic mashed potato soup courtesy of Matt and stayed there for a single night. In the morning we farewelled the ski tourers and took off for Angelus, passing a couple of their friends en route. "To the summit, never mind the blood" was what they advised us.
Given that this was a Sunday, there were a few people around. We heard that the other group had made it to Angelus late the night before, apparently upsetting someone in the main room. We got passed twice by two blokes in red jackets on their way up and down but most importantly there was more and more snow as we continued, eventually wading/bumsliding down to Angelus Hut- which the other group had left that morning.
It was empty for us, though. When we arrived it was too toasty to be comfortable, but this heat proved invaluable when night fell and the bedrooms were freezing. We dragged out some mattresses.
That night we played strip poker, though within this trip report is held the truth- it was all imaginary. No actual stripping. There, I said it.
True to the club, the headtorch was last, and we all had a giggle when James, who continued to lose beyond the number of clothes he was wearing, was sent out naked on the frozen lake with a headtorch set to flash.
The next day was probably the toughest. We headed out across the frozen lake (noting a half made snowmen and some footprints that hadn't been there the night before, and uneasily recalling some unusual sounds during the night) and followed the other group's footprints up and over Sunset Saddle (lovely name, lovely view, not so lovely trek) but the ice in the streams and the sparkling ground definitely made it an experience.
Wearing crampons as we were, Paul demonstrated how this can cause a slide to go painfully wrong. James, inexplicably, followed him down but improved upon Paul's "crampon catching in the ground" technique, while Matt and I walked because we love living on the edge.
With our Glorious Leader injured, but not too badly (no broken limbs, anyway), we continued. Photos of this time on the saddle are so regrettably few because our official photographer had lost the inclination to take any. It was pretty, though.
So fun climbs and very slow and nervous descents (on my part, anyway- Matt has loads of fun) down the scree slopes. Out of the snow at last, we put away our ice axes one by one but keep wearing our helmets until we reached Hopeless Hut (depressing name, lovely hut).
Worshipping of Sir Edmund Hillary ensued; it was generally agreed that he built the hut (no credit whatsoever went to the NZ Alpine Club that the sign falsely claimed had built it), and that his hands independently built benches while he slept (hence benches enough to pretty much take all the floor space) and by the end he was practically dethroning Chuck Norris.
James, in a remarkable turn of events, started winning cards, managing to get a near perfect hand every round regardless of the dealer. This was only the start of the betrayal of my cards. They proceeded to play favourites throughout the trip, but never for me.
The next day would be our last day of walking for a while, and it was a mostly flat, really lovely day. We had lunch at John Tait Hut, checked the intentions book for the other group who we had heard over the radio had stayed there the second night but couldn't find them (BAD) and generally complained about the many biting insects. We chatted to some older trampers who had arrived and hoped they didn't follow us to Upper Travers, where we planned to spend our rest day.
After lunch we continued on, reaching the sole upward slope of the trail and crossing avalanche paths. No avalanches happened, although it was worrying to see that John Tait is at the bottom of one of these paths.
We did see a waterfall though, which was gorgeous, and Matt was thrilled to find the source of the schist which had been everywhere. Paul was quizzing him on everything and has probably fulfilled the requirements for first year geology now.
Past the avalanche paths, we saw a little bit of snow and up ahead, the twenty-eight bunk (I think) Upper Travers Hut.
We spent our rest day there, intending to wait out the forecasted bad weather before going over Travers Saddle to West Sabine Hut. The normally barebones DOC sign even said "West Sabine Hut - 6 hours. Are you prepared for Travers Saddle?", the first question I have ever seen on one of those signs.
Unfortunately the forecast, told to us by the radio guy (thought by us to actually be Sir Ed, transformed into radio waves) was for gales. We decided to have our rest day and see what the weather was doing later.
A mattress fort was constructed in front of the fire, since we had the hut to ourselves. Unfortunately the table, which was the central support, made it very difficult to get at the fire. After several incidents of head banging, the next fort was constructed in the kitchen area, using a bench. It was awesome; you could sit up in this one. To complete, we pitched our emergency tent on top of it. This did not make Fort Travers V2 any warmer.
Forecast was for gales again. We finally decided to scrap the Saddle and stay for another day, making our "rest day" a total of three nights at Upper Travers. Team CMI were grateful for the respite for their "Collection of Minor Injuries", including screwed legs, blisters, axe wounds, and sore axes and knees from picking fights with rocks.
By the time we left we were very eager to get moving again. We retraced our steps, paused at John Tait again (enjoying the upside down tap) and had lunch with the sandflies at the Hopeless junction before continuing along the swing bridge that we hadn't taken several days before.
This was a fairly long and- though I hate to say it because I am as slow as molasses uphill- pretty uninteresting walk, except for the rampant bird life. We learnt some stuff about rocks courtesy of our resident geologist and about children's memories courtesy of our resident psychologist. We saw some ducks, discussed whether they were paradise or whio, and met an aggro little robin. It didn't want to be friends if I didn't have any food.
We got to Coldwater Hut, found a dead rabbit in the lake, spotted some swans and some more ducks. We lit a fire in the awesome fireplace to drive out all the biting bugs and since we had two dinners for only one night, decided to have Chinese-flavoured rice that night and exploding mashed potato for breakfast.
Seriously. The flavouring didn't respond well to being heated.
Also that night was our farewell to the radio guy, but to our dismay it wasn't our best friend, our constant companion. We decided Sir Ed had some other important business to attend to.
We left Coldwater in the morning after a lazy start and it was several hours of walking around a most beautiful lake. We lost Paul for a bit and left him sitting on a jetty in his happy place.
When we got to the exit point we hung about for a bit. The other team drove down and picked up James, taking him away. We considered raiding his bag for the insect repellent but the dude packs ridiculously well.
Anyway, he came back with his car and we set off for St Arnaud, the bush portion of our trip sadly complete.
In St Arnaud there is a general store, and a fish and chip store. We went straight for the general store and bought a pie each. James went crazy and bought a bottle of something fizzy and a bag of chips as well.
That was the best pie ever, after a week of mashed potatoes, rice and porridge.
So we went to the rented bach, found the other group showered and clean and had our own showers. At five we headed down to the fish and chip place and got some of those and topped up again at the general store.
We all hung out at the house, it was awesome. There were other baches with cool names like "Amble Inn" and "Elsewhere". This one was called "Dik's". Classy.
We played a game of modified Fiasco (look it up, it's awesome) and eventually we all got tired and found places to sleep.
The next morning Achim was making breakfast on a cooker by the light of his headtorch. Habits die hard. However it turned out the water and electricity were on the blink and so we staggered around for a few hours before organising ourselves and loading up the cars. As it turned out, the overnight rain had soaked the boots left outside. Some people were sad.
We stopped for lunch, devoured half of McDonalds and stopped by New World, and continued on to Picton. We checked in early and chilled around the cars for a bit. Eventually we got on the ferry, played cards, was awesome, and then eventually the ferry trip was over and so was our extravaganza.

Abort Mission

AGlover — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 05:32:44 GMT

Abort Mission! Mid-Trimester Break, 28 March

So this trip was intended to be an epic one, very ambitious indeed. My original plan was to head from Poads Road, up to Te Matawai via South Ohau, up to Arete, then along to Tarn Rodge, on day one, before swinging round to Nichols on day two, before coming back to Te Matawai or Waipoehu on day three, for a nice walk out the day after. Needless to say it didn’t go as planned.

Day one was pretty cruisy, a late 11am start putting my ambitious dreams to rest in the end. A pleasant walk up the Ohau River at low flow to South Ohau Hut for lunch kept the first three hours interesting. After that the slog up to Te Matawai tired us all out for the last gasp up to Pukematawai, and then Arete, had most of us (except Dom, typically) completely knackered. At this point it was getting on 7pm, and the cloud was making visibility pretty ***, so we diverted to Arete Hut, which, at two person capacity, would normally prove a bit of a squeeze for a party of seven. Nonetheless, we made it work, and everyone other than myself, thanks to a cold coming on, had a pretty decent night all told.

The weather wasn’t much better the next day, strong winds and cloud made us reconsider our original plan, so instead we figured to head to Nichols via Dracophyllum Hut. After we got off Arete, it wasn’t a bad walk. The wind died down a bit, and the cloud lifted, affording us a slight reprieve. At Dracophyllum, we noticed another group heading to Nichols, so through the goodness of our own hearts, and a fair share of laziness, we decided we would cram ourselves into Dracophyllum, another two bunker, for the night instead of ruining someone else’s night at Nichols, and giving us even further to walk for no real reason.

Day three, which would prove to be our final day, wasn’t too interesting. A solid day’s walking from Dracophyllum to Poads Road, with a truly decent spell of rain giving Dom a great deal of enjoyment (it was the first significant rain for months, and Dom was bored with it). We got back to the car just as the sun was going down, and had the pleasure of meeting up with Anita and co, who were just getting back from a day trip to Waiopehu. We’d probably only missed them by a matter of minutes on the track!

