Rees-Dart, 1959/60

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REES-DART, 1959/60 December 25th, 8 p.m., and 17 T. & the sunshine, with chess and '500' to M.'s-Don Jeffs, Leon Sondej, Nick the fore. More energetic bods attack- Jennings, Bill Tidswell, Brian Hunt, ed the neighbouring slopes of Fergu- Julian Pemberton, Kevin Griffiths, son, Clarke and Earnslaw with vary- Alan Dyer, Harold Trask, Derek Fine- ing ferocity; Harold and Derek sought Jill Gledstone, Mary Find'ay, meat for the pot. At this camp we Sohh de Bruyne, Sid Smith, Ron Fayle, were frequently inspected by hover- Don Patterson and Alex Johnson- ing zits and bumble-bees. boarded the Hinemoa' on the first On the afternoon of Wednesday, stage of the journey south to the the 30th, Nick and Bill pushed on to Rees and Dart Valleys at the head Snowy Saddle to do some climbing of Lake Wakatipu. At'5 p.m. next from the Dart side, while Don and day we arrived at Queenstown after Alex camped in Kea Basin before a day-long bus trip through Canter- climbing Earns'aw the next day. New bury and the Mackenzie Country. Year's Eve will be remembered by Most of us camped at the motor camp the large economy-size fire engineerwhere the local peasantry were great- ed by Brian to let 1960 know we were ly entertained by our quaint little expecting it. tents. The day was rounded off by an Friday, January 1, saw us camped enjoyable lake. evening's boating on the in two separate parties just on the Rees side of Snowy Saddle. One half Reluctantly we tore ourselves had arrived there by the simple away next morning, and trave'led to cedure of following a track, but the Glenorchy at the head of the lake, rest decided that this was too easy, on the Earnslaw'. Transport to the and by a remarkable piece of bush start of the Rees Valley Track was navigation managed to spend most of by truck, and inspite of generous the day getting to the saddle. The financial offers to take the truck fur- antics of keas were observed and ther up the valley, we found we were photographed at this camp site, and actually tramping by about 1 p.m. we were indebted to Leon for his two- With large-size packs, after two stick model furnace for cooking. Durhours we said, "That's enough of ing the night 'Hughie' sent it down, that," and pitched camp by Invin- compete with light and sound effects, cible Creek, where the daily ration and it was a rather wet and beof 6 barley sugars and slab of choco- draggled crowd that surveyed the late was issued. This was to become scene the next morning. an important daily ritual. From here The nearest the on, in the Rees and Dart, we were early and party had a cold time saddle left usually awoken around 5 a.m. by their along the left finding hordes of small, persistent flying way bank of Draculas. Snowy Creek to Dart Hut, but after navigating bluffs and bush they fin- Monday, the 28th, and a string of ally arrived there and were hot thawed bods were struggling manfully out by Nick, Bill, and some Rees kindly along the River flats; every now Tararuas. The rest waited in their and then they sank to the ground in nice damp pits until about 10.30, some shady place and soaked when 'Hughie' called it off, and then water, barley 'cancer rabes! we moved on over the saddle. We and the view of ofipape peaks further up knew that it was necessary to cross the valley. At Arthur Creek a Snowy Creek, and we soon found a tramper-type lunch, consumed in leis- line of cairns indicating a crossing urely fashion, and then the party place. It was impossible to cross here, moved on to camp near the junction however, because of the recent rain, of Hunter Creek and the Rees River. so after waiting three hours for the In addition to a permanent Alpine creek to drop about a foot, Brian was Club camp, the Tararuas were camp- attached to a couple of ropes and ed across the river from us. thrust into the torrent, but just fail- At Hunter Creek there followed ed to make the other side. Feeling three days of glorious sallubing in rather cold and bitter now, we re- traced our steps, but fortunately Times: Transport to Invincible found a more suitable crossing place Creek, 2 hours; Invincible Creek to higher up. After climbing high above Hunter Creek, 5 hours; Hunter Creek a bluff we descended sharply to the to Snowy Saddle camp, 4-7 hours(?); Snowy Creek bridge near Dart Hut, Snowy Saddle camp to Dart Hut, 4 where an honourable Tararua greet- hours; Dart Hut to Cattle Flats, 21 ed us with the welcome news that hours; Cattle Flats to Paradise, 10 "Tongue and Meats have got the hut." hours. This was a good opportunity to dry ALEX JOHNSON out and top and tail on the Otago model double bunks. * * * Sunday, the 3rd, was spent sallub-