Havelock River to the Garden of Eden

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HAVELOCK TO THE PLUNT R VER VIA THE GARDEN OF EDENO After finally getting away from Ashburton about 6 pomo, seven hours behind schedule and into the bargain being called newspaper boys (while we were waiting for our means of transport outside the Ashburton railway station, somebody had the cheek to ask us if we sold newspapers), we really thought we had started our holidayo When we were about three quarters of an hour from the end of the road, we came across a couple of Canadian geese and six goslings. Of course, 98 soon as the driver saw these, he threw out the anchor and before we knew where we were we were all chasingaagosling each, except Snow who was a bit greedy - he had two to his credito We kept a couple for ourselves and the driver took the rest. He left his alive. He reckoned that when they were a bit older they went down better. When we last saw them, they were squawking their heads off. I don' blame them either - being strung to a power pole upside down is no funo The driver was going to collect them on his way back if he remembereu where he left themo We arrived at the end of the road about 8.45 pomos just in time to get changed and across the Clyde River before it got darko If Pete's and Snow's white hats didn't improve their looks, they did make it a lot easier for us to pick each other up in the half 1i nt, if we became separated as we went up the river bedo e dragged ourselves into the forks hut about 9.30 Pomo By this time we had realized we hadn't a sack offeathers on our backso The long twilight in the South Island is a big advantage when you're out tramping, as you don't have to use a torch till about 9.30 pomo Next day was spent in carrying our gear up to the Eric Bivy on Agony Islando If it wasn't for the view of the peaks as we went up the river brd the valley would have been very uninte. es ing ne there is eny littlebush in the district, but 7 thint the occacional tin of beer that Snow seemed to bring 1 "rom norhere nade up for the Lon of bushe During the fir : tvO day 3 we spent in the biv, ,the weather was too bad to do 3 cli inr, S when it Wadal 1 raining we made ourselves usefu. y eattilio in t good uyply of woodo The day we climbed Swo" i, we were up about 2 aomo and away by 3 a.me The route 4 took was up the Havelock River for about twu onrs or to where the river starts to go through a piece of gorge, then up a ridge which brought us on to the main range between Sword and Rakin, and from there we followed the main range Oil to 80:3, Time passed very, quickly from the river to the top of the ranre, for if we weren't admiring the view, we were amusing our. es by chasing chamoiso It wasn't as if we ever got very close to them, but we quite often got within a stone's throw and when we did we really made them move, as only a charois can move on rock. The route from the top of the ridge to Sword is quite steep and the snow conditions we experienced, made this ridge climbable only in the early part of the dayo From Sword we crossed over to Milne Peak, but finding it too hard to descend the way we wanted to, we retraced our steps to the foot of Sword and glissaded most of the way down a glacier to the Eric Streamo A couple of days later, we packed up rour days supplies with the intention of climbing D'Archiac and making our camp that night at the junction of the South and North Forbes stream. On our way down the Havelocr to the Forbes River,, the weather became so bad that when we arrived at the cullers' camp on Mistake Flats, we talke ourselves into staying there the nighto We were very glad wG did, beaause the next day was just as bad. Even when we did make our anp at the junction of the South ad North Forbes, we had a couple of days raino This left us with only marching rations for thenext dayo But our luck was in, or so we thought, for we woke up about 12.30 aomo on our last day there, to find the sky clearing of cloud. At 1.40 aomo, we were on our way up the South Forbes stream, By the time we reached the glacier, we had the helping hand of the moon which made cverything look like sonotling you dream about but never see. The route we took on D'Archiac, lay up the South Forbes Glacier, then to the right, up the icefall between the Onlooker and D'Archiac until ve reached the top of the main range which we followed until we were a couple of hundred feet from the topo Unfortunately, owing to bad weather, we had to turn backo Climbing up an icefall is a worthwhile experience. As well as being interesting and ( vasionally hair raising, some of the schrunas were so asep we ccuran't see the bottom of themo Ca our a down the east ride of D'Archiac, the wind was blow. 30 ha 7, tat it was dirf.calt to stand upright as well as it -ing haid U h. 7 the suinon on the other end of the rope. We all neated up another 200 when we started down the icefall. It was more difficult going, but at least we were sheltered from the Nor' Wester. Schrunds hich were quite difficult to cross on the way L.'s were crosseu easily py jumping over them on our downward jouri By 6 pollo ve were back at our camp, and having no food left, except some rolled oats, we packed camp and made for the Eric IVy, arriving a little over three hours later. Next day being Chrisuma day, and as we were on fairly light rations for the last our days, all we did was eat from the time we got up till the time we went to bed. For Christmas dinner we had scones, biscuits, stew, tinned fruit, plum pudding, dried apples, brandy and coffee. Of course, it was a two hour meal and by the time we had rinished, it was an effort to move aroundo Boxing day was another fine day and not wanting to stay on the East Coast all the time, we thought we would make the best of the fine weather while we had ito At half past nine, we were trudging up the headwaters of the Havelock River with supplies for seven days on our backs. Snow even remembered to bring his climbing rope this time. We started to get really worried over him onceo The four of us were about two hours away from one of our camps, when Snow suddenly decided he could climb a lot better with a rope, so he had a little bit of extra walking that day. By the time we reached the Havelock Glacier, the sun was well up in the sky, which made going up the glacier like crossing a bowling g1 een that was working overtime. hen we arrived at Disappointment Saddle we thought ourselves expe rt at dodging falling rocks. Snow and John had reached the saddle about ten minutes before Peter and I and it wasn't long before they gave us one of the best drinks I've ever tastedo It wasn't chilled beer either, but hot, sweet, black cofree. From Disapgointment Saddle, we sidled upwards around Outram and Schrund Peak to small gut in the main range which was to the north of Schrund Peak and about 100 feet lowero From here we had our first view of the Garden of Edeno This consists of a snow plateau about a mile wide by six miles long and nearly dead flat, except for a two to three hundred feet bump in the midale. One side of it falls into the Perth River in a series of ice falls, while the other side makes the base of ome very rarely limbed peakso Half way across, the mist Come downupon us, and it was a gi at censation walking across the plateau ed only being able to Fe a few "ee aw y from you. scif, espec ally if you let your nagi natic. run awaye About half past eight the mist started to clear. It was about time too, as we had already wasted abou half an hour C3 well as a iut of energy, looking for the ririt glacier to ie downo If we had been an hour later in Jecting that morning, we would never have got off the Garden that dayo As it was, we had to sleep just a little below the terminal face of the Adverse Glaciero The next day saw us doing some of the hardest bush pushing we had ever done. Leat cmood lasn't a patch on the West Coast scrubo In places, we were lucky if we were doing half a mile an hour. From Adverse Creek to Scone Creek, the Perth River is one mass of huge boulders and deep poolso To make matters worse, the scrub hangs right over the watero From Scone Creek out to the road, the going is reasonably easy, with a cattle track all the way from the hut just above Hughes Creeki It took Us four days to come from the Eric Biwy to the road which is fairly good time, hut this was due only to the fine weather we had on the West Coast. Now we were out on the road, we had visions of our dreams coming true. All we talked about while we were away, was food and what we vere going to eat when we reached civilizatione of course, the fair sex occasionally came into the coiversation, but not very often. On the night of the 29th we celebrated the end of a very enjoyable climbing trip in the Whataroa Hotel. Tom Lawton.