All up, a good tramp, even if it didn’t go as planned

Taranaki Trip 2013 by Kaitlin Maddever

DominicOberhumer — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 23:15:51 GMT

Trip report for Taranaki Trip, 31 May- 3 June

So. It was nearly 5pm and no one else had arrived yet. Serves me right for arriving early.
Dom and Paul (our emergency contact) arrived at five and as per tramping club time, the others trickled in over the next hour or so. We split up into our teams, divvied up group gear and divided into our last minute transport- a van and a car. With four people per group (mostly) it was roughly split with Rosy and Dom's teams in the van, and Josh's team in the car.
The ride there was a bit of a race with various food stops and a few mistakes along the way (the car stopped in "fake Levin" and the van took a detour) but we all got to North Egmont road eventually, around one in the morning. Yaaay.
There was white stuff on the ground and it was pretty bloody chilly. We all packed our packs, took photos of the moonbow and the mountain, and then set off.
SNOW!!!
We walked up the Puffer, then entered the "depuff zone" for a breather, and then continued up the concrete/snow path which was not so fun. We reached the Tahurangi Lodge (thanks Josh) at about 2am, I believe. Might have been 3. I don't know, but it was late and so we sneaked in, and got to sleep in a room set aside for us that was really, really hot.
In the morning we had breakfast and hung about in the main room for a bit, microwaves and all, and then eventually we decided it would be a good idea to head to Holly Hut.
Josh's team took a different path to the other groups, going and hanging out at a skifield for a bit with a reconstructed couch which has more history than any piece of furniture I've ever met, and then returned to the Lodge for a nap, apparently.
The other two teams went straight to the hut, tramping through the snow (which was AWESOME) and later the rain (which was not) and discussing our challenges and for Dom's team at least, telling lots and lots of riddles. Go Team Go Team Go!
The challenges were a set of activities we could complete for points, including riddles and photographic challenges. These would be compared on the final night and the winners decided.
We arrived at Holly Hut for lunch, which was a lovely short day, and hung up all our clothes and a few damp sleeping bags. The MFRE News Team (Rosy's group- don't ask me what that stands for!) recorded a brief report of weather conditions and other news items.
Josh's team hadn't arrived by sunset so we decided they'd stayed at the Lodge another night. We made dinner (Holly Hut has solar lighting!), played cards, chatted with the other trampers when lo and behold, the sodden BAMFGOATs arrive! The drying line was quickly rearranged and so the entire group was reunited.
The next day, most of our intrepid group decided to go see the waterfall, which was reportedly small but apparently in actual fact quite large (and cold). However some of us lazier trampers decided to stay dry and warm at the hut instead.
After another lunch at Holly Hut, we all backtracked a little to head to a hut that I cannot remember the name of but was quite long and I think started with a T. Our team made pauses along the way to complete the challenges (which we hadn't really started by this point) and entered the Sphagnum Swamp, nature's kidney, and avoided harming the kidney by walking on the boardwalk. I think the teams mostly condensed at this point, as we arrived at The Stairs of Doom.
There were lots of stairs, and stair related jokes, and personal development advice such as "start doing squats and stop shaving" which apparently works for both guys and gals.
So it was getting quite misty by the time we got to the hut, which was full of kids. Sam of the BAMFGOATs taught the kids a card trick, and the little pyros played with the candles endlessly, filling them with bits of tissue paper and stuff. Another couple who had been there had gone onto another hut, which was fairly understandable.
After dinner and after the other trampers had gone to bed, it was time to find the winner of the challenges!
I don't really have the points breakdown, but as I recall the MFRE News Team won. Drinks all around! The news team had another report to make, calling upon all the multinational representatives in our group from Sweden, Samoa, America and a brief shot of Canada I think.
Eventually we all got to sleep (with a couple of bedtime stories from the top bunk) and woke up before sunrise the next morning for our longest walk of the trip.
It was very misty and quite cold, and we had some MORE STAIRS before we reached a peak from which "on a good day" you could apparently see all of creation, but as it was all we could see was a blank white canvas. Which was somewhat cool, but also disappointing.
There was much walking, a little map reading and bridge confusion, and an awesome sign of death left by the quick group who were going to pick up the transport and drive down so we didn't all have to walk up the road. The slower groups had lunch at 9.30am (yep) at a shelter and walked down to the roadend, where there were bets over how long the cars would take to arrive. I'm not sure who won that. But we were out in plenty of time given the time we woke up, and the drive back to Wellington was punctuated by foodstops, coffee breaks, and more importantly a view of Mount Taranaki, which we hadn't had since the night we arrived.

Cheers,
Kaitlin

Eager Beaver Canyon - First descent

craig — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 23:47:40 GMT

Jeremy, Kieran, Mike, Regan and me recently completed a first descent of a canyon out in the north eastern Rimutaka forest park.

A guide has just been published Kiwicanyons for anyone else keen to have a go. Experience is highly recommended

http://www.kiwicanyons.org/?p=1127

Trip report to come…

Eastern Tararuas Trip: February 2013

DominicOberhumer — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:06:35 GMT

Eastern Tararuas: February 2013

Of Ridges and Rivers in the Rainy Ranges

Tuesday 12^th of February: I turned up early to the Welsh Dragon, the meeting place of the Victoria tramping club during the holidays, in order to get in some pre-meeting drinks, pancakes and some light conversation with a friend who also liked the idea of a few extra beverages. Over the next half hour other members start arriving and the conversation turns, inevitably, to nothing in particular. Eventually someone makes mention of a possible trip for the coming weekend, a sign-up sheet is passed around and I put my name down. I haven’t listened to what the trip is but I have no other plans so why wouldn’t I go tramping?

Friday 15^th of February: Achim has a plan. This is a statement that I’ve been told should worry me especially as it turns out no-one else is joining us on this trip. The plan is to catch the train to Masterton, collect supplies, grab a bite, hitch-hike to the Kiriwhakapapa road-end and then start walking. This all goes swimmingly, with only two people not much can really go wrong. We are picked up relatively quickly from Masterton, within half an hour; impressive considering that we are two long haired men and one of us is unshaven. We are picked up by a man who takes several puffs of his inhaler before puffing on a cigarette but is friendly and kind enough to drop us fairly well at the start of the track.

So now the true intent for the weekend must be discussed. We will walk from the Kiriwhakapapa road-end to Blue Range hut tonight. On Saturday we will follow the track to Cow Creek for a while then bash to Cow Saddle, then to head over Waignawa and Bannister to get to Arete Biv and see what we feel like from there, possibly heading to Carceek hut. On Sunday we would bush-bash to Nichols hut then head out to Otaki forks via Waitewaewae.

We start walking towards Blue Range hut at 9pm and after fifteen minutes have to make a brief stop. This is partly to get out head torches but mostly to change to lighter clothes, Achim simply going shirtless. I opt for my favourite shirt which has increased airflow due to my going manic with a pair of scissors a few weeks back. In any case the uphill slog has me sweating like a pig; it is a seriously warm night. Achim, true to his reputation, seems unable to realise that going uphill should affect his speed and I soon start to fall behind. This isn’t a problem as the track is clear and easy to follow.

Arriving at Blue Range hut is fantastic; I’m sweating and panting and laughing outwardly at the various signs plastered over the hut. The large “antenatal clinic” sign on the door and the “occupied” sign on a tree near the toilet being highlights. Before we go to sleep for the night I make sure we finish off the large bottle of cider in my bag. The reasons for this are many: cider is delicious, alcohol is a muscle relaxant, it helps you get to sleep and it also gives me wild vivid dreams. The most important thing though is that it’s a kg less to carry tomorrow.

Saturday 16^th February: We wake up fairly early and leave the hut within an hour. Initially the walk is fantastic and I’m pleased to find I can keep up with Achim on the flat and mild downhill. When we come across the DoC sign to Waignawa (half the sign quite obviously missing) we head off the track and start following a bearing confirmed by the occasional piece of pink plastic tied to a branch. We come out of the bush right next to a sign reading Cow Saddle and another sign that is just a picture of a cow; so we’re pretty sure we’re in the right place then.

We start climbing up the side of Waignawa and yet again Achim astounds me with no perceptible change in his pace despite the noteworthy increase in steepness. We stop for a snack just before the bush-line and marvel at the great blue skies and light cool breeze we’ve been lucky enough to catch. Once at the top of Waignawa we spot a potential issue; clouds, lots of them, big heavy looking clouds that are heading straight for us though they are luckily still some distance off. We head towards Bannister and up it. Achim had bought a rope as there were apparently a couple of points were it might be wise to climb without our packs on and pull them up after us. We find such a point and decide that the rope isn’t necessary and have a fun little climb without a worry; it wouldn’t be much of a fall and it would just be straight into leatherwood. Sure lacerations would occur but broken bones seemed unlikely. At the top of Bannister we have just met the clouds and Achim is far enough in front of me to get a magnificent sense of just how tiny a human is compared to a cloud. We get to Arete Biv fairly quickly and fairly dry as the clouds seem to have no desire to shed their contents.

After some tea and some map browsing we decide to head onto Carceek hut, once a VUWTC hut and a quite nice little place. This involves a few hours of heading over the peaks of Lancaster, Thompson and Carceek. Mercifully each of these peaks is easier than the one before it. Getting close to Carceek hut we hear voices and realise the hut is probably full. This isn’t a worry as sleeping on the floor is an art of which I consider myself a master and we have a fly we can pitch if need be. As it turns out the hut is full of VUWTC members and friends. I consider it unimportant but worth noting that I was a bit younger than everyone else present. I am 21 and Jamie, a friend of a few club members who lives in the USA, was celebrating his 30^th birthday, complete with a cake and candles. After some discussion and some beer it was alluded to that there were some spare seats and a ride back to Wellington for me and Achim if we went back to Kiriwhakapapa. Although this meant we wouldn’t be doing a crossing of the Tararuas it also meant we wouldn’t have to hitch-hike back to Wellington so we took the offer.

Sunday 17^th of February: The alarm went off at six and it took me about 5 minutes to pack my bag and get it out the door before starting breakfast. The great thing about sleeping on the floor (once you learn how to avoid any potential soreness) is that you have almost no desire to remain where you are once you wake up.

Achim was also soon ready to go and we headed off before the rest of the group. It was a brilliant morning with the cloud layer far below us looking like an ocean with the occasional mountain peak popping out here and there. The sky above the clouds was absolutely clear and we were able to see both Mount Taranaki and the South Island. We headed back up to Lancaster peak before turning off down Pinnacle spur towards Arete Forks hut. This path is entertainingly steep at points and at this time of year there are Edelweiss growing everywhere. We stopped at Arete Forks hut, had some lunch and waited for everyone to catch up at which point it was unanimously decided that heading down Waignawa river was the better way to get to Cow Creek hut.

Boulder hopping and river tramping is about the most fun you can have on a nice day and this Sunday was certainly bright and sunny. We were drenched fairly quickly, having found several points where jumping off rocks into deep water was simply the most expedient option. I’d never pack-floated before and though it may be fun it is as far removed from elegance as seems humanly possible. After two and a half hours of clambering, jumping and swimming down this river with the most ludicrous grin on my face we reached Cow Creek hut. The weather chooses this point to pack it in so we didn’t dry off for the rest of the trip (a blessing almost disguised).

The walk from Cow Creek hut to the Blue Rang hut junction is a slog, no better word for it. By the time we reached the junction I was yet again sweating profusely, despite still being wet from the river and the drizzle that had started up. Heading back down to the Kiriwhakapapa road-end was good fun at a decent pace, just steep enough for a quick descent but not so steep as to require much concentration. Heading back to Wellington in a warm car with a kebab stop in Carterton was pleasant and appreciated.

The only other thing to mention is that five minutes before the Road-end I received two bee stings. I had never been stung before and had no idea how to react so simply relied on the tried and true method of shouting a few choice profanities then shrugging and getting on with it.

Monday 18^th of February (Today): It is about 9pm and there is no longer any muscle soreness in my legs and my knees are fine however there is something else. My left ankle and foot are about twice the size of my right foot and ankle. Though there are no signs of anaphylaxis my body certainly freaked out and set the histamine pumps to 11. Now I just sit in my comfy chair comfortable in the knowledge that I’d do the whole trip again in a heartbeat if someone asked; sweat, soreness, cold clouds, leatherwood, Spaniard and bee stings included.

Dominic Oberhumer

Kahurangi Ranges, Januar 2013

achim — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:03:04 GMT

For all people searching systematically:
The trip report is here: http://vuwtc.org.nz/cs/forums/permalink/6463/6472/ShowThread.aspx#6472

I wrote it as a reply into the 'Non-Club-Trips' instead filing it properly as a 'Trip Report'. Apologies...

Midwinter Tramp, Arthurs Pass. 7-15/8/12

Andrew — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 05:00:57 GMT

Trip report, Arthur’s Pass July 2012

Day 1:

An early morning ferry trip and an all day drive gets us to the Taipo trail head at around 6.30, after various breaks for petrol and dinner in Blenheim and Greymouth. The first group of seven set off while Sebastian, Pia, and I made the 1½ hour round trip for the shuttle, leaving a car at Klondyke corner for the end of the week. This meant that we didn’t start walking until nearly 8.30, some of us (Pia) on far fewer hours of sleep than the others. After about 2¼ hours, we knew we were getting close, and another 15 minutes got us to seven-mile creek. Tiredness, confusion over the trail (no visible markers), and darkness left us wandering around for three hours before we called it and pitched a fly for what was probably the coldest night of the week, at 1.30 in the morning.

Day 2:

Being as tired as we were, it was almost 9.30 before we finally got up on the second day, and we started it off with a scout of the creek, and wondering exactly what happened to the others. Luckily for us, Sebastian spotted a tramper coming the opposite direction, who had a story about a hut not too far away, with seven other trampers inside. One happy reunion and hot brekkie later, we head off, but by now it’s eleven, and our pace is pretty slack. We reach the cableway, about 2km upstream after about an hour and a half. After the inevitable delay getting people across the river, we continue up, starting with a ruthless, seemingly purposeless 100 metre climb and then descent. The track follows the river, and it’s pretty smooth walking. We stop for lunch at about 2.30, then hustle the last couple of Ks to Mid Taipo Hut, total time about 5 ½ hours, about double what DoC times suggested.

Day 3:

This time we’re up earlier, we want to make the most of the light at Julia hut for some hot pool goodness. We make pretty good time, as we’ve split into our component groups now, and we’ve got a good amount of separation. Day three is pretty uneventful, and we get to Julia at about 1.30, just in time to watch the sun slip below the western hills, and enjoy some lunch. The second group took it even more leisurely than we did, which was a good job, it left them with plenty of gusto to dig out the hot pools for the rest of us. Big enough for nine of us, so much for the DoC guide’s opinion of a two person pool.

Day 4:

This one is the big one. An early rise lets us start walking at 7.20, and so long as we’re on the marked path, we make really good time. We reach the end of this after about an hour and a half, allowing for some breaks along the way. From here though the going gets really tough. The snow is just a mushy layer lying on the rocks and scrub, and when we aren’t rock hopping up the creek, half of the time we go up to our crotches in the snow. It takes us about 4 hours to do 2km. Once we get out of the creek everything improves though. With fearless Sebastian leading the way, under Mae’s ruthless directive that we don’t get lunch until we reach the top of Harman Pass, we plod on up the hills. Along the way we have to navigate a pretty tricky traverse, any slip ups could mean a four metre tumble into the creek, and the snow still isn’t great. We power up to the pass, reaching the top at about 3.00. We don’t get the promised lunch break however, as time is of the essence, and we don’t want to be stuck in the gorge when it gets dark. There are some pretty sketchy areas coming down the eastern side, with a few avalanche risks, and a whole lot of river crossings. Ivan took an opportunity to risk hypothermia taking the most direct route down a waterfall, while the rest of us wisely chose the traverse. We get out the gorge just as darkness sets in, and eventually reach the White River, we make a few navigation mistakes however, and end up taking far longer than necessary to decide to cross to the True Right, where Carrington hut lies. We do eventually get there however, at 7.30 after a few bull-headed decisions and some clever navigation.

Day 5:

Day 5 was our rest day, most of us didn’t get up until 10am, and aside from a small day trip a few of the group took, it was mostly spent around Carrington, playing cards, listening to music, and chatting, with a good amount of carousing going on late into the night, particularly on Mae’s part.

Day 6:

While one group of six headed off to Crow Hut, Sebastian, Mae, Anna, and I decided we’d stay at Carrington another day and do a day trip up to Kilmarnock falls. It was about an hours walk each way, but the 150 metre high falls were spectacular. We were planning on going all the way to the base, but loose snow falling from the cliffs above deterred us. The trip back to the hut was punctuated by snowball fights, hill sliding, and such, but why waste the opportunity? Back at Carrington, we started eating, and we didn’t stop for six hours, lunch was followed by soup, then it was time to cook dinner, followed by three deserts. When we’d finally all had enough, we went to sleep in the main room, which thanks to some ingenious insulation work was roasting, where the dorm rooms were icy.

Day 7:

Another leisurely day ahead supposedly, from Carrington to Anti-Crow. After a clean up, we start at about 10, and the first half of the day is quick, the second half though is messy, with a few tricky sections crossing flooded creeks and along slippery ledges. Still, we make it to Anti-Crow trouble free, although we were a little worried about how the other group would get on given how much the Waimakariri had risen overnight. They were already at Anti-Crow when we arrived, and the dingy little hut was already full to the brim, and not smelling too pleasant either. A severe shortage of storage space meant that things were going to get wet.

