Rachel Grindlay

It had been a while since we’d done a multi-day walk, but once you’ve done a few the food planning comes pretty naturally. NZ provides some challenge in that we couldn’t bring home-dehydrated meals which had any meat in them. Tom had whipped up a delicious Moroccan vegetable stew which Customs let in.

We walked the Wangapeka Track from West to East. This meant we had a 4 hour drive to get dropped off at the Little Wanganui end of the track. We were somewhat nervous as there was a fair bit of rain forecast and there are a lot of creek and river crossings to be negotiated. We didn’t really want to walk back out to the West and have to repeat the 4 hour drive.

Day 1 took us to Belltown-Mananui Hut.

The track was pretty overgrown so we were wet by the time we got to the hut even though the rain wasn’t overly heavy.

It was a warm night and I was unsure if I had brought the wrong sleeping bag. Unfortunately the hut had mossies in it, so I had a sweaty night hiding in my sleeping bag.

The forecast had been for a clear morning with rain developing so we were walking by 7am (long days meant it was getting light at 5am). This was our longest day – getting to Taipo Hut around 3pm. While there was a reasonable climb up to Little Wanganui Saddle the most challenging part of the day was some of the terrain along the Little Wanganui River which was pretty slow going.

 

 

The cloud descended suddenly while we were having morning tea at the Wangapeka Bivvy – unfortunately I didn’t take a photo of the view on arrival, and there was nothing but cloud to see by the time we set off again.

And so we arrived at the saddle (we thought) in thick cloud. I knew there was meant to be some tarns but we couldn’t see anything.

 

Until suddenly the edge of a lake slowly appeared as I focussed on what I could see through the cloud.

If Tom hadn’t been dawdling we probably would have missed any views, as suddenly the cloud started lifting.

For about 10 minutes we got some views, before abruptly being covered in cloud again.

We pushed on to Stag Flat Bivvy for lunch. Glad to be able to get into a dry space to eat.

Before arriving at Taipo Hut at 3pm – at exactly the same time as a Melbourne family walking the track in the opposite direction. The verandah was not very well designed for multiple people getting out of wet gear at the same time. This was the only night we shared a hut in the 5 nights we were out – it was also the largest hut so that was convenient timing.

We had hoped to get up onto the tops somewhere in the later part of the trip, but the weather wasn’t really conducive to a high camp. So we headed for Helicopter Flag Hut for night 3.

There were a few fixed chains along the track – some sections which would have been dodgy going without them.

Tom convinced me we should take detour to see Saxon Falls. It seemed reasonable to expect the Saxon Falls Track might take one near Saxon Falls, but they were illusively out of sight. We settled with our only outdoor lunch of the trip on the river.

 

 

 

 

 

We had morning tea next to the Karamea River where we got our first sightings of the rare Whio. There were 4 – seemed to be parents and 2 adolescents. We were privileged to watch them make their way up stream for about 15 minutes.

 

On our way up towards Wangapeka Saddle I spotted a deer and we followed foot prints along the track for quite a way. Wangapeka Saddle had no views and it was completely tree clad, which made it a pleasant enough lunch spot since there was some escape from the wind.

There was plenty of beech forest growth. Possibly a result of a masting event.

That night it poured with rain. I woke to a large bang and wondered if half the hillside had fallen off. It was only when lighting lit up the hut a couple of seconds later I realised the bang was thunder. It rumbled above us before heading down the valley. We were very snug in the hut – and I was very glad of my warm sleeping bag. After night 1 there had been no issues with being too hot!

By early morning the rain had cleared. I almost forced Tom out of bed so we could do a side-trip up Mt Luna. But I figured with the volume of rain overnight, even with the clear day, it was unlikely to be good conditions for a foray up to the tops. As it turned out we may not have even been able to cross the river to get to the Mt Luna track! Instead we slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, and left the hut around 11am.

We lost the track fairly early on and found ourselves walking through a flooded creek – fortunately re-finding the track fairly quickly! That said much of the track was flowing.

 

 

It was only a short section to get to Kings Creek Hut and the day had somewhat cleared by the time we arrived, but I was grateful we didn’t have to go any further.

Our final day was the only fine one of the trip. It was nice to finally see some views and blue sky.

 

Our transport provider had advised us shortly before the trip that they didn’t think they would be able to cross the Dart Ford to pick us up. That meant we had an extra 8km walk along the road to meet them. That was the worst 8km of the trip – neither of us big fans of road walking and my new boots didn’t agree with at all. Fortunately we were able to cross the Dart Ford, and we did see a Pajero get across – but anything less powerful would have struggled. From there it was a 1.5 hour drive back to Nelson for a shower and dry feet!

Despite the weather I enjoyed the trip. It had a really remote feel to it – no doubt aided by us only seeing 2 other groups on the track.

It has been a trip which had morphed and changed multiple times. Seemingly quite a lot of angst for nothing, since Vivien was the only one who signed up for the trip in the end. Well, and Tom, by default, but then he pulled out two days before. To cancel? To do something else? To do the planned overnight route? To do the original overnight trip as a day trip? Eventually we settled on my original route but converted to a day trip, using bikes to get between the start and end.

The day didn’t start off so well. After picking up Vivien and entering the Gore Hill Freeway on a different entry to usual I ended up going over the bridge rather than taking the Cahill. After 20 minutes of snaking our way across the city we were eventually back on the M1. No further dramas and we were soon parked at the end of the walk. Riding through the back roads of Woodlands was quite pleasant, the occasional sandy section of road keeping us honest, and an exhilarating downhill (top speed 56.1 km/h) before turning off and ditching the bikes in the bush near the Boxvale Tramway Trail. It was then I realised with my keenness to get going after out slightly late arrival I had forgotten to put on sunscreen back at the car.

Surprisingly, given our city detour, we were walking at 9:05am. The air lacking the crispness it had on my previous Boxvale trip. We were just pleased to be away from Sydney after 36°C day yesterday, and another hot one forecast for today. It wasn’t long till we were tackling the steep incline – silence reigned as we concentrated hard on the descent. At the Nattai it was time for new territory – I’d gone upstream previously, so downstream was a mystery. While never particularly hard going there was quite a lot of climbing over small boulders and route finding through the vegetated banks.

The nature of the river changed after morning tea (and the junction with Drapers Creek). I was now back on previously visited territory. The walking was very pleasant – sections of rocky slabs, interspersed with open, slightly rocky, banks. Vivien and I picked our own routes as we criss-crossed our way downstream. Being just the two of us we made pretty good time, scrambling when we felt like it – whether it was to avoid a vegetated bank or just because it looked like fun!

There were a few waterfalls along the way and some nice pools (if you didn’t look too deep and see the algae).

We made it to my intended lunch spot about 1:15pm, and learning from morning tea, we immediately had a swim. The forecast wind suddenly picked up while we were having lunch so Vivien almost had to have a second swim after some of his stuff ended up in the pool. After a few minutes of holding down my slices of cheese and other assorted bits and pieces the strongest gusts died off.

We headed back upstream, found our exit creek and surprisingly quickly we were over Mt Waratah.

Back at the cars around 3:30pm, and having to collect the bikes on the way out, meant we were a bit late for the cafes in Mittagong. Fortunately the RSL does a decent selection of sweet treats so we didn’t miss out. A great day out.
Wildlife count – 3 red belly black snakes, 2 lyrebirds, 2 black piglets, plenty of skinks, water dragons and darters.

The October long weekend has had many great, if somewhat tough, trips over the last few years. Longer daylight hours, hopefully not too hot, perfect for getting a walk with a bit of ridge and a bit of creek. This year was no different. I’d been angling to go to this area for years, but with the installation of a locked gate adding a 13km fire trail bash Tom was never really that keen. I must have got him at a weak point this year, though he did meddle with my route so we didn’t have to do the full fire trail twice. Day 1 we were on the go from 8am – 5:30pm, Day 2 we base camped and did 2 expeditions for a couple of hours each, Day 3 was another long day on the go from 8am – 5:30pm (or 7am – 4:30pm for those still running on pre-daylight savings time). Members of SBW can read my full trip report in the magazine.

