Holdsworth - Totara Flats

Machine-read text (unproofread)

Read from the scans by software, so it contains mistakes. Typing it up properly would help blind readers: use Suggest an edit.

HOLDSTORTH = TOTARA FLATS. Friday, September 1ath, a fine night and with the transport leaving at the usual time, nineteen bodies left for Bannister on what was to be the last working party on Mountain House. We arrived at Bannister to find that we were first there, so we bagged a bunk and got settled down for the night. Saturday dawned quite bright and the main party got off to a fairly respectable start up to Mountain House. There was a little bit of timber and odds ana ends to go up which were soon dealt witho Denis and I wanted to go dow.1 to Totara Flats, so after struggling up Gentle Annie with many groans, we dumped our packs at the turnoff on the edge of Pig Flats and went on to have a look at Mountain House and drop a piece of timber that Denis was carrying. I almost collected a black eye from this while trying to miss the mud in one place. At the hut, work was in full swing and the place looked very nice. We stayed long enough to have a brew that was going and for me to borrow Tom's mug, (someone had taken a liking to mine at Bannister and I couldn't find it)o By this time the weather was looking pretty good, 8o we set off for Totara Flats. AS you can imagine the track across Pig Flats was in a dreadful mess after so many bods had passed over it and we had a wonderful time slipping and. sliding across ito The top part of the Totara Flats track was almost as bad and being steep we Tound it quite hard to stay on our feeto We were down to the creek in just under an hour and then began to look for a spot in the sun to have lunch, the main difficulty being that the sun hau gone in and a drizzly rain was fallingo The fire was very stubborn and took ages to get going, all the wood around being thoroughly weto After much perseverance on Denis's part, we had a brewo By this time, the rain was really making us quite wet so there was no point in lingering very longo I had never been to Totara Flats before and Denis had not been over this track, so we didn't quite know how much further we had to go and found the track very pretty and interesting. Half an hour on from our lunch spot took us to the Waiohine river bank. The weather had brightened up again and it was very close so the water did not feel unduly coldo The river was not up at all and it was quite easy to get acrosso The hut was empty except for the gear of two shooters, so we set about getting in some wood and before long the party of nine Tararua members, who we were expecting to see, turned upo They had come through Tauherenikau and over Cone Saddle. As you can imagine, with thirteen in the Hut, it was quito cosy that night, Quite an exciting time was had by all, chasing a rat which was very bold and would insist on running up the side of the bunk while I was lying on my sack waiting for the stew to cook. I was on the edge of the bunk and had visions of finding myself in the middle by mor.ing, if he persisted in coming up like a jack-in-the-box all night. After several attempts with axes and knives, the men succeeded in scaring him off and I slept so well that I don't know if he came back or not On Sunday morning, most of us went up the gorge for a scramble. It certainly was a scramble tooo We saw a deer quite close and some goats far up on the other side of the gorge and when we went down to the river level, saw some very nice looking trout. I must remember to carry a bent pin next time I go over there. It was a glorious day and hot in the suno The shooters left first and then Denis and I at about eleven o'clocko The Tararuas said they would be leaving about middayo We canght up with the shooters after a while. One of them, cuite an elderly man, was greeting another (who had just come through from Bannister) with great enthusiasm and when talking to him later, he told us that this was an old schoo friend, whom he had only seen about half a dozen times since leaving school. It just goes to show, you never know who you will meet next in the busho

At the foot of the steepest part of the track we sat down to have our lunch. Our fire was much quicker to burn this time and we shared it with the shooters. The tararuas caught up with us while we were there, but did not stop very longo By the time we started up the hill we were the last in the line. The climb up to Pig Flats was very wearying and hot, but we made it and dumped our packs again and went off to Mountain House to see what progress had been made over the weekend. The hut was looking very spick and spano Nicely painted, including the roof and almost set for the opening. We didn't stay long and started off to Bannister, We took the track down to Donnelly's Flat instead of Gentle Annie. I had never been down the Donnelly's track before, 8o enjoyed going over new groundo I am quite convinced that it is much easier than Gentle Annie. Back at Bannister, we had a wash and change and then a little more sun until the truck was ready to leave, this time with twenty four bods on board, having had a few arrivals over the weekende So another weekend came to an end and although we had good weather all the time, which was quite a change in itself, I think it must have been the muddiest weckend a lot of people have had in a long time. Hazel Jordano