Day 8:

The decision is made pretty quickly that Sebastian and I will go ahead to shuttle the cars, and Pia and Dana will come with us to report some Blue Duck (Whio) at the DoC office in Arthur’s Pass. We make fantastic time to start, our light packs making the flat open section a breeze. The real trouble starts in the last couple of km, where the track heads into the bush. Heavy snowfall has brought down dozens of trees, and this causes so much difficulty that it takes about an hour and a half to get to the track end, about the same amount of time the first six km had taken. From the Bealey Spur end, we have to walk to Klondyke Corner for the car, and after another 40 minutes or so, we’re all relieved to get into some dry clothes. We get the shuttle out of the way and meet up with the second group at the Bealey hotel, for some food and drink. Then it’s a long drive to Kaikoura to camp for the night, since it’ll be dry there. Both cars run into petrol problems 40km short of Kaikoura. By the time we get there, they’re both running on fumes. Dinner and a short drive later, we’re at Puhi Puhi campsite, and the promised dry.

Day 9:

A short day and a reasonably lazy start sees us at the Ohau Point seal nursery, then up to Blenheim for a supermarket raid, before finally getting to Picton for the ferry home to Wellington. We find out then it was a good thing we went east instead of west, as we would almost have certainly become stuck on the West Coast thanks to flooding, and missed the ferry. All in all, an excellent adventure, with excellent people.

MidWinter tramping Arthur’s Pass - 7th-15th July 2012

Pia — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 02:05:33 GMT

MidWinter tramping Arthur’s Pass

7^th – 15^th July 2012

Saturday - 7^th July

Finally holiday and then you decide to wake up at 5am after only 2 or 3 hours of sleep because Friday the 6^th was the last night your flatmate could go party before going over seas…

I had a nice walk to the ferry trying to convince myself that I had not forgot anything and that I would be there in time. With a short stop at NewWorld I was the last one at the ferry but still on time. That was a new experience with the tramping club, all to be there in time :o)

The ferry left on time, 8am… We were off for adventure. But now it was time for a bit of sleep and then the South Island.

Half sleeping in the car meant a little detour… sometimes it’s not that easy to see the turn off! But Magpies know how to wake you from your sleep, just try to meet a suicidal Magpie and the whole car is filled with the sound from the bird hitting the windscreen - it sounded as though the windscreen was smashed. I think the Magpie was trying to play Angry Birds in real life… It did look like a very dead bird falling to the ground behind the car with feathers falling like snow afterwards, what a sight!

Picture!

Dinner was found in Greymouth with the sun setting in the horizon.

Arthur’s Pass was reached and the real tramp could begin, we just needed to get a car at the other end, so Andrew, Sebastian and me made sure the cars was placed right and the rest of the group was send off with about an hour head start. We made it back to the start of the track and made great progress and after 2 1/2 hours and a few river crossings (remember your gaiters the first time you cross barefoot!!) we started our search for the hut... it took us 3 hours to realize that we couldn’t find it and needed sleep so we pitched up the fly to get some sleep (2am). I’m never going without the first bit of the map ever again!

Sunday – 8^th July

In the morning we could see the DOC sign far up the 7 mile creek where we went down the river towards Taipo the night before (we thought it was the one mile creek). We found the hut and the others and it turned out that they had been looking for the hut for 4 hours. If we had walked straight to the Dillon Hut we would have found it first!

So before we woke and got everything packed down and found the hut got breakfast with the other and got off towards the next hut (Mid Taipo) it was 11am. After a bit of walking and finally found the cableway we had used way too much time to make it for Julia that day. DOC times said 2-3 hr from Dillon to Mid Taipo but it took us about 6 hr. Thus Mid Taipo became our next night shelter. A six bunk standard hut for 10 people, but we managed to get dinner and a good night sleep with all of us inside the small hut.

Monday – 9^th July

Everything was one day late from here... We left in the two groups of 5 and got to Julia after a cruisy day in the snow covered landscape. We reached Julia just after noon and made it there for the last bit of sun before the sun disappeared behind the mountains. The other group turned up about 2 hours later with heaps of energy to start dig out the hot pools after a snow fight!

Picture!

Nice hot pools right next to the freaking cold river.

Tuesday – 10^th July

Time for our longest day, the day to cross the Harman Pass. We started our long day early, with aim of leaving at 7am, it only got to 7.20am, not too bad ;o) The first part of the track was following markers through the forest on side of the river, though farther up we ended up crossing Mary Creek heaps of times because the group decided it was easier and faster to go via the river than walking in the snow. It took us so much longer than I thought it would even though I could see from the previous two days that we were much slower than the DOC times. We were at Harman Pass (Saddle) at 3pm...

Picture!

Harman Pass – Group photo :o)

With this progress it got dark before we made it down to White River, but we were so much faster down, though the slopes was pretty steep at times and we had to walk in one long line in the steps of the person in front. At the bottom and some hours later we wanted to find the cableway but without luck so we followed the river and crossed it and with a tiny bit of navigation we found the track and Carrington Hut, 7.35pm.

After this long day I really wanted to let the radio guys know that we were safe down again so Eleanor and I tried to get the aerial up to reach Chch at 7.30pm but they couldn't hear us! The next sked was at 8am, but we couldn’t get through that one either… had to wait to the next night. It ended up being a late night because of the late dinner. It was nice to finally be in a hut where we all could be in a bunk by us self and not share and heaps of space around. Think we went to bed at 1am after a bit of a tramping party :o)

Wednesday – 11^thJuly

Time for a pit day at Carrington and breakfast on the deck in the sun. We were a few who went out to explore the area to see if we could find the cableway that disappeared the night before. But before we found the cableway a huge slop had taken the track away so we probably went the better way the night before. After finding the cableway and seeing our footprints just underneath, dough... Sacha, Ivan, Eleanor, Jen and I made Cairns for the next people to find the way around the huge slip. Then back to Carrington for more food and just relaxing!

Picture!

Breakfast in the sun at Carrington.

Thursday – 12^th July

After the weather forecast from Wellington the night before and the news of semi-good weather for Thursday Eleanor and I decided to take a smaller group to Crow Hut instead of another pit day at Carrington. All our days so far apart form crossing the pass had been quite easy. Mae, Sebastian, Anna and Andrew decided to stay in Carrington Hut and went to explore a waterfall just off White River (152m if I remember). The rest of us went to Crow (Ivan, Dana, Eleanor, Sacha, Jen and I).

Everything takes so much longer in snow and definitely in heavy melting snow. Crow Hut was quite nice, double glazing and all... though no axe, so we had to fit the logs that was already there and no water tap either, Dana was the one who made the sacrifice of warm feet to go through the snow and rain to get water from the river – Thanks Dana! We played cards and had a feast before bed with corned beef and massed potatoes, yumm.

Friday – 13^th July

I woke next morning 1 or 2 hours before my alarm because I heard the rain starting to get worse than it was the night before. I had the river crossing of the Waimak in my head (Get down fast but safe, get down safe but fast...). I know it's not possible to cross the Waimakariri river if it gets too big and we could get stuck on the wrong side. We got up to the sound of Jamie Cullum, had breakfast, packed our stuff and walked off in the pouring rain. It took us the time I predicted - 3 hours from Crow to Anti-Crow hut. We were all soaking wet when we got there and lucky we were the first there (another 6 bunk hut for 10 people). Mae and the others came 1-2 hours later. We ended the night with some card games before we went to bed.

Picture!

Anti-Crow Hut – Nice, small and smelly!

Saturday – 14^th July

Anti-Crow Hut is probably the smallest hut we were in on the trip and after a whole day of rain it ended up smelling really bad. Not making it better that the other group left the dishes of fish pie and pasta for the next morning! Andrew, Sebastian, Dana and I went out a bit earlier than the other. Andrew and Sebastian went to pick up the car at the other end of the track while Dana and I went to the DOC office to find the weather forecast for the South Island. Then we could decide where to go put up the tents for the night. Further we had to report the 4 blue ducks we saw on our trip, two up towards Harman Pass and two on our way to Crow Hut.

After a look at the weather and a talk to the others when we came back to the Bealey Hotel – nice warm and good food – we decided to go to Kaikoura as it was the only (hopefully) dry place. We had dinner in Kaikoura and then a bit north to find the camp site for the night.

Sunday – 15^th July

We woke at the camp site with the sun shining and a warm breeze at the breakfast table.

On our way to the ferry we had a stop at a waterfall which still had a lot of seal pups playing around. But time to get back to Picton and Wellington. Straight north… HOME

Thanks for a great trip people!

Pia

Mukamukamukamukamuka.. ah ha ha

ginawaibl — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 21:44:18 GMT

Day tripping must have been the thing to do this weekend with 17 fronting up for the day; and 11 out of 12 was not bad for a 7am meeting time for the keen group on a Saturday morning (#13 had already pulled out at 2am), and 6 in one car for the easy/mediums led by the very helpful Jason Kenny who took their 9am expedition up Cattle Ridge.

Billed as: “It should be a good trip, starting in the bush of the Orongoronga Valley before climbing to South Saddle where we should get nice views over the harbour before descending out of the bush to the rugged south coast”. This day trip lived up to expectations with a warm windless day, beautiful sunset, and easy evening walking.

A very enjoyable amble up the valley from Catchpool car park, and then some feet wetting fun in the (much higher than I’ve ever seen it) Orongaronga River, past smoke filled chimneys from huts tucked away in the bush, to the Mt Mathews turn-off and a break for snacks on the riverbed before embarking on the modest 400-odd metre climb to South Saddle.

