Echoes of a Wangapeka Easter

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ECHOES OF A WANGAPEKA EASTER Robert Cross I dreamt insects were devouring my face and awoke to find it was true. We werelyingingrass: beneath beechtrees. Dawn was breaking. Thesandfieswere welcoming US to the South Island. of North West Nelson to be exact. Harry Smith, Roger Bolam, Eric Blumhardt, Matthew Craig, Charles Allison, andlwerecontinuingt theEaster tradition of foolhardy trips requiring nightmarish travel. Half of the worst wasover, butifwesurvivedthenextfour days wet faced Ferryll - The Returning. A clear sky and the obvious beauty of the Wangapeka Valley were incentives to start early. We were soon up doing the Milford haka and applying repellent. Morale was good until we discovered we'dt been dropped off miles from the roadend. John Reid Hut Harry Smith By the time we set off across the Dart Ford the sun was strong and there was Staircase' TrackintothetopofBlued Creek views of Tasman Bay, the Mt Arthur ageneral air of pissed-off resignation. Gorge. Inthiso deepravined dwelt ancient Range, and nearby Mt Patriach. It was Who would pick up six trampers with stillness and silence - until riven by late afternoon, and after some conpacks on a gravel road to nowhere? Roger Bolam. His thunderous roars fused deliberations we decidedtocamp produced amazing echoes and caused beside: somer nearbytarns. Further con- Nelson's Waimea Tramping Club. We small rock slides. fusion aboutwhich wasMtOwen finally hadn't gone far when a car and a ute led to Harry, Eric, Charles, andl striking stopped. They took US to Courthouse FurtherupBluet Creek Gorget the vegeta- out for our best pick. Roger had self- Flat, where once there'd been the be- tion took a bizarre turn. We entered lesslyvolunteeredi tot forego the climbin ginningsofatown, andnowthereisjust groves of dwarf forest; huge trunked case members of the Mongrel Mob's aFlat. Back in the 1870s gold fever hit Dracophyllum traversii with their pine- Airborne Division, attractedbyt theradar the Wangapeka when massive quartz apple-type leaves and equally weird signature of Charles's six-pack, dereefs were discovered. Rumours of a Olearialacunosaand.Hoheriaglabrata scendedin choppers andmade offwith mother-load made hundreds spend Imagine walking into a Dr Zeuss book, our gear. Matthew stayed behind to fruitless years looking. Remnants of you'll get the picture. As we climbed, mind Roger. their folly litter the area. thist fantasia eventually gaver wayt to the more familiar tussock and spaniard. Harry's compassindicated that ar rather We farewelled the Waimeas after getshabby rockpile far lessi imposing than ting advice about routes, wasps, and At Granity Passl Hut wel had lunch in the othert bits oft fthe massif was actually the water. Our objective was Mt Owen sun, gazing up at the impressive cliffs highest point. Unlike our visual sense, (1875m), the highest peak in the park. enclosing the pass. The morning had compasses are quite reliable, and we This meant a long hot climb to Billie's been strenuous and there was a sud- were soon on a marked route that zig- Saddle, with views of the surrounding den outbreak of "generosity". Charles zagged around sinkholes and through limestone country helping to ease the gaveawaymost ofasix-pack, andkilos a giant's rock garden. Interestingly pain. Charles astounded everyone by of fruit went begging as packs were enough Charles finally expired, leaving retaining much of his clothing, includ- shamelessly lightened. three of US to tackle the final grunt and ing polyprop long johns. Any bare skin stand on the flat top of the mountain. was smeared with sunblock. He was From the hut we climbed the Railway Though encroaching clag spoiled part obviously determined to remain pale Embankment, an old glacial moraine of the view we could still see across to andinteresting. For ust theinterestlayin flanked by great rock bastions. The the Mohikinui and Nelson Lakes Nawhen heat exhaustion would get him. Embankment rose to a superb basin of tional Park ranges. The lowering sun tussocks and bogs called thel Hay Pad- andshfingmistsproducedeerilybeu- From the saddle we dropped down the dock, where we rested, enjoying the tiful shadows and diffractions, the vast TRAMPING & MOUNTAINEERING bare face of adjacent Mt Bell providing Our route finding was efficient and we We were missing the Tararuas, So we ascreenfor: surreal projections. Owen's found ourselves well-placed at lunch, climbeduntil wes struckwindanddriving top was bare and blasted. A trig had looking down from the main ridge. It rain. Climbing Patriach wasn'tonsor we vanished off concrete foundations. was good, if slow travel to the drop into headednorth along theArthur Range. It thevalley. Thosei in the group unaccus- wasn't like home, because although Flys had been pitched in our absence. tomed to long days off tracks were the rain continued, the cloud lifted and Wer reducedi the security riskt <by drinking probablywondering about the sanity of we could look around. some of the beer while creating a stew those who enjoy them. Probably with monster. Ourl handiwork looked set to goodreason. Onceinto