This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
Next morning the NW had not dissipated. Where was that change predicted by the forecasters?
The Ngamoko Range was out of the question so we headed down to the Pohangina River and thence to Top Gorge Hut — the lack of wind being very welcome. A couple of sidles close to waterfalls made interesting travel; we should have brought climbing gear. The track suddenly stopped in the middle of the river! A 30metre waterfall was directly in front of us. Where did it go to? After a bit of searching the track was the river, except right at the edge of the waterfall the track continued on a 20 cm-wide ledge to the right. A drop of 30 metres was the result if you slipped — it was not for the faint of hearts; this was exhilarating stuff. There were not many hand-holds either! A brief stop at Top Gorge Hut made us carry on to Leon Kinvig due to the coldness.
Travelling down the Pohangina is mainly via the river and flats along its banks. In the summer time it would be a great 2-day trip. However today the river was cold, made colder by frequent showers, sleet, and hail storms. A couple of compulsory swims
John Collier At Leon Kinvig a hunter provided us with a welcome hot drink. Lunch was consumed rapidly. We also spotted a large pot of hot vension stewing — just put on, he said!
We were 40 minutes later down stream when it really piped down cats and dogs along with large ear piercing hail. Ours heads hurt even with woolly hats under PVC! The river started to rise and became discoloured very quickly. There was a short gorge ahead of us and we wanted to carry on but decided, “bugger this”, and headed back.
You know that brillant minds think alike and in this case it was ‘hot stew’. Where we had crossed the river previously was now more dangerous. An hour and a half later we arrived at the hut welcomed by you-know-what. It was sumptuous, albeit 2 hours later, especially with the abundance of vegetables donated by us. The Met office was correct, but two days late! Next morning a beautiful blue sky greeted us with the river clear and down by 6 inches! There was not enough time to get to our intended road end so a quick re-route uphill was required, back to where we had stopped for lunch two days previously.
_through_some_short_gorges hurried us along. At one U-bend in the river there was a compulsory swim. Howard went first, next moment he disappeared, only the pack was showing and moving mysteriously. I was about to jump in when a soggy life form appeared. Howard if you are reading this, please read the bushcraft manual again.
From here the way out was a formality with a phone call to our chauffer (my Dad) which diverted him from meeting us at Tamaki West roadend.
P.S. Coppermine Creek Hut is apparently no longer there ,so mark your maps. aN