A quick climb up to the tussocked flat overlooking South Saddle which made for a pretty sweet lunch spot (thanks Achim ) with lots of photos, sandwhiches (mm, just remembered uneaten soggy sandwhich #3 must still be in my bag), and even cups of tea (curtisy of Achim). Awesome to get up onto the tops and get peeks at the sea below the cloud, before descending the Mukamuka which was a cute gully in itself with cool dirt/rock formations and even a tree fern drinking fountain!! Said tree fern had fallen over in the stream and had water running through the trunk and out of a convenient spout (sampled by Jed and Colin).

Fairly well fortified stretch along the coast with local farmers really not keen on letting any kind of vehicle through, and seemingly begrudgingly letting walkers experience this part of the coast (walkers are supposed to go along the shoreline for the last part but we failed to see the sign in the dark so had the pleasure of walking along the dirt road – until we hit the 2m high barbed wire deer fence and decided to go around).

Ten hours and 30 odd kilometres later, Kate and I jogged ahead along the tarmac with head torches glowing, to find our pre-shuttled cars handily parked at the DOC car park (not as handy as the farmer letting people park at the end of the road but never mind). A great trip as a keenis club trip – long day but mostly easy underfoot and mostly flat walking.

The troops: Gina Waibl, Megan Higgins, Kate Williman, Achim Gaedke, Natalie Morrison, Sergey and Nastya Maximov, Emilien Bordet, Colin Bovet, Shanna Kirgan and Jed. Plus Jason Kenny, Siobhan Hillyard, Phuc Le, Ann Fucigna, Sarah Kosling and friend Jess.

Matiu/Somes Island - volunteer day trip

Kara — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 05:42:41 GMT

There was a total of eight volunteers to Matiu/Somes Island on Sunday, our day started at 10am, catching the Dominion East/West Ferry.

Next we had to go through a process similar to quarantine – checking for all living creatures such as mice/insects and for plant material such as seeds, bark and dirt, as the regeneration project of the island has been very carefully formulated.

There are two full-time staff on the island who presented historical information, entailing a Moari and European timeline. This was very interesting (and a little frightening – being told how ships with ill on board were treated for disease through gassing with arsenic etc.).

Through out the day us volunteers created tree markers from recycled fences and orange ribbon, helping the ‘Secondary Planting’ project to go ahead.

Later, Alex and I got to attack this huge tree with saws and loppers – definitely the highlight of my day!!

During a day of volunteering the DoC workers are very friendly and organize work around what you want to do on the island, such as having lunch walking around, checking out the views, taking pictures and reading about the light house etc.

The weather was beautiful and it made the day, the walk around the island takes about 45 minutes at a slow pace. Overall, the trip was really good and I would recommend it to anyone livin or visisting the Wellington region. It’s also a great way to help out DoC in their mission and have fun too!!

More information on Matiu/Somes can be found at http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-visit/wellington-kapiti/wellington/matiu-somes-island/

Kara

Otaki-Elder-Renata Loop

Pia — Fri, 25 May 2012 06:41:34 GMT

Elder loop - 20-22 April 2012

Who: Chris, Ivan, Dom, Hazel and Pia

Hunter car park at 6pm - yay, time for another tramping weekend in the Tararua. This time the Elder-Renata loop from Otaki Forks. No tramping without food so we had our food-stop at Pack'n'Safe Porirua.

We arrived at Otaki Forks and the beginning of the track around 8.30pm and were ready to start the trip at 9pm. Now just 2-3 hours of walking in the star-covered dark night before sleeping in Field Hut. We made it for the hut after just 2 hours and 5 min. Pretty good if I should say so :o)

We were not alone at Field and I don't think the people there were used to people tramping in the dark and arriving this late. But we got some sleep though the hut was freezing cold!

Next morning the weather didn't look that nice, the clouds were just over us and we knew that it would mean clouds as soon we reached the bush-line. True, the clouds were there already before we reached Table Top. I think I'm cursed when it comes to good weather around Kime Hut. I still haven't seen the scenery around there and this time should not be the time either... Next time I'll see the beautiful scenery around Kime and Mt Hector.

Kime hut was as cold as it always is so we didn't stop for long lunch break but because of the weather we decided to stay together over the tops so nobody would turn off on False Spur ;o)

Tramping through clouds is the same boring thing - no views, just cold and often wet. But we made it past Mt Hector and got the right way around the top where False Spur branch off, and then next was the junction were one track continues to Alpha Hut and the other to Elder Hut.

After a lot of down slippery "wannabe-tracks" (we were now off the Southern-crossing track) we got down to the bush line and into the nicer forest track. That was when Ivan, Dom and Hazel found another higher gear and sped ahead.

Elder hut is a nice new but small hut, with room for 4 people. It has double glassing so its relatively warm but the mattresses are moldy because all the moist from people getting there stays inside the hut...

It was not really dinner time when we got there, we had been too fast, but the hut was cold so we pulled out our sleeping bags and some got a little nap and others played a bit of cards, before Hazel made scones as a starter and we started thinking about dinner. BUT we forgot to bring a billy so we only had Hazels 2 l one so it was a bit creative dinner making to cook the pasta and heat up the vegetables. But we made it and we had a really good dinner with some jazz music to play in the background - it nearly can't be better :o)

What to do when darkness falls and you have been tramping all day... Sleep of cause ;o) Off to bed and hopefully the weather would be better in the morning.

The weather was heaps better when we woke, we could see all the scenery that we couldn't the day before. All the way to Wellington past the Hutt valley and to Kapakapanui to Kapiti Island - it was beautiful :o)

It was a bit sad to continue our tramping through the forest away from the sunlight, but it was nice with nice weather for a change. Lunch break at Renata Hut and another snack stop when we got to Waiotauru Hut. In between we meet some hunters at Maymorn Junction, the passed us on their quad bikes and when we meet them again at Waiotauru Hut they asked if you would be able to drive a quad bike all the way to Otaki Forks - we didn't recommend that!

When we left our snack stop (when the sun went behind the hill) we send Chris and Dom ahead to move the car so all of us didn't have to go the whole way to the car park where we left it. The last part of the trip was nice and easy not too much up and down - though it was nothing else than up and down, this must be how people know the Tararua Range best, definitely how I know it best.

Arriving at the road end the first thing Chris said was: "Do you have the first aid kit?" Dom had fallen and cut a hole in the palm of his hand. It was pretty obvious that something had happened, his white t-shirt was not so white anymore and not just black from dirt, it had a nice red-ish colour as well. Dom got his hand washed in the river and covered up, meanwhile I went for quick dip in the river. Soon we where off heading back to Wellington - but with another Tararua tramping trip in the pack.

- Pia

Ski Week – South Island (August – September 2011)

ginawaibl — Sat, 05 May 2012 03:23:41 GMT

Ski Week – South Island (August – September 2011)

Spurred on by Kate, our most keen (not to mention stylish pro) skier, late August saw us set out on a week long South Island ski adventure, with a plan to ski the Canterbury club fields.

Four of us left Blenheim in Kate’s parents generously loaned car, making our way to Christchurch to be put up by my mother, Bed and Breakfast style. Home comforts resulted in a leisurely start, and we found ourselves heading up the slopes of Cheeseman with ski touring gear at 11am. The gentle ridge heading across to Mt Cheeseman provided a good introduction to ski touring for Beth, though the lean snow made for some challenging rock scrambles for those in ski boots with long skis strapped to packs nudging the backs of legs and occasionally hitting the ground. The day was superb, with lovely sunshine, and we had some great spring snow, cutting out runs in untracked snow, executing some lovely turns. It felt great. You don’t know skiing until you’ve sampled light, fluffy, untracked snow : ).

Another highlight was Temple Basin. Definitely a classic, with rope tows peppered amongst the mountainous terrain, the ski field perched high above the Arthurs Pass valley. This was where lessons in nut crackers began, with both Beth and Kieran new to the idea. A nut cracker tow is basically a fast moving rope tow that you secure yourself to with what is essentially very much like a nut cracker attached to you with a belt. You loop the nut cracker around the moving rope tow and then make your way up, careful to maintain space between you and the large metal pulleys that the rope moves over. The challenging part is to grip the rope and get up to speed while getting the nut cracker on in time for the first pulley. The pulleys can be nasty (Kieran’s jacket and bruised ribs will attest to that!).

During the week we skied at Cheeseman, Porters, Broken River and Temple Basin, and finished off with half price skiing at Mt Lyford on our way back up to Blenheim.

Our accommodation progressed throughout the week from winter camping at Craigiburn, to the cosy NZAC hut in Arthurs Pass, and to the relative luxury of the Waiau Motorcamp. The motorcamp was a surprise. An old working men’s camp, we got a family room and enjoyed the cosiest beds ever, with thick cotton sheets and electric blankets. In the morning we lounged in the kitchen and dining area which had the feel of an old homestead.

There is already talk of a more ambitious repeat on the theme for next winter.

