More than a wander in Waitotara Forest

More than a wander in

Waitotara Forest

I had long wondered about the part of the country north of Wanganui - somewhat wild ar remote, with perhaps some lush, green plant life and abundant mud. When the tr schedule came out, I thought that a wander around the area would be ju

'e had a longish but uneventfulFriday night getting to the roadend at Taumatatahi at the base of the Waitotara Forest, NW of Wanganui. We started the next morning at 7.30am, first through farmland then increasing pockets of marshy grass or bush (full of stinging nettle) up the Pokeka Stueam. Rewarewa trees were flowering, giving quite an impressive red show. A quick stop at Pokeka Hut - not well frequented - then over the muddy stream using a fortunate log and up onto the ridge towards Maungarau.

The ridge travel north was surprisingly dry and pleasant. A feature of the entire area was surprisingly dry narrow ridges that dropped steeply on either side, but with good travel along the ridgeline. Just before lunch we reached a hrrn-off towards Trains Hut which was an optional shortcut, but during lunch we figured that we'd made good progress so far. Despite the predictions of rain all day the weather was still very nice and we decided to push on towards Tahupo Hut. Now started the jokes about how late it might be when we'd reach the hut. We all quietly made sure our torches were at the top.

Shortly south of Maungarau we took our drunken route heading basically westward toward Tahupo Hut. Whereas the track until now had been good, fast travel, this was somewhat drfferent. The ridge was generally wide with no discernable track with rare and at times elusive markers, especially around windfalls. There were a myriad of animal tracks (that were all too tempting) and regular sign. Several goats scampered offthe ridge as we approached. The route regularly took sudden 90. turns off down the side of a portion of obvious ridge as ltzigzagged its way westward. This is the only "track" I can remember that needed active navigation with map and compass the whole time!

Since time was getting on, we were happy to start our descent towards Omaru Stream. It appeared to be clear and rocky from a distance, not cloudy and muddy as with Pokeka Stream. It also seemed a bit large. From about 4.30pm light rain started to fall, but it was still fairly innocuous. The markers took us steeply down a spur towards the stream. Suddenly we found ourselves on the edge of a 30-metre bluff dropping straight into the stream, with no obvious route down. We spent a long time searching along the edge of the bluff, slowly heading downstream despite i complete absence of trail or markers. We made a few tentative investigations of possible routes, all the time wary of loose footing above the bluff on the damp, steep slope.

Andrew Chisho the ticket. Well, a "wander,, isn't really what turned out.

With joy we found a marker which led us down to tl stream just above the confluence with Tuifuiporua Strear

The next challenge was getting across Omaru Strear Rather than the pleasant stream we had hoped for (whe we could hop across without getting our feet wet), this wi more like a small river - deep and moving at a fair spee - and on first appearance a swim would be required. short distