This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
Between 24 December and 3 February we spent 33 days in the bush covering trails and routes between Nelson to Hokitika. We were thankful for seven weeks away from the office so that we could complete this adventure - 460km’s in all.
We have only taken our tramping seriously for the past two years but since joining WTMC we have taken all the opportunities provided for upskilling ourselves including club trips and instruction courses. This preparation was essential for us to confidence to undertake this adventure.
Our intentions were to ensure that this journey was achievable by dividing it into four distinct legs with a rest and cleanup at a backpackers each time we hit a highway. All we needed to do was pop over the Richmond Range from Nelson to St Arnaud, waltz up the D’Urville Valley, over David Saddle, through the Matakitaki and St James and we would be at Lewis Pass. The flatish journey through Harper's Pass would be a good rest with hot pools en-route to Arthurs Pass. Then a couple more high passes and we would have made it. No worries!
We boxed up some food parcels and posted the stash to St Arnaud, Hanmer Springs and Arthurs Pass respectively. These consisted of our own, home made dehydrated meals and lots of other goodies.
Leg One: Nelson to St Arnaud via Richmond Range
We began in the weather that Nelson is known for on Christmas Eve. An early-ish flight and a taxi ride to Hacketts Creek and we were off in the Richmond Range. We headed over the Richmond Alpine Route of Starveall, Slaty, Old Man, Little Rintoul and Mt Rintoul with 360° views across to all the ranges of the northern South Island. Christmas dinner was served at Old Man Hut and we ensured that we didn’t miss out on the christmas pudding and custard. Once we dropped into the Wairoa catchment it was obvious we had reached a trail less traveled. In soaring temperatures we headed around the rugged Red Hills and Mt Ellis and passed much flood damage through the Upper Motueka catchment from the Easter 2005 storm.
LegTwo: D’Urville Valley
The weather forecast was not looking too flash with gale-force winds forecast, but the gales were forecast to ease which we hoped would enable us to get over David Saddle. No significant precipitation was forecast. We stocked up with some extra food from the St Arnaud general store in case we needed it while waiting out the wind. We left the Lake Rotoroa water-taxi in reasonable weather on New Year's day as we headed up the D’Urville Valley to George Lyon Hut (formerly known as Ella Hut). The following morning was wet so we laid low in our pits and left in the afternoon so as to catch the forecast better weather the following day. We arrived soaked at the two bunk Upper D'Urville Biv to join another tramper for the night optimistically thinking we would be heading over David Saddle the following morning. We awoke early to clag and very limited visibility which was followed by persistent rain so we stayed on waiting for a break in the weather as the other tramper departed. The next day proved to be more of the same except that there was even more rain, but around 5pm Victoria spotted some blue sky. Optimism was high, that this would be 3" and final night in the two-bunk biv and we still had the time and rations to complete the journey. Come morning, there was cloud and drizzle in the valley but with a slight improvement on our barometer we set off toward David Saddle hoping the weather would improve. Unfortunately by the time we reached the bushline we were caught in a blizzard and decided it was time to bail out and made our way back down to the valley to George Lyon Hut. That night we met a nice couple of trampers who happened to be going to Maruia Springs and kindly offered us a ride. This was helpful since our next food stash was in Hanmer. We ambled down to Lake Rotoroa over the next two days and made it to Mariua Springs where we thought we might camp for the night and make our way to Hanmer the next day. When we discovered that it was $25pp for a small patch of lawn by the highway we soon found ourselves a bus to our food stash at the backbackers in Hanmer instead.
Upper D’Urville Biv
Leg Three: Lewis Pass to Arthurs Pass via Harper Pass We caught a bus to the start of the trail and began at a leisurely 11:30am. About five minutes into the track we met James and Paul who were walking Te Araroa and had made this far all the way from Cape Reinga. We shared stories and route information over our travels for the next few days. The beginning of this trail was not the most exciting with a lot of farmland and cattle grazing, but it was fast and easy travel. It began pouring with rain again shortly after we arrived at Hope-Kiwi Hut with a New Year's greeting waiting for us in the hut book from Alex, Amanda, Anna and Laurayne who had past a week or two earlier. We awoke to more rain and left after lunch in better weather.
The Mouth» Ear — FEBRUARY 2.006
We arrived at Three Mile stream which was more like a three mile wide torrent. We took some time over examining crossing points for a suitable place to cross — which was found eventually. (Thanks for sending us on the FMC river safety course WTMC!). When we arrived at Hurunui Hut there was good stash of cold beer by the door with no owner so we thought we might as well have one! The following day the speed of our travel was thwarted by the presence of a fabulous hot pool. Craig made his way over the 3-wire over Cameron Stream and then back again to help Victoria over the stream. By the time we got to the er, “well ventilated” Cameron Hut it was hosing down again and we decided to stay for the night. The weather improved overnight and we left early in perfect sunshine eager to make the most of it and soon made our way of Harper Pass (963m, so not even that high really) and by lunch had caught up to Pau! and James again at Locke Stream Hut. Over a long lunch we decided we would join them over Goat Pass tomorrow and we would camp near the Otira for the night. We headed all the way down the Taramakau River in what was a longish 30km day. Over night the fly flapped a bit as a storm was brewing. We woke up at 5:30 and packed up to get over the Otira River before it rained. Goat Hill was not even visible. In fact, it was darker at 6am than it was under moonlight at 3am! Our plans soon changed from Goat Pass to ‘big breakfast’ at Otira.
