Beyond the Beautiful

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Beyond the Beautiful Don Goodhue "Run - wasps, " Iyelled to Eric who was above me on the steep bank we were climbing to get around a gorge in the Roaring Lion. The burning around the back of my knees left me in no doubt about what was going on, but the nature of the terrain was not particularly easy and what resulted was more like a mad, bush-crashing scramble straight up until I ran out off breath. I looked back down to see a squadron of agitated wasps trying to kill my hat which had got snagged in a tree and there it still is. No way was I going back to retrieve it. he trip had started as an idea one weekend before Christmas. The Club trips were going into the northern Kahurangi, and its seemed like a goodi idea to meet up with them. Eric and Ihad been into the Douglas Range the summer before and were keen to explore further into the heart of Kahurangi National Park. A couple of calls and we had confirmed transport to the Flora Saddle roadend. With nine days up our sleeves we then had to figure out how to meet Club transport somewhere in the Takaka area. The plan was to head down the Leslie and Karamea to the Roaring Lion Leslie Clearing Hut Eric Blumhardt River, and then up the Beautiful and into the Spey and Aorere rivers. Although there is plenty of information Spurgeons rock shelter. Dinner was eaten with a bunch published on the popular areas of Kahurangi, a hunt oft trampers from Christchurch who had left the roadend around the library revealed little on the Tasman Wilder- slightly ahead of us and were also hoping to get to ness Area. A party from the Club had been in the Spurgeons that evening. After dinner we continued Karamea and Roaring Lion areas in January, but apart across the Tablelands, stopping for a while for the first from this, it was going to be a matter of taking the route of our radio scheds with Wellington Mountain Radio as it happened. Because we had nine days, we felt we Service before starting the descent to the Leslie Valley. had plenty of options. The sky was clear and as we descended we were treated to a magnificent sunset, which turned the mountains and Less than three hours after leaving Wellington we were bush around us from golden yellow through the specon our way up the track from the Flora Saddle carpark. trum to deep red before twilight finally descended. It had What a way to start a trip the roadend was nearly at been one of the most wonderful evenings I had ever the top of thel hill SO most of the day would be downhill, spent in the hills. the weather was good, and the driver had brought tea and biscuits for everyone. The next morning was spent at a leisurely pace sidling the Leslie River down to Karamea Bend, stopping briefly We spent a leisurely afternoon wandering down thel Flora at Leslie Clearing Hut for a snack. The hut was deserted Track, stopping along the way toi inspect the unusual rock so it was a bit of fa surprise to us when a rather weatherbivvies and getting used to our 30 kg packs. The little beaten old codger walked around the corner of the hut pink "heavy" tag attached by the airline attendant when with an armful of firewood. It turned out he was camped we checked in at Wellington Airport was now beginning further up the valley in a side-stream doing a bit of prostol have meaning. We arrived at the Arthur Tablelands late pecting. He seemed to know a lot about the history of in the afternoon and decided to stop for dinner in the the area, apparently having been a regular prospector for comfort of Salisbury Lodge before pushing on towards a number of years. Tramping and Mountaineering 1997

Karamea Bend marked the point at which we would leave the luxury of huts and tracks for the Tasman Wilderness Area. At the confluence of the Leslie and Karamea rivers, we ate a relaxed lunch in the sun, along with a Swedish backpacker who was staying in the area. He assured us he was catching enough fish to supplement his diet quite nicely. Ahead of us lay the Karamea and what was to turn into an eventful afternoon. The route guides advised that the best route was to keep to the right bank, as this avoided crossing the river. As the route was well-described, we were disappointed when we found that in most places it was a bush-bash. Through the afternoon we sidled a series of earthquake lakes and one long stretch of rapids. While we sat at Karamea Bend for lunch, we had seen two trampers further down the Karamea. We eventually caught up to them as they had stopped for a spot of fishing. They advised that we would find the going a lot easier if we actually crossed to the left bank and then back to the right above the next earthquake dam. We were getting frustrated with the bush-bashing and from where we were, this looked like a feasible option. The first crossing to the left bank was straightforward and we were confident that it was as difficult as it would get. Wrong! We arrived at the top of the earthquake dam to find that the river was a lot deeper than it looked. Up until this point we had been debating whether or not our packs would float. We decided that although they were heavy, they were still not as heavy as water. We soon found out. We chose a spot about 80 m above the dam where the river was at its slowest and widest. The water was sO Karamea Bend Eric Blumhardt clear it was difficult to tell how deep it was and before we were mid-stream, we found our feet were off the bottom and we were paddling like crazy for the far side, The next day was spent travelling up the Beautiful River. slowly drifting downstream towards the top of the dam. From where we were camped it looked like it would be Thankfully, our packs were buoyant and the far bank simple enough. The contours on the map didn't suggest slowly got closer. We climbed out the other side, declar- that there was anything too gnarly ahead; however, being that next time we would stick to the bush-bashing. fore too long we found that the river was rising in a series of large rock falls and we were spending a large A short time later another event occurred that reminded amount of time getting nowhere fast. The bush offered us just how vulnerable we were. Iwas ahead of Eric on no better travel as this was just like the river full of a long sandbank running along the edge of the river, large boulders, but covered in moss and trees. The valwhen suddenly I was floundering around in quicksand. ley was steep-sided in places and had suffered from the While one foot was still on terra firma, the other was effects of earthquakes over the years. Our objective was well and truly stuck. I felt as if my leg had been set in to get at least as far as Lake Barfoot, about 7 km upplaster. I couldn't even move my toes. Eric crawled up stream, and as the day wore on it became increasingly behind me and took my pack, and we spent the next 15 obvious that we would probably go no further. As we minutes trying to dig me out. As quickly as we were dig- climbed it was also becoming obvious that there would ging sand out, it was pouring back in. Eventually man- be a change in the weather. aged to break free and crawled back to my pack. We prodded around with a stick and found that we were After the slog through the rockfalls of the Beautiful we lucky wel had not strayed into the water at that point The were looking forward to Lake Barfoot, anticipating a typiriverbed was quicksand and we were left wondering how cal mountain lake with sparkling blue waters and a rocky difficult things could have been if one of us had got stuck shore. As we walked up the last stretch of river to the in the stuff in the river. lake, the water in the river became the colour of weak tea and the riverbed turned from rock to mud. It had We arrived at Roaring Lion Hut to find it full of hunters taken us 8 hours to cover the 7 km and this was the last SO we crossed to thel bottom of the Beautiful and camped straw - we decided to call it a day and set about makon the river flats. Ithad been an interesting day. ing camp for the evening. Tramping and Mountaineering 1997