This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
Triplex - Waikamaka and Back A beautiful and sunny Friday evening in Wellington including a starlit sky en route to the Triplex roadend sadly gave way. Few flys (other than those which were wellpitched) survived the wind that picked up throughout the night. By morning, light rain was being whipped horizontally around the campsite and thoughts of “what are we doing here?” passed through everyone’s minds. We quickly counted heads to ensure no Medium trippers (or their gear) had become mixed up with the Fits (at a different roadend) as had happened the night before. The group’s intentions were to tramp into Waikamaka Hut or continue on to Waterfall Hut, an extra two hours on. A route across the tops above Sunrise Hut would be an excellent option if only the weather would allow it! Travel up the Waipawa River is quick and an attractive alternative to a slog up 240m via the track to Sunrise Hut before dropping down to the river. There is no actual track up the Waipawa River and you need to keep your eyes peeled for the cairn marking Waipawa Forks Hut on the true right, just below the said forks. Taking the left branch at the fork in the river, the gradient, the wind and the rain increased. Twelve merry trampers plodded their way up and across the scree like channels carved . by the river. High up at around 1140m the river splits again either side of a bush clad spur. The wind had not eased and no one _.was keen to loiter on the Waipawa Saddle, except for Eric who stopped briefly for the excellent photo opportunities of windswept spray from a small waterfall swirling up and into the wind. The other keen photographers were not so brave, not keen on being blown back over the saddle from where we had come. Any photo opportunity could wait until tomorrow.
The track off the saddle precariously follows the slightly overhanging edge of a rather steep drop into the beginnings of the Waikamaka River. The group cautiously continued into the stream and down to Waikamaka Hut for a 1.00 pm Iunch as the weather was none too pleasant and far too cold to stop for very long. The Waikamaka bubbles through a beautiful setting of tussock and semiopen bush, the Electric Blue hut sits first major fork downstream from the saddle. Ruth declared that whoever painted the interior of the but must have been colour blind (it is a lovely mixture of cream, brown and orange); however, it is probably more famous for its octagonal long drop than its colour scheme. The afternoon was spent playing round after round of the card game “scum”, or was it musical chairs? Throughout the night the hut shook from gust after gust of wind roaring up the valley. Andrew fared well bivvying out near the stream; Rob gave up and retreated into the hut and Jeanine and Wayne lasted the night out in a flapping fly — even after one pole broke — pitched tightly to the ground. Hopes of returning via the tops and Sunrise Hut was out of the question as during the night the wind had become even more fierce. Energetically, the group returned to the saddle and the swirling spray of the waterfall. Battling against being blown over and determined not to
Ruahines 15 - 16 March 1997 of becoming airborne and trying to avoid being pushed face first into the ground! It may be worthy of noting at this point that at this very moment winds of 100 km/h were being recorded on the Rimutaka Hill Road. The descent was quick down the Waipawa River stopping only occasionally to rebalance or pick one’s self up after being knocked about by strong gusts of wind, or to briefly chat to two hunters we met along the way. At Waipawa Forks we found part of the Easy group out on a day walk and looking for Waipawa Forks Hut. By now the rain had begun again and we quickly showed the Easys the way. Waipawa Hut provided a suitably dry lunch spot; the comfort levels obviously suited Wayne as he stayed at the hut for a siesta before travelling out down the river, while the Easys and the remainder of the Mediums returned to Triplex via the track. A feature of the track to Sunrise Hut are the large holes next to the track at semi-regular intervals. Speculation as to what they were and how they got there produced some interesting suggestions, including tramper catchers and spa pools (wishful thinking!). Marilyn (Easy groupie) told us, as she bundled the Medium groupies into one for a photo?!?!, that they were gravel pits from when the track was constructed. I personally think that it was a ploy to make the Mediums look rather silly and then to record it on celluloid — with any luck the negatives have been destroyed by now. miss out on the photo opportunities, ~ several of the group stopped to photograph the aforementioned waterfall and the group’s progress over the saddle. Wayne was seen to be first sitting then lying on his back whilst taking photos, Jeanine lost her hat to the wind and Eric came sprinting over the saddle in what looked like an attempt to fly. Everyone else inched their way along in a semi-crouched position for fear at the end of the track Triplex Hut was reached and all the groups, Mediums, Easys and Fits began telling their tales of adventure and wild wind. The wind swept 12 were: Jeanine (leader), Wayne, Eric, Steve, Steve, Greg, Kim, Andrew, Rob, Becky, Peter, and Ruth (scribe). cd