The Ultimate Tapi Adventure (August 2011)

ginawaibl — Sat, 05 May 2012 03:22:29 GMT

The Ultimate Tapi Adventure (August 2011)

While not strictly a VUWTC trip, we did take some club crampons so I figure that is close enough to warrant a trip report.

It was an ambitious trip planned by Mr Rees Ward, aka Horse. A trip up Mt Tapuaenuku the tallest peak in the Kaikouras at 3000m+ with the added challenge of cycling to the mountain from Picton. Thankfully Rees gave us plenty of time to complete the journey, with the 5 days allocated being considerably more than one Kennet brother who did it is a weekend. Most importantly he ordered a fine run of weather for what would otherwise have been a miseryfest – it being August and therefore still very much winter.

As with all good south island trips we started with a ferry ride, and much to the boys delight, all you can eat toast courtesy of Bluebridge.

We rolled off the ferry to a bright sunny day in Picton, and gathered together for a team photo to start our journey at midday. Six of us, Rees, Kirby, Hamish, Steve, Ash and me, and an eclectic mix of bikes loaded up with climbing gear.

We started off at a leisurely pace, enjoying the sunshine, stopping at the supermarket along the way (of course), and eventually turning off the main road into the Awatere Valley, where Tapi stood tall in the distance, a peak that punctuates the skyline and is often seen from Wellington.

This is where Steve became the workhorse, taking Hamish’s gear to relieve his painful hips, not helped by a particularly small chain ring that required lots of spinning to get along the flat. Several hours, one puncture and a lost carrier bolt later, after several long climbs and well onto gravel road, we got out the map and proclaimed “only 7km to go”.

More climbs followed, and we got to dread seeing tar seal – if they sealed the road then it must be steep! Kirby and I got to know why riding with tramping packs is not recommended, even if most of our gear was on the bikes. 7km came and went. More map stops later and we eventually decided it must be 3km to go – finally getting it right, and very happy to see the Hodder River bridge for a 10pm dinner camping on the farm track.

Next morning we left our bikes, as arranged, at the back of the friendly farmers shed and began the 22km walk up the Hodder. Hamish, who had been there before, lead the way. Up and up we went, until we all became increasingly disbelieving that this was the route, before eventually doing a 180° and heading back down to the river to find the track. Yes, that cairn with a DOC trail marker did mean something (I hadn’t seen it, but at least one of us had). At this point Rees, who had brought the kitchen sink and was suffering after packing at 2am two nights before, jettisoned a load of gear. An easy walk up the river followed, including all 80 odd stream crossings (unlike some parties, we weren’t sadistic enough to count them). We stashed some gear on the river flat, intending to camp there after summiting the following day, and this is where we found Little Rees. A tiny piglet all on his lonesome.

The Hodder is full of pigs and goats. I’ve never seen so many! Not too long after becoming acquainted with Little Rees some lost pig dogs found us. They were very happy to see us, and keen for a pat on the head. Rees exclaimed “Gina, how could you!” when I commented that Little Rees’s days were numbered (I was merely stating a fact). Sure enough, a few minutes later, we all mourned the loss of Little Rees before quickly moving on.

Within sight of the Hodder Huts we hit snow. Deep pockets of it with a thick crust that you broke through, and not wanting to stop, we continued without putting gaiters on, leaving red marks in the snow where our legs were grazed by the sharp edges of our plugholes.

The Hodder Huts proved to be excellent, perched up the side of the valley. After 6 or 8 hours or so and 1000m height gain, we all hungrily tucked in to Backcountry meals. The Park Ranger, Steve, spent the evening in agony as his feet thawed after the day’s river crossings, and Ash announced “I’m not climbing tomorrow so don’t even try to convince me”.

Hamish had us up at 3am for an alpine start, but limited snow cover and not much of a freeze made for hard going as the four remaining troops teetered across scree slopes in our crampons in the dark. It was a long slog up the valley, slowly gaining the 1500 odd metres we needed to summit.

Standing below the summit we climbed a coulier to the left, possibly not the easiest route, and climbed up to come out on the summit ridge where Kirby and I ate goodies tucked behind a wind scoop waiting for the others. Rees, the Big Man, the Unit, the Horse, came over the lip and crawled towards us, too tired to get up and walk, ashen faced and exhausted – his first venture onto such steep terrain. A gallant effort. Celebrations weren’t far away. We hit the summit and took photos of Rees draped in Rugby World Cup flags (that’s what happens when you work in the RWC office), before descending back to the Hodder Huts and then hot footing it down the valley, almost beating darkness, to our campsite. A slow summit day by some standards (some people do it in 6hrs) we arrived to a roaring fire and pitched tents, and after a satisfying day, we were quite happy to be warmed by the fire.

Minutes after my head hit the pillow the wind came up. Ignoring it for a while as my fly bent in against me, I suddenly found myself out in the open air clamouring to stop my carelessly placed gear from being blown away. Retrieving the tent fly, it was quickly repitched in a sheltered spot amongst the Matagouri that I had spied the day before. The others persisted, loading rocks onto their tent pegs, while Rees slept comatose, oblivious to it all.

In the morning, after a good night’s sleep, I woke to find a folded tent weighed down by rocks and people sleeping in various places amongst the bushes. We then had fun using our mountain radio, chatting to Jim about the weather, before a surprisingly quick walk out. So quick that I missed the turnoff, and after wondering what had happened to everyone (broken ankle??) I walked back to our morning tea spot, before turning around again and heading out to the road where I found everyone ready to head off on our trusty steeds once more.

Descending the Awatere was much easier, and we enjoyed rolling down the hill, still basking in the sunshine, and marvelling at our luck with the weather – amazed that we had pulled off the summit. Hamish was further hampered when his rear derailleur decided to give up and was reduced to one gear held in place with a cable tie - never leave home without cable ties (and duct tape). We camped about 40km down the valley, and then had a very leisurely ride to Blenheim for a feast at an unsuspecting cafe, before heading on to Picton to catch the ferry, not without a few sneaky beers on the waterfront to celebrate in the afternoon sun.

All in all an excellent trip with only a few minor dramas.

BushBall May 2011

ginawaibl — Sat, 05 May 2012 03:21:13 GMT

Bushball (May 2011)

I have a story to tell. Once upon a time there was a prince who married a beautiful and suitably royal princess. Well... she was regal if not royal – this was one commoner that got her prince! To celebrate their wedding all the people in the land decided to have a ball. But this was no ordinary ball. In keeping with a long and cherished tradition the ball was held far away from the grandeur and splendour of the castle, and instead it was held in the forest, so that all the people who feel at home in the bush could attend and celebrate the royal wedding in true uninhibited style.

On the day, an early crew spent the afternoon creating Westminster Abbey for us, so that we could all indulge in some royal behaviour for the night following on from William and Catherine’s efforts when they married in April. Special mention goes to Jukka and Isabella who started the previous night and still turned up to help out. They may have missed the early ride, but somehow they still got to the road end in time, with Jukka asking “it’s not far is it?” as he leant against a wall for balance.

The rest of us hauled up at Kaitoke in the afternoon and wandered in in dribs and drabs, carrying the rest of the gear. Most creative was Tensin with speakers connected by a rope draped across his shoulders.

At Smiths Creek we arrived to find an expanding tent village, and a pimped out shelter complete with tarp awnings, fairy lights, and other royal decorations. Those with some sense and a desire to see out the night started off by cooking a civilised dinner before getting into costume.

Others started early, and some were a little too eager and failed to pace themselves, with one poor soul lying face down asleep in the grass before it was even dark.

We had trampers, jeans, ball dresses, pink shoes, lots of sparkles, a horse dress, a jester, a lovely bride in the form of the towering hulk of Rees Ward, and another tall fellow in the shape of Ewan Lidell as BeafEater. Of course one can’t forget the Master of Ceremonies himself, social convenor, Craig Scott in top hat and tails, and of course, true to his historic attire choices, deputy chief guide Manoel Matos wearing (only?) an apron.

There was much dancing and merriment. Kieran and Keryn were reacquainted - wouldn’t that be an entertaining match ;-). There were some small accidents – who put Jeremy’s Canterbury Cream in the pineapple punch? Not a good mix!! Jack danced up a storm utilising half the dance floor (not that I minded).

There was dancing till the wee small hours, with Ayla and Eleanor seeing out the night, and Craig not wanting to miss a thing (or maybe he was waiting for his tent to be vacated).

The next day, everyone pitched in and transformed Smiths Creek shelter surprisingly quickly. Removing the layers of grime that had splashed up onto my shoes and dress the night before.

Jack manfully insisted on carrying out the generator after having done such a splendid job carrying it in the day before.

We ended with a late fascinator and a tarp with no legs - the Princess and her Prince?

Limited release, Lyell Times, December 2010!

Kieran — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:15:53 GMT

http://vuwtc.org.nz/cs/files/folders/6308/download.aspx

Or what people do when they are trapped in an isolated campground for two days during floods, when all the roads out are closed...

Kieran's Tararua adventure.

