Saturday, March 2: Sunny throughout, one or two low clouds
Tramping: 18.4 km
Puteore Hut (Doc, $10)
Around midnight I woke to what I thought were human voices. Didn’t think that the track was getting to me that quickly, not that I was dreaming. Got up to see what was up, and two young hunters, Lars and Jason had arrived and, seeing my boots hung up at the entrance, were having a drink before deciding on further action.
I ushered them into the hut, pushed all of my gear aside to make room for them, and they dumped their sleeping bags on the upper deck and asked whether they could bring their weapons in, unloaded, of course. With that out of the way, there was also a 24 pack of some RTD plonked on the table, the partaking of which I negated. They had started from the road end at around 7:00 and done most of the track in the dark, with Jason unable to use his headlamp because it had been switched on accidentally in their car and the batteries had run out. With those formalities out of the way we all retired to bed and slept. Read more…
Friday, March 1: A bit cold to begin with but soon becoming warm & sunny
Tramping: 13.2 km
Trains Hut (Doc, $10)
Sleep was very intermittent last night and I was up way before 7:30. The proximity to the highway was not helpful. Anyhow I had plenty of time for breakfast (cereal, toast, coffee, and two cans of L&P in the fridge), took out some rubbish, packed my stuff together (hopefully a little better this time) and just after 9:15 went outside to await my chauffeur.
He – Dave – was there pretty much on the dot of 9:30. Among other things he had been a fire investigator with the voluntary fire brigade, which, of course, was right up my skeptical alley. And Howard had been right: He was the guy with the “golf carts on rails,” which I could make no sense of yesterday evening. Read more…
Sunday, February 24: Rain overnight, snow on the mountain, clearing to partly cloudy, one hail and rainstorm, otherwise in Whanganui overcast & wet
Tramping: 3.2 km
Dave’s/Brennagh’s (airbnb, $81.3)
We all slept in past 7:00 this morning and I was in no hurry at all, so I let the others pack and leave towards Whakapapa. A bit of sun shone on the new snow on the mountain, and otherwise the day looked promising.
With the others out of the way, I tried to organise my pack a bit better, and when all was in, I swept out the hut. There are pictures on the walls documenting the hut’s construction in the late 50s, and since then one fairly open and bright annex has been added, as well as solar panels and LED lights for the evenings. Read more…
Saturday, February 23: Heavy rain overnight, overcast with drizzle in the morning, becoming fine by midday and a bit of sun in the afternoon
Tramping: 34.5 km
Mangaturuturu Hut (Doc, $15)
The party girls had gone on for a bit last night, but eventually even they were subdued and went through our half bunkroom to theirs and were quiet. Not much in the way of snoring and by 6:30 I was ready to get up and have my breakfast served by hut warden Jaime.
I had won the general prize the night before of identifying the bird on the back of the $20 bill (karearea) and had two pancakes with frozen blackberries, chocolate and maple syrup. Trevor had also gotten a prize (for knowing the exact number of Doc huts in the country: 956), as well as the medical professor, Margarete as it was her birthday, and it was all served at 7:00. The rest was packing and by 8:30 I was ready to go and see what Whakapapa had to offer. Read more…
Friday, February 22: Somewhat cloudy to begin with, becoming showery and, especially in exposed areas, windy
Tramping: 13.3 km
Waihohonu Hut (Doc, Great Walks, $36)
Sleep was unusually fragmented, possibly because the pillow kept on deflating. There was some snoring from the other two male inhabitants but it was survivable, possibly due to the high winds that were buffeting the hut./p>
It was also quite a bright night because of the full moon. Around dawn I was awake for the final time and noticed oranges and reds of the impending sunrise, and decided it was good enough for a timelapse. As I set my camera up I was soon joined by Trevor & then Jeff & Rachael, and it really was only 6:30. Read more…
Thursday, February 21: Sunny to begin with, a couple of sprinkles and then some moderate showers
Tramping: 17.4 km
Rangipo Hut (Doc, $15)
Alan was up very early & off to work, long before I had to get up, but at around 7:00 I thought it would be enough time to throw stuff into the suitcase and complete packing for the tramp.
About the only things that weren’t up to scratch were that the compass hasn’t been calibrated, and it looks like I put in two hairbrushes; also the tripod should have been stripped of the gimbal attachment & the straps.
All was packed up & Jo and A. were on their way when I went out to the street to await my chauffeur, and Alan was already on his way back home. My driver had a couple of tips for me and we were soon at the drop-off point. He checked with his office about the return details so everything is in the green zone. Read more…
Tuesday, February 19: A little cloudy to begin with, becoming fine & hot again, with a few clouds reappearing towards evening
Kayaking: 22.6 km
Arawa Lodge
There really was no great rush for people to get up this morning, but all of them were faster than I was. All of the eggs, salami, crackers, coffee and sugar had been used up, the muesli bars were to follow for lunch. Lent some string to Ines so that she could attach her glasses to something (she had lost one of her contacts), and the string was returned later in the day. I had all of my stuff packed up so that I required only one trip to the boat, and exchanged a word or two with Boyd about my upcoming hike of the Matemateaonga for which he offered me to stay the night @ Tieke. Will try.
I had tried recharging the “dead” batteries with what was left on the powerbank and hoped I had enough power for today, even though they weren’t full. Today’s plan was to get as far as Ngaporo and see what the final rapids might do to the gimbal, have a break there and decide about further deployment. Read more…
Monday, February 18: Cloudy to begin with, becoming hot & sunny
Kayaking: 20.2 km
Walking: 5.2 km
Tieke Kainga Marae (Doc, $32)
I had woken up once at around 1:00 and the one set of AA batteries had been charged completely. I then saw to it that the other set went into the charger. Apart from that, the combination of airbed + leaky pillow worked a small percentage of the time. Even though I was in the sleeping bag it did feel cold, although I myself was quite warm. In any case got some sleep and awoke around 6:30 to birdsong and the humming of wasps.