Leg Four: Arthurs Pass to Hokitika via the Three Passes
We discovered that the Mountain House backpackers where we were staying in Arthurs Pass hired out ice axes. The good news about this was now we could do the traditional Three Passes Route. The bad news was now we missed the Julia Creek hot spring. As we had been to a few springs recently this wasn’t so bad. We departed in reasonable weather with 150mm rain forecast the following day followed by a long period of settled weather. We saved ourselves a bus fare and joined James and Paul for their road walk as far as Klondyke Corner where we headed up the Waimakariri and they continued on down the east coast. The Waimak was quite shallow and travel up the river was easy and we soon arrived at the 36-bunk barn some refer to as Carrington Hut which we shared with two other trampers. As forecast it bucketed down the following day so we certainly were not going anywhere as it would not have been pleasant, we would not have seen anything but more importantly we would never have got across the river. The rain cleared in the late afternoon and the weather held as forecast and we departed the following moming to a fabulous of day of tramping through the Taipoiti Canyon, over Harman Pass and Whitehorn Pass. We were awestruck with the scenery. This was certainly some of the best tramping we have done to date. We were a little hesitant about the permanent snowfield of Whitehorn Pass before we got there because we didn't have a lot of snow experience. We had done the WTMC snowcraft course, but the snowless winter meant we hadn't used these skills since. Travel up the snowfield was fast and easy and we soon realised that we had been worrying about nothing. After a long decent down the blocky scree and then over a swamp we made our way to the recently renovated Park Morpeth Hut (deck still to come) on the confluence of the Cronin and Wilberforce rivers. Two passes down, so that left Browning Pass the following day. We knew it was going to be steep. This was not so much of a pass, but a cliff! The famous zig-zag was obvious from a distance and certainly was going to add to the distance covered. Once we clambered over the top we were rewarded with the magnificent sight of Lake Browning where we had a swim and spent a couple of hours over lunch before descending down to Harman Hut. The next day we headed across in the Styx valley — a very healthy population of weka sighted and proceeded down the Styx and camped about 500m before the end of the track. This was a perfect location as it put us in range to walk out to ‘big breakfast’ at Kokatahi in the morning.
Craig ascending Whitehorn Pass
Leg 5: Lewis Pass to St Arnaud
This time the forecast was perfect. We started from the other end, leaving in soaring temperatures and made it to Ada Pass over the fast travel of the St James Walkway in short-time. Once we ventured off-track and uphill towards “Three Tarns Pass” our travel slowed somewhat. We decided to leave “Three Tarns Pass” until morning after we found a magnificent campsite beside a large tarn about 1km SW of “Three Tarns Pass”. The next day was even warmer and by the time we reached the three tarns it was time for a swim which was enjoyed along with the proceeding lunch. Travel down the West Matakitaki was hot (chocolate melted to liquid) and treacherous (lots of speargrass amongst the tussock). Bobs Hut was a welcome sight located at a lovely spot. More great weather the following day as we went over the 3-wire and into the magnificent East Matakitaki valley. It was so hot that even after a swim in the freezing river we rested between 3pm and 6pm at East Matakitaki Hut and then went a couple of hours up the river to camp in the cooler evening air. The next morning we headed up to Upper D'’Urville Pass and began the sidle around to Thompson Pass. Unfortunately, obsessed with not losing altitude we continued sidling a tad too far. After setting a bearing for the real Thompson Pass we got very close to it only to have an impassable gut between us. We found an alternative pass a couple of hundred metres to the right of the real Thompson Pass which was relatively easy travel. Lake Thompson was such a magic spot that we had to camp there for two nights. The next morning we chose our route carefully to make sure we didn't get bluffed out on our way down to the start of Waiau Pass. When we reached the bottom the skies were very dark, but we persevered and by the time we half way up Waiau Pass it cleared nicely giving us great views from the highest point of our entire journey. We then descended the scree to the beautiful Lake Contance and made our way sidling around the lake to Blue Lake Hut. When we arrived at Blue Lake Hut there were nine others there, lying on their bunks starring at us when we wandered in. Having not seen anyone for days we felt like we were in the zoo. Craig was ready to pull out our fly but Victoria exercised her casting vote. The next day, travel proved to be very fast as back on the worn and well marked track the Sabine track seemed like a road. To our surprise we had Sabine Hut all to ourselves for the night. It was straight uphill the next morning as we heading up Mt Cedric and along Angelus Ridge to Lake Angelus “Hut” — it was more like a palace. We enjoyed some lunch and a chat with some other trampers before proceeding to Bushline Hut via Robert Ridge. Our final day was an easy two hour walk out to (you guessed it), ‘big breakfast’.