the bushi it was John ReidHuty was also full, though with rise from the billy and receive from the a matter of following a compass. Har- a pleasant family who made US welgathering clouds the spark that would ry's once again did the job and we had come. Thismayhave beent throughfear giveitlife. Wefeareditmightturnonus, our feet in the Wangapeka River just as of Roger, however, who in at fit of rightso it was divided and eaten. the light faded. eous ire consigned a girlie mag to the flames soon after arrival. This flash of Some hideous, rattling echoes soon KingsHut was big, new, and empty. On militantfundamentalism.combinedi with haunted the limestone formations. As entering this bush palace Matthew un- some appalling flatulence must have wel listened, some with pride, others in derwent a transformation reminiscent been intimidating. horror,lutteredafewphrasest that were of Robert de Niro in Awakenings (zomtorebounduponi me during the coming bie to joyl boy in seconds). A worry, but Therewasn'troomforeveryonesoHary days. "Better an empty house than a luckily the effect was temporary and andl slept under a fly. We were probbadtenant", is anArab: saying ofincon- within hours he had lapsed into coma. ably better off despite a bitter wind. trovertiblewisdom, while "thenext train During the night keas called from valley down that line will be the goods", is Of greater concern was Harry's behav- to valley. Their stark, plaintive cries more of a caution to those at risk of iour at dinner Halfway through his seemed to embody mountain life. embarrassment. For somer reason these second vat of pasta, Smith the Insatialines resonated in the mind of a certain ble was seen to pause, take a deep Thefrontpassedover, leavingthe dawn ex-President, who thereafter came out bred.ondsighasmortos: do onreach- to break red from the horizon and colwith variously garbled versions at every ing the threshold of appetite. For some our the ranges. I had breakfast while opportunity andt therer werer many. His seconds his eyes remained glazed, his Harry wandered with his camera in the illness spread, andno soonerwouldhe red light that warmed as the sun rose. say, "Better a bad line than a goods "Better an line", than someone would respond Thel heat eventually stirred thet hut creawith, "The next house down that tenant empty house tures, who began to writhe and slither will be empty". where they lay stuck together in the than a bad dank effluvium that had settled over- We meandered through mist in the night. morning, atl lasti finding the route as the tenant If sun burnt through. After descending From John Reid, Chummies Track folinto a grand basin we sidled through spoon poised limply above the maca- lowed an easy ridge before plummetbogs to join thet track leading to Branch roni. It seemed we were witnessing the ing suddenly. The cooler air trailing the Creekh Hut. Insteodoffollowingthel etrack passing ofalegend Then Harry's eyes front meant superlative viewing. down from a saddle to the hut and flickered, and the spoon resumed its climbing to the tops on the other side, familiar cycle. Had it been an aberra- Returning to thel Wangapeka Valley, we Harrys suggestedboring straight on and tion, orasymptomofe decline? It wastoo completedourcircuit. Thehut creatures findingarouteuptoaconnectingridge, bigaquestion; weretired, badlyshaken. gingerly dunked their crusty parts in the thereby saving time. Though we could river. A toxic algae bloom resulted. see cliffs sandthegoinglookeds steep we The Easter Bunny came on Sunday but Harry and went swimming. decidedto gamble. It paid off; we went saw Eric and fled, pursued by wekas. straight up without difficulty and were Four days in sublime country had reinsoon above the bush. The plan was to Harry was so disgusted with Matthew's forced all that is good about tramping. wander along a minor range before negative logbook entry describing our We were tired but stronger in spirit. On dropping to Kings Hut on the previous day's route as "demanding" the return journey we had to lash our Wangapeka Track. A big day, but the that he stayed behind to expunge and broken bodies to the deck of the ferry. weather was perfect, the views inspir- rewrite it. The rest of US set off in light Charles somehow broke free and ing. raindownthevalleyhighwaytotheKiwi wounduplodgedbeneath theTVint the Saddle turn-off. From there the track kiddies' play area, where he became Score of the trip, if not the year, was wound gently uphill past scenic wasps' the most popular apparatus. He was some fine hunter's binoculars I stum- nests to Kiwi Saddlel Hut. Though full of stompedt by toddlers, struck with plastic bled across. Iseet these as divine com- rustichunters withcabinfever, theplace mallets, and bombarded with building pensation for visual suffering caused was dryso wehadlunchandlistenedto blocks. Yet Charles remained sound overthe yearsbys sordidhunters' camp- hunters' tales of stuffin' cowshitinfolks' asleep and smiling, dreaming of those sites. Well that's my story and I'm letterboxes. Awwell, youhavetomake tops around Mt Owen. sticking to it. your own fun down Gore way. TRAMPING & MOUNTAINEERING