Pia — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:14:34 GMT

31st March - 1st April

Who: Kieran, Achim, Hazel and Pia

Friday, its time to go tramping and as gear custodian I was at Hunter Car park at 5.30pm to help the first groups get the gear for the weekend. Three groups left around 6pm all headed towards Otaki Forks, but with very different goals.
I had to wait a couple of hours before leaving. Kieran finished work late so we left Hunter car park at 8.30pm heading over the Rimutakas to Holdsworth road end. We arrived at the road end as planned around 11pm but in a lot of rain, not planned!
We slept in the shelter and Saturday morning we were off on the track about 7.30am. The first part is the boring track towards Artiwhakatu Hut before the East Holdsworth Track leaves the main track. Then its up, up and up... Before you know your on the tops and if the weather allows, you'll get beautiful views and we were partly lucky as we got over the low clouds. Achim and Hazel was the fast ones so Kieran and me became natural uphill buddies
We reached Mt Holdsworth just before lunch at 11.30-ish. Lunch was enjoyed on Isabelle just a little hour later - the sun was not as visible as we hoped it would be so we continued down hill towards the bush-line this time bush bashing (tramping without a track) towards Francis Creek.
The bush bashing went pretty good, though I was happy to have Kieran and Hazel there, two experienced bush bashers. The right way to go for the first real bush bashing where its not bush craft where you more or less know where you are at all time!
We followed the spur down, had a little back and forth between two spurs at a point but we decided to follow the right one in the end. The spur ended in a quite steep bit just before the Francis Creek, but without too many slips and no injuries we suddenly stepped onto the river stones. From here we just had to follow Francis Creek to Waiohine River.
Some of the people we met at Mt Holdsworth told us that there would be a nice pool just where Francis meets Waiohine. But we didn't have to wait until Waiohine to meet pools Francis Creek had its own deep pools, so we had already been swimming before the big 50 m pool which was upstream and therefore not that easy to swim. Kieran lead the climb around the pool to the other side where the river crossings started.
We had to follow the river for a few km, but river crossings and rock tramping after being cooled down from the swimming just messes up my coordination so it took me a while to get all the way without falling. But we reached the place where the hut should be and it was. Its a hut which is not on the map but known from person to person. It was a nice one though with foldout chairs, a table and small water tank all underneath a tarp outside the miniature hut like a little veranda.
Dry clothes was the first thing on our mind. Then the cheese, crackers and tomatoes as a starter was consumed before dinner was made. It started to get dark and we ended up in the hut in our sleeping bags looking at maps while having our desert (nice homemade chocolate cake).
Sunday - the alarm went off but we slept through it. But eventually we got up, had breakfast and the time we all had feared arose: taking on the cold wet clothes from yesterdays swimming. Yep, it was cold but after a few meters bush bashing uphill, I was happy for my merino and felt relative warm again. Bush bashing uphill is so much easier than downhill. We had a few stops on our way up and first me and then Hazel saw deer because we were in front. Suddenly we reached the bush-line and started heading towards the old flight wreck.
I got to the flight wreck a bit after the others. Think my turn in front and my attempt to follow the pace of the others uphill had taken most of my energy when we reached the bush line. So I trembled through the high grass and tried to avoid the leatherwood and eventually I reached the wreck as well, not that much behind the others.
Lunch was held at the memorial for the two pilots that died in the crash, which is located just at the ridge on top of the wreck. From here it went even more up towards Angle Knob. The last bit before Angle Knob is quite exposed and it took me a little while to get past it with help from Kieran. It was only my second trip over ridges like this one. Achim and Hazel on the other hand looked like mountain goats, just running up the sharp ridge.
Hazel have a little competition to visit as many huts as possible in a year so she wanted to visit McGregor Biv. Achim and Hazel went down and up to the Biv. Iin the meantime Kieran and me went further to Jumbo Hut and had about half an hour break before they came and we continued downhill to Atiwhakatu Hut. 50 min from Jumbo to Atiwhakatu is quite good (for me at least) and in a bit of rain. The last boring part - Atiwhakatu to Holdsworth road end, this time in rain and the daylight starting to go dark.
Dry, clean clothes and a ride back to civilization, with a little Kebab stop in Carterton before Rimutakas and Wellington!
A really hard but good trip with no chance of running anywhere afterwards - my legs have been aching all day... Thanks to Kieran for taking me along

- Pia

Christmas at Mt Aspiring 23.12.2011 - 27.12.2011

Mikey — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:21:41 GMT

Travis Gloyn

Michael Instone (Scribe)

We had a plan to climb Mt Aspiring, the “Matterhorn” of the Southern Hemisphere. It took a bit of negotiation to decide on a date. Eventually we found that we both had time during Christmas, when we would attempt the Northwest Ridge of Mt Aspiring.

We arrived at Wellington Airport for a 12.15 flight to Christchurch. I went through to the boarding lounge forgetting that my knife fork and spoon were in my carry on bag. I was pulled over to the side and told that I could not take my knife on the plane as it is “fixed handle” knife. I pointed out that the fork has sharp points and would be potentially much more dangerous than a blunt butter knife. The airport security guy understood my point, but had no flexibility to exercise common sense and I had to give up my knife.

We arrived in Christchurch to pick up the rental car and sort out food and then drove to Wanaka. We had to get up early the next morning to pick up the emergency locator beacon from the DOC office in Wanaka, and then head to the road end to start walking up the Matukituki valley. We took a bit longer than expected to get ready, then decided to ask a guide what the conditions were like. When asking the guides about the conditions, I confused the Northwest Ridge with the Southwest Ridge. Travis picked this up and corrected me. The office lady said “Well which one are you climbing? You want to be sure as there is a big difference in grades”.

After sorting ourselves in town, the drive to the road end took another hour. We arrived at the road end at 11.30 (after getting up at 6.30! Although it was hot by then, this did benefit us. Paul Rogers, a guide arrived at the carpark as we were about to leave. Paul offered to take some of our gear up to the top of Bevan Col for us. We gave him about 10kg to take and he gave us some advice on what to leave behind. This made the walk up the valley that we were about to start much easier. After waiting for the helicopter to leave with our gear, we started our walk at 12.30. The valley was extremely hot and there was no shelter from the sun.

We were planning to make it to Bevan Col that day so that we could give ourselves the best opportunity with weather for climbing. We told Paul this, to which he replied “you’re dreaming”. We changed our goal for the day to Scott’s Biv, which is near the head of the valley and would get up early the next morning to head up to the Bonar Glacier and Colin Todd Hut.

We got up at 4pm and started up the valley. To get to Bevan Col, we would have to walk up above a waterfall and then negotiate a system of ledges up a steep alpine river valley. I was nervous about this as the description in the route description makes it sound much worse than it actually us. We started trying to climb up a slab, which would have been alright without 30kg on our backs. Deciding that the slab was not the best way, we climbed back down to the scree slope and promptly found a cairn which marked the track to the top of the waterfall. Once I saw the valley at the top of the waterfall, I was relieved. The rock had plenty of grip, there were one or two kind of technical moves, but mostly it was a walk up the valley, although on ledges 10-20m above the stream. I think it would be quite a bit harder when covered in ice.

Mt Aspiring came into view as we approached Bevan Col. We stopped at the Col to pick up the gear that Paul left for us and to practice rope skills. As with the first day, we had perfect weather. Now that we were on snow, the temperature was more reasonable. After lunch, we headed across the Bonar Glacier to Colin Todd Hut. The glacier was in perfect condition after a late season with plenty of snow. We were greeted at Colin Todd hut by 7 Keas. The Keas only hung around when there were people at the hut. Being summer, it was warm, so we cooked dinner outside. We had to guard against the cheeky Keas though and could never leave the food unattended. There was no wind and we had amazing views of the Southern Alps. We could see the route that we were planning to take to climb Mt Aspiring. The planned route was up the Kangaroo to the buttress and then up the Northwest Ridge. Looking at the mountain and this route, I managed to psych myself out. It didn’t help that I wasn’t feeling very competent on my crampons during the day.

The next day (Christmas Eve) was summit day and we decided to get up at 3.30 to take advantage of the firmer snow. I woke up feeling the same as the day before, but got up anyway. We put on our gear and headed out towards Death or Glory! After about half an hour of heading up towards the mountain we stopped for a rest. That was a mistake and killed our summit attempt. It was all the excuse I needed as I had talked myself out of the attempt. It was an anticlimax. I felt bad that it meant that Travis also lost the opportunity to summit on the trip. The conditions were perfect, except in my head. We spent a bit of time on the slope looking around, then headed back to the hut for a pit day.

While in the hut, it rained. This was the only bad weather we had on the entire trip. Although we had only walked 1 ½ days to get to the hut, I was exhausted, so a pit day was beneficial.

The next day was Christmas! We spent Christmas walking across the Bonar Glacier towards French Ridge where we would descend back to the Matukituki Valley. New Zealand has Christmas in Summer, when people usually go to the beach and never associate the day with snow. We had a white Christmas in summer! We had the best of both worlds.

We decided to traverse around the side of Aspiring, rather than descend straight away on to the glacier as we thought it would be easier with us not having to regain altitude that we would have lost by going directly to the glacier.

