This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
Aorangi FP
By Jenny Cossey Photos by Victoria McGregor
Disclaimer: The characters, events and locations depicted in this article are fictitious. Any similarity to any person living or dead, to any events current or historical, to any location real, or imagined is merely coincidental
The four members of this fit trip headed off in a club booked rental car under a still cloudless sky with temperatures in the 20's from Wellington to Mangatoetoe in the Friday, slow hour, traffic to Petone.
Organised by Craig “This is my last weekend as Chief Guide, no-one get lost even though I haven't told you the route” chauffeured by Victoria “/’ve just flown in from a conference in Palmy’, with starring roles from the “enlightened about the closed habits of mind from a day teaching at a Closed Brethren School” Jenny, and the newly appointed Ranger for Greater Wellington Erik, who just wanted to meet the local flora and fauna. Palliser Bay looked stunning under a near full moon, no waves and with a near tropical air temperature. The girls were keen for swim, but could not sway the blokes of the party to participate; their goal was to hit the hut in minimum time. A fast walk led us up Mangatoetoe Stream towards the hut, followed by some fathing until the hut was found as marked on the map. Too hot to sleep inside, everyone slept outside on top of their sleeping bags. In day light track markers to and from the stream and the hut were slightly more obvious. The last day of summer dawned hot, still and with slight over cast skies that cleared. A perfect tropical, humid tramping day in shorts and t-shirts, until the wind rose at midday. We headed north along the Mangatoetoe Stream and over the saddle into the headwaters of the Otakaha Stream. A bee nest on the track was kicked over by leading members of the party and the tail end Charlie was attacked by 3 bees. After emptying two personal first aid kits and ignoring the club one, it was decided that no one had any up-to-date cream for bee stings, the closest was Erik's, six years out of date! However the contents of the sealed packet did have the desired effect of reducing itchiness. Craig had collected the vast knowledge of other club members — Harry “This route is secret, don’t tell anyone including your own punters” Smith; John “the traitor’ Rhodes whom had previously leaked far too much secret information on this route to Wilderness Magazine, and some others who, err, hadn't quite made it to Frog Tarn (Not that they should worry, it doesn't exist does it Harry?). The answer is not the second gully after the saddle as this has more stinging bees in, but the third one. The selected streambed is walkable with small waterfalls that can be rock hopped up or bypassed by climbing thin vegetation on the eastern side. A track up the spur at the second stream junction does lead directly to a small hunters hut to the west of point 906. Point 906 has a receiver on top, but no name. With stunning 360-degree views of Castlepoint, Kaikouras and the Orongorongos (later with cloudy tops) we headed southeast to Mt Barton with its views of White Rock and then headed south along the ridge to Frog Tarn. A 10-pointed stag wandered along the ridgeline to within 10 metres of the leader.
Frog Tam alas had no frogs to croak us to sleep. The tarn still full after a dry summer and surrounded by thick bog land with a sheer drop off into the tarn which made collecting drinking water a technical operation. Either one stepped on the marsh with damp feet and collected water with green floaters in, or took an additional step into thigh deep water and collected clear water. Although there was space for two tents (cosy for three) with tarn side views, we crept in under the trees due to high winds and the forecast rain that did not appear. We rose on the first day of autumn, which felt more like the last day of summer, and followed “Harry's route” SW from point 800 into Waitetuna Stream. Pre-warned about bluffs, we tried to keep to the spur but the bottom of the hill was still steep. We finally descended to a waterfall
(that has a rope on the east side to climb over the eastern ridge and-thus avoiding the waterfall) into Waitetuna Stream. The humidity had dropped, now it was autumn, and the sun was in a clear sky with strong winds, perfect sun burning weather. The upper Stonewall Basin gave easy walking with a widening riverbed until the gorge was reached. Erik rock-climbed down the gorge to inform us that the waterfall was beautiful and even at low summer water level, was impassable. Three route descriptions were described by Craig to the group for a consensus decision as to which spur was at the head of the gorge on the east side. The apt description of “climb up steep slopes hanging on thin grass until flattens and look for the DOC park sign” is the correct description - as unlikely as it might seem. Shortly before finding this sign Jenny declared “we are not on the right spur of the hill to go down to the beach, we should be on that spur over there — not here!!!". The wooden park sign must have been flown in on a deer-hunting trip or by a bored DOC ranger as the sign can rarely be visited, or be of much use to anyone. Above the DOC sign, an old blazed hunters track sidles the hill and if not found good luck trying to find a route across the face. This is not a track for the faint hearted or for night travel. From the spur above Stonewall Basin gorge, a steep descent brought us to the beach and a flat coastal walk along to the lighthouse. Victoria managed to flag down some day walkers at the Palliser lighthouse, and got a ride with our packs back to the car, eventually saving the rest of the party from walking the last 200m of the 5km back to the car. It was then time for ice-creams at Ngawi and fossil collecting at The Pinnacle’s Beach.