tramping new zealand

I’ve been away from my car, civilisation for a week now, and other than meeting a hunter briefly on the first day, I hadn’t seen anyone in that time. A helicopter did a flyby just after I left the gas bottle clearing, so I might have just missed hitching a ride. But there was no easy ride out for me. Just hope my car hasn’t been broken into or set on fire.

I spent some time doing a circuit behind my campsite and found an old, rusted fry pan and pot hanging in a tree near a likely spot for the miner campsite on a flat area just up the hill and right by some running water. It would have had considerably more sunlight than the campsite I’ve been using adjacent to the noisy creek. But other than the sandflies, it was a great spot to perch for a night.

Once again, I was slow to move off with a pack on my back, but today I had vowed to avoid track chopping. However, when I got to the top of the first hill, it was unclear where to go, as the track was overgrown with mountain beech saplings and lacked markers.

So, out with the snips and 20 minutes later, a clear path was evident. No markers required, and my secateurs were back in my pack.

This meant that by the time I reached Rough and Tumble Creek, it was time for a late lunch, and I hadn’t even gone 1 km in a straight line.

I thought the next section to Jacob‘s Ladder would be faster, and the track is now pretty good, but again, when it came time to drop down the slope, I kept sidling on a deer path and then took half an hour to realise that the steep, clear section was in fact the track.

To be honest, it now takes me twice as long to descend as it does to climb with my bad knee. This was starting to signal to me that it was almost time to stay on well-maintained tracks.

When I got to the ladder part of Jacob‘s Ladder once again, I lowered my pack on a rope ahead of me. Have to say it felt good to be at the crossing of the unnamed creek coming down the hill at an alarming rate. That’s steepness, not water-wise.

I followed the old NZFS trail through the forest for a while and then resorted to an old-fashioned bush bash through the area I had hoped, once, to reinstate. It’s much easier on a track rather than boulder hopping up a steep creek over car-sized boulders.

Anyway, for a few reasons, it was 6 pm when I emerged from the bush onto the well-anticipated gravel bed of Burn Creek. Faster going for once, and I needed to go fast with so many sandflies about. Swarms. I’ve seldom encountered them so thick in the air, but it encouraged movement.

After a while, I checked the progress on my Topo map app and hadn’t come far at all. I realised this section could take hours, and I’d be running out of light, so I even started looking for a campsite despite the sandflies. Not long after, I checked again and found I’d made enormous progress. In fact, I was just opposite where you can scoot through the forest on the old NZFS track.

Yahoo! Time to scuttle.

It was easy-going right down to the Matakitaki River.

I was starting to have an overwhelming thought. Friday night. Just before the holidays.

I did have a fear of hunters down on the grassy river flats doing their thing, and possibly having a ping at a fast-moving target through the shrubbery.

Martin had spoken about how he had crossed the big river just a bit down, and I had a look. It was a flat section of the river where I could at least see the bottom. The river level seemed similar to what I had crossed a week before, so I undid my belt and chest buckles on my pack, packed all electronics away, and found my undies had a good rinsing.

Nevertheless, I was now on the official Bobs/East Matakitaki Hut track, which had its moments but was easy enough to follow in the gathering gloom. I needed to take out my headtorch for the last 20 minutes.

Just before the hut, I heard a petrol motor, and we arrived there at about the same time. Hunters, but of the unsuccessful kind, were having a second night at Downie.

I found a level spot in the dark for my tent.

Man, it had been a day.

As soon as the tent was up, I slid into my sleeping bag, ate a bunch of nuts and a muesli bar, skipped the dehydrated meal, and was soon asleep.

Bliss.