The scenery was impressive as we walked across the glacier. I pulled out my raincoat when it started spitting. This stopped after 5 minutes and I regretted having my raincoat on as I became hotter. We walked past Mt French and then down French Ridge. We stayed at French Ridge hut for a couple of hours in the sun.

We felt good, so headed down to the valley were we would spend the night. French Ridge is steep and requires climbing down steep rooted sections. I’m not sure which would require more effort – going up, or coming down. I also wonder if it would be more appropriately called French Spur. Towards the bottom I faded and felt like I almost needed to stop on the side of the track to have dinner. I was getting a bit clumsy. We got to the bottom soon after that and once I had dropped my pack, I felt OK again.

The next day was uneventful with the final walk out down the valley. We started earlier than the first day, so had a couple of hours without the intense heat. I was grateful for this as I got sunburnt at French Ridge hut.

Although we didn’t climb Mt Aspiring, this was definitely one of the best trips I have been on this year. We learnt quite a lot and got smashed physically. The perfect combination! ...Almost.

Found an old Carkeek Trip Report

achim — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:54:09 GMT

Have a look to http://tramping.typepad.com/tramping_report/2005/11/carkeek_with_th.html

A winter trip to Carkeek in 2003.

Mt Taranaki 4 - 6 June (Queens Birthday)

Mikey — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 23:34:09 GMT

Isabella Dobija

Jack Nixon

Josie Broadbent

Tenzin Heatherbell

Shawn Johnson

Jukka Saarelma

Chris Bruniges

Antoine Moinet (from France)

Michael Instone (Scribe)

This was a trip organised in traditional style – at the last minute! Not realising that it had been taken off the calendar (I was chief guide this year!), and given that this was the trip that I had been hanging out for since the beginning of the year, I had to get the trip going. Although it was organised at the last minute, I didn’t have to try very hard to find people who also wanted to come.

Before the trip, the weather was looking a bit average.... stormy and less than desirable. The forecast did show however a few hours on the Monday morning when the weather would be clear. I used the Monday weather forecast to justify going Taranaki instead of using the forecast for the rest of the weekend to justify going somewhere else.... We had our weather window and the trip to the summit was on! We just had to find something to do for the first two days. I ran my plans past Kieran who told me that they were a bit ambitious. I wanted to start at the north side, go over the top by North Ridge and head to Waiaua Gorge Hut, then back over the top to somewhere else. It would have been fun I’m sure, but I am pleased that we didn’t do that this trip!

Friday night came and 9 of us turned up at Hunter Carpark for a trip where our plan was to fill in Saturday and Sunday and be at Syme Hut on Sunday night to take full advantage of our “window”. We had a van and a car for transport. We decided that two vehicles would be antisocial, so we set up a 9^th seat in the van using packs and were on our way. We listened to the Ipods of those who had them, enjoying lyrics like “Raise your hand if you’re on ketamine”. It opened my eyes.

When driving towards Mt Taranaki, I had in my mind that I wanted to start at North Egmont and walk around the base of the mountain until summit day. We found ourselves at the Dawson Falls road end. I didn’t see the right road signs to get us to North Egmont before we got there. Isabella was driving and I was tired and didn’t have the energy to tell her to turn around and continue driving for another hour. We were going to start from Dawson Falls!

We camped that night on the grass outside the visitors centre and restaurant and it was wet and windy! We decided that there was no point carrying tents with us on the trip beyond the carpark as they would only add weight and we were staying in huts anyway. The next morning we got up early and before we left, decided to go south to Waiaua Gorge Hut via the Upper Lake Dive and Brames Falls tracks. It was raining when we left, but warm. When we got to the bushline, I only had a T shirt under my raincoat. It was raining heavily and there was some wind. We had been walking for an hour above the bushline and completely exposed to the weather. I felt that I was at a comfortable temperature, but that I had to pay attention to my temperature as I was getting to the colder side of comfortable. I kept walking for about half an hour and realised that I needed to have another layer on. This was not ideal as the rain was heavy, the wind was getting strong and there was nowhere sheltered to take my raincoat off and to put my softshell on underneath it. I finally got to the point where I had to put something warm on, so I stopped and took my pack off. It wasn’t until then that I found that my arms were so cold that I couldn’t use them properly. I pulled my softshell out and tried to keep it dry. I then took my raincoat off and put everything back on as fast as I could. With my numb arms, I couldn’t do the zip up properly on my raincoat. I was annoyed and felt guilty that while leading this trip, I had turned myself into a potential liability by letting myself get cold.

I walked a few hundred metres further up the hill to where everyone else was standing. Tenzin and Josie were in the same position or slightly worse to the one I had just put myself in. I didn’t feel guilty anymore! Tenzin learnt the important lesson that cold weather gear, including gloves, should be kept in the top of your pack so that you don’t have to pull everything out to get at them! We have had a few laughs about those gloves over the year! Once we got started again, I warmed up within half an hour. Thanks softshell with a hood!

Although the weather was not our friend on Saturday, it gave the mountain and the scenery a feel that we would not have experienced had the sun been out. It was wet and miserable, but when we got to the Brames Falls track, we found a saddle that was rising up through a blanket of mist, it had a certain majesty about it. Once we went down over the saddle and below the bushline, we were safe from the weather. The weather was a bit ***, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way for Saturday.

We arrived at Waiaua Gorge after around 6 hours. We had mulled wine and Jaegger tea thanks to Isabella and Jukka who carried it for us! We then learned to laugh like the French do (haw haw haw).

The next morning we again decided our route just before leaving. As seems to happen with larger groups, we left 2 ½ hours after I got up. We had the choice of the shorter day – going back the way we came and then on to Syme Hut, or the longer day – taking the Taungatara track to Lake Dive Hut and then up to Syme Hut. As we would walk back a different way to the way we came, we chose the longer day! It was still raining when we left, but the weather cleared as the day went on. The Taungatara track follows around the mountain, but at a lower altitude than our previous day. This option made for a long day! We walked through wet green forest, adding some variation from the day before.

We arrived at Lake Dive hut at around 5 and had lunch here. I was keen to make it a quick stop as if we were to hang around for a while, it would have been easy to stay there for the night. If we stayed at Lake Dive, we would not have had a chance to summit, which was the whole reason we were there! I also wanted to get to Syme Hut before it got dark as I didn’t know what the wind was doing. Jukka, Isabella and Tenzin swam in the lake while the rest of us ate lunch. The lake looked cold.

We walked up the mountain from Lake Dive towards the launch zone for our summit bid. We got up to the scree slopes and found that there was no wind and the clouds were gone. I needn’t have worried about the weather today. It took plenty of energy to get up the slope with scree sliding under our feet every time we took another step. I was at the back with Jack and Chris. Jack and I couldn’t work out why Chris was taking so long and struggling so much. It became dark while we were walking up the scree. It was also a starry night, making the slope a very pleasant place to be. We stopped to sort out the weight issue in Chris’ pack. We had left the rest of the tents at the van. Chris brought his 4kg tent with him. Anyone who knows Chris understands this. Chris loves to be prepared for any eventuality. Mt Taranaki was my introduction to Chris and I was a bit stunned. I took the tent and Jack took some weight off Chris too.

We got to Syme under a blanket of stars. The others had already started cooking dinner. Outside was dead still, so Jack and I sat outside while eating dinner. It was a pretty sweet place to hang out. To maintain our theme for the trip, we again had mulled wine and Jaegger tea.

The next morning we set out for our objective on the trip, the summit! Half of the group had not used crampons before. The plan was to give a quick demonstration at the bottom of a snow slope where there was a safe run out. We got to the snow and there was no run out. Jack and I got everyone to put their crampons on and gave clear instructions that everyone should ensure that all points of the crampons were in the snow, and of course, no one was to fall. Once we got to the top of the slope we had a break and my stress reduced greatly. We walked down the other side into a gully to then find a way to the summit. We found a nice mixed route that involved a bit of rock as we were more used to rock than snow and ice, and thought this would be the easiest way. Standing at the bottom of the mixed rock and snow slope was like standing in a different world. Towering over us were three pillars standing proud in the mist. Behind the pillars, the sun started to pierce through.

We got to the top, but needed something to celebrate our feat. Planking had been in the news recently and I had just learned what it was. Our summit photo was of the group planking on top of Taranaki. Like everything else on the trip, it fell into place.

We headed back down to Syme hut where we finished any left over food we had and also finished the wine. Tenzin showed us a few card tricks, but being as evil as he is, did not reveal the secrets to the tricks.

We headed down from Syme mid afternoon. My pack weighed almost nothing now, except for Chris’ tent! The scree slope had taken us around 2 or 3 hours to get up, but took hardly any time at all to get down. Sliding down the scree was definitely a lot of fun!

We got back to the van at around 5 and headed back to Wellington. It was an entertaining drive back. In the front, Jack and I decided to play the window game after people in the back complained of it being cold.

It was a great trip and one of the highlights for me this year. After coming back and telling of our successful trip and of summiting in spite of the depressing weather forecast, Craig Scott described the trip as “tin ***”.