This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
By Kara Lipski
I had spent most of 1992 trying to get the Masterton District Council to take their civil defence responsibilities seriously. Finally in October, things came to a head and I resigned rather than give them another $10,000 worth of freebie hours. On the day I handed in my resignation, and from October onwards, I exercised (like I had never exercised before or since), dehydrated vegetables galore, and planned (and re-planned ad nauseam), the route I would take. I planned for 10 days in the bush - solo! I was lucky to get a ride to the Walls Whare roadend with WORT and started off in a very positive mood. I thought that at most I'd be at Totara Flats by mid-afternoon. Well! Problems erupted when I got to the large (unmapped) slip. Ispent almost 30 minutes trying to find a way downto the river before finally taking the "wet weather only" track. What a climb!!! By the time I sighted the hut I was well and truly ready for a sleep. t had taken an HF radio in with me and had fun trying to set it up in time for the evening's schedule. In one attempt to "throw the aerial over the hut roof" I tied a stone to the string, wound up a few times, and let go. The aerial didn't go up - it followed the stone straight for the hut window. I proved how good my reflexes were and the Totara Flats Hut window remained intact.
Wet weather gave me a good excuse to stay at Totara Flats Hut for a couple of days and be entertained by the swallows. Seven Tararuas arrived late in the afternoon. They were a great bunch - full of fun - and appear to have been tramping together for years. One woman commented that she first joined the club in 1953. Another party of four arrived later in the evening - they looked knackered. The young couple looked as though they had been tramping before but the older couple were not as well equipped. (Trampingin sneakers with no ankle support, BUT, she had brought her hair spray!) {left for Powell Hut on the 20th in brilliantly fine weather. I had originally planned to return via the same track on the Friday, but the buzzing which accompanied me all the way from the bridge to the "gut buster" made me think again. (High Ridge perhaps??) The sign at Mountain House said 1 hour to Powell Hut - ha! (Whose 3 metre long legs estimated that track?!) Try 3! When I got to Pig Flats I took one look at where Powell Hut is located and almost decided to camp at Donnelly Flat. But Powell was the objective and I was determined to get there. Thought #1 while trudging up to Powell ........... Ye gods, I desperately need a shower - does Powell have showers? The answer is a big fat NO! I had to wash in the freezing wind outside. The view was magnificent - I coud see all of the Wairarapa. What a pity I didn't take my camera. - That: night was extremely blustery but the moming was fine and clear and the wind had abated a bit. (There's nothing Quite like sitting on a portaloo at 1200 metres being buffeted by 60 knot winds!) By the way, it took me 2 hours (with many breaks) to get from Mountain House to Powell. Since February I have done the trip from Holdsworth car park in exactly the same time. I spent a wonderful lazy Thursday at Powell and took advantage of the weather to do my washing. Day trippers were greeted with polyprop waving in the breeze on the veranda. That night the wind got up again and we had very little sleep. The hut was buffeted by some very strong - gusts almost continuously from 1am to about 4am. I could hear each gust coming and leamt to time how long it would _ take before the wind caught the hut. .
Friday moming was wet and windy and the tops were well and truly dagged in. Paddy (the warden) was getting ready to head for Jumbo and had been intending to go over the tops. Instead he prodded me into action and we took off down to Mountain House together. He took the Atiwhakatu Track and I (unfortunately) decided to follow the Gentle Annie.
Oh, my poor toe joints! Gentle Annie should be renamed Awful Annie. Continual downhill slopes really get to me. And Holdsworth Lodge was definitely not what I expected. A very sterile atmosphere and not much more welcoming than Mountain House. I settled in for along afternoon at the Lodge waiting for some Masterton Club friends to come by. (They had a Totara Flats, Maungahuka, mid-Waiohine, Holdsworth trip planned. I wasn't up to their trip but hoped to spend Friday night at Totara Flats with them). .
\ felt as stiff as a lockwood house as I hadn't done enough stretching during the trip and vowed to head for a masseuse when I got back to "civilisation". Although I had spent most nights in huts with other people, I was keen to see familiar ‘faces. I think this contributed to my first (and only) mistake on the trip.
We left Holdsworth Lodge at 5.30pm and. took about 1” hours to get to the Totara Flats tur-off. By this time I had convinced the others to go on ahead at their pace instead of waiting for me. (They were used to tramping with me and knew I was well prepared, so they agreed). By the time I got onto the Totara Creek track, light was going fast and the head lamp came on. ) Two hours after turing off the Gentle Annie, I finally ground to a halt . I hadn't realised that I had crossed all the side creeks on the lower Totara Creek track and was only another 20 minutes (daylight travel) from the bridge. I came to a very steep drop and couldn't see the bottom, or where to place my feet. For about 5 minutes I sat and cursed the three men who were obviously by now, warmly tucked up in their pits at Totara Flats Hut. When I finally did stop I was very tired. I put up the fly (inside out!) and shoved everything inside. The only hassle during that night, apart from a collapsing fly, was trying not.to slide down the hill (it was only a gentle slope where I had thrown down my stuff, but bracket fern - although comfortable - has a fairly smooth surface). I only had an inkling of a nocturnal visitor - it didn't stay long. What has intrigued me, is the music which appeared to be coming from the Totara Creek area. (Everyone I've asked about it has denied hearing it.
I was acutely aware that the guys might consider it necessary to alert SAR if I didn't tum up at the hut by the time they left for Maungahuka, so I decided to leave early for the hut. I was immediately glad that I hadn't attempted to scale the drop the night before. It was bad enough in the light of day. (How on earth did I ever get up there?)
Thought #2 while on a Tararua track .......... I want a helicopter ride out of here!!!!
I was surprised to see the bridge 20 minutes later and arrived at the hut to find the three race horses standing on the porch ready to go. “Hi Kara..... I bye Kara" - no - "how did you sleep" or any sympathy whatsoever!
I had another lazy day at Totara Flats with encores from the swallows. On Sunday the 24th! had thought about heading for Neill Forks-but- knew my food-wouldn'tlast, so Hook off for-Walls'Whare instead: The track -was:stilas muddy as hell but I made better time. First I managed to cut out the 2” hours round the slip. Second - I had a rather cute Oz accompany me part of the way. I lent him my map as he was off on a Souther Crossing - without a map!!
I couldn't have timed my arrival at the Walls Whare bridge better. The guys from WORT were running a public abseil/ rafting day and I scored a ride back to Holdsworth. Yes...... back to Holdsworth.. I simply wasn't ready to face Masterton! On one side, I couldn't wait to get into a shower, clean clothes, and sleep in a proper bed (and not have to worry about noctumal visitors, etc). BUT on the other hand, I didn't want to have to go back to Masterton either.
I spent the last night camping at Donnelly Flat and had aleisurely last day. Although I woke up at 5.30am with the birds, I wasn't packed and ready to move until 10.30. It would have been later if a large brown spider hadn't joined me in the tent. (I later found a few other large bugs near my sleeping bag, but they had been squashed!) I enjoyed those 9 days so much that I've planned another lengthy trip, in another part of the Tararua Ranges for the end of 1993. Who knows, maybe I'll lose another 4 kilos.
Kara (1 just love it in the hills) Lipski