Coming up with new trips for the Club Program takes time, and for once I decided a repeat trip was in order. I’d led the same route in 2017 and thought it was good enough to do again without 10 years in between. Plus I figured there’s a limited time before the vegetation in the Nattai River recovers from the floods so best to get as much walking in while it’s relatively open and easy-going! After a very dry winter coastal NSW got 3 days of consecutive rain in the week leading up to the trip. More rain was forecast for the weekend which wasn’t ideal, but fortunately for us (maybe not so much for the environment) the forecast totals had shrunk to negligible levels by the day before.

So we set off at 8:30am from the car park, treading the section of fire trail which I have now walked several times since my first visit in 2016. Other than Tom the rest of the party hadn’t really walked in the area so I was glad I had included the side-trip out to Ahearn Lookout. The low cloud had lifted by the time we got out there for morning tea. The rock pools were full from the recent rain.

A delightful stand of orchids attracted our attention on the descent to the Nattai. With several keen photographers in the party I think there would have been a mutiny if I hadn’t allowed us to stop for a closer look!

We were most surprised to find an orange tree growing in the river bank. It was laden with fruit until Onni went fruit-picking.

The clouds had started to look a little ominous as we prepared to ascend Russells Needle. Fortunately there were only a few light splotches, not enough to make any of the rock slippery. The tape stayed in my bag as everyone handled the route up confidently. Though not everyone felt the need to attain the true summit.

Keen to avoid drinking the Nattai we headed up the side-creek to see if there was water about. With the frog chorus echoing around us we figured it was only a matter of time before we came across some water! We found quite a few reasonable sized pools and filled up. Curiosity not quenched we then went for a further explore upstream with ideas for future exploring being thrown around.

The campsite that we’d used in 2017 seemed a little damp so we headed back downstream to an earlier spot. Of course it was right on arrival that the only reasonable rain for the day arrived. Rather than sit it out we all got our tents up only for the rain to stop pretty much as soon as we’d finished.

It rained between 6-7am but then cleared which I was glad of as a morning of rock-hopping is much better when the rocks are dry! Though as it turned out, maybe because we were coming off the back of Winter, some of the sections were exceedingly slippery regardless.

I hadn’t spent a lot of looking at timings, or comments, for the previous trip, as my memory was it had all been pretty straight forward.

Rocky Waterholes Creek started much the way I remembered – flat with lots of small-ish rocks to hop along. We made good time and the conjecture around the fire the night before about today looking like it could be a short day seemed on point.

But then the rocks started getting bigger. The route-finding and scrambling got harder. I didn’t really remember the house-sized boulders. (though on checking my previous trip report I do mention them). Our pace slowed considerably. Onni had decided very early on to go for the barefoot option, I was surprised to see he maintained his barefeet almost the entire way up the creek. It did mean he could move more directly up the creek as the rest of us were trying to keep our feet dry.

There were plenty of beautiful pools and Onni even had a swim!

The junction with Iron Creek seemed to take an age to get to. We had thought to have morning tea there but at 11am I decided we just needed to stop junction or not.

Eventually we made it to our exit side-creek and we had lunch. Tom recalled the route Alan had led us up last time and we were quickly through the exposed section. We bashed out to the ridge a bit earlier which brought us out near the end of the fire trail which saved a bit of time. Most of us headed out to the end of the ridge to Fingers Lookout. I discovered the logbook (well single A4 piece of paper in a jar) which I had missed on the earlier trip.

From there it was just an hour or so back to the car, but probably the most painful of the trip despite it being technically the easiest! I think we were all feeling the full-on two days we’d had, in particular the full body workout in Rocky Waterholes Creek, and were glad to get back to the cars at 5:30pm. A great weekend with a great group.

The only surprise at that point was when Alex asked Tom & I if we were wearing our driving shirts. I had no idea what he was talking about until I came around the side of the car to find that Tom & I had packed the same shirts to change into. How embarrassing!