All the food was gradually disappearing & breakfast was quickly dealt with. Then the long trek with the stuff down to the boat, and getting ready to go. Everything worked as planned and I was quite proud of my start before 9:00. Progress was also quite rapid and I was a little surprised when “The Rock” turned up, complete with a cyclist awaiting his jet boat on top. It was much larger than what I had in memory, and much more daunting. How those dozens of Canadians managed to moor here is beyond imagination. Anyway I wanted to do the right thing and disembark at Mangapurua Stream. Had to find it first, it was perhaps a little further than the 500 m mentioned elsewhere. Anyway I was up the creek, and there was a nice landing place where I didn’t need to tie up the boat. Decided I would do some brackets of the Bridge to Nowhere, that meant dismantling the gimbal & tripod (good practice) and with lunch in the bag I set off first for the landing where I had a chat with the cyclist, and then to the Bridge itself. Quite a long walk, but fun anyway. Went to the lookout and took a couple of shots, then onto the bridge. Shots from either side, then lunch as two couples, one German, the other Belgian, then a whole troop of tourists including our cyclist arrived for their lunch with a tour guide.
Slide Show
Click on the image to stop/start the animation
A couple of brackets from the bridge were taken as well, then I was back along the path to the stream. By the way, the sidetrack between the stream and the main track is marked as closed (under construction) and had two very steep step sections more like ladders that had to be taken backwards on the way down. Noticed the jetboat (source of the tour guide & tourists) moored at the mouth of the stream, then set about getting my equipment working on the boat again. Boat had to be dragged a little way to the river, then I was set to go.
Youtube Video
The river here is less vigorous, and the sweeping amphitheaters give way to milder hills. Was overtaken by three jetboats and at the first sight of real farmland (some banks look like they could be or were once used for grazing) Tieke turned up, and I was the first arrival. No sign of anyone present, although cleaning devices for the floor were propped up here and there and all the windows were open. Sent off a spot OK to Gavin, then flicked through some of the pictures. Stability looks good, contrast is quite high, position is also quite good. Dragged all of my stuff up except the tent and at 3:45 claimed a bunk and started today’s chores, which involved airing the sleeping bag, drying some sox and undies, and starting on the diary.
OpenStreetMap
Easy paddling day and a brief walk to Nowhere. GPS quality: 30/30, coverage: 100%
In the meantime the Belgian couple arrived, and bit later the warden, Boyd, who is quite a source of pseudoscientific folklore (Kangen water). Will now see about photographing the faces on the tekoteko before dinner.
More people arrived and Boyd put them all (!) into the dormitories instead of tents, so tents were dried and packed up again. He also provided a powhiri of sorts around 6:00 with little speeches of his own in Te Reo & English, then asked us to contribute a word or two & I took the lead by telling everyone about the birds that I had seen along the way and nearly everyone else followed suite. It was getting quite late for dinner, but mine (rice, instant noodles & tomato for a change) took only twenty minutes and was just as quickly consumed. Chatted away with Manfred and his wife from Zürich and am now fully considering a plan for tomorrow. One set of batteries was marked as “dead” although they must have been full, so the first step apart from boiling water will be to see what happens when I put them into the powerbank again. Then I need a shooting plan and a rapids plan for tomorrow.
Sunday, February 17: Fog very early in the morning lifting to patchy cloud; quite warm & sunny by the afternoon
Kayaking: 22.8 km
Mangawaiiti Campground (Doc, $20)
Sleep was more fragmented last night; don’t quite know why. The pillow has a(nother) hole in it and the mattress is barely comfortable. Went through the stages of lying on the sleeping bag, lying under it, and then finally in it, and just after 6:00 it was bright enough to get up, have breakfast, and get packed, long before Ross & Sasha were up and about.
Technical challenge of the day was to get the camera shooting @ zoom 6 (35 mm/52°), then to get rawopint started. First, the gimbal had to be ready except for the batteries; camera, camera mount & screw ready to go. Second, get into the life jacket and spray skirt. Third, start the camera, set the zoom, switch to rawopint, attach the camera to the gimbal, level. Doing this I discovered that the camera height screw on the gimbal was loose, and had to be tightened. Now the tricky part: If the boat is level on the ground the next stage can be done there, otherwise the boat has to be put into the water. Next, put the batteries into the gimbal, activate it and switch to “follow” mode, & finally start the camera shooting. Today’s shooting was @ M size to fit more onto the card. Read more…
Saturday, February 16: The valley and surrounds were covered in fog which soon lifted; a couple of clouds, otherwise hot & sunny, stronger easterlies
Kayaking: 25.8 km
Ohauora Campiste (Doc, $20)
It seemed like no one wanted to go to bed last night until I suggested closing the windows to the bunkroom, then we were all tucked in for what was going to be a cold night after all.
And no one seemed willing to get up until it was well & truly light after 7:00. I started boiling some water then taking some photos of the fog enshrouded environs. Within a while all were up and about, Geraint & Paulina were going to call it a day because of Geraint’s cold, Kikki and Julian wanted breakfast in the Blue Duck Café. When you think of it, $4 for a shower, $20 for the meal and whatever it was that breakfast cost, it was a fairly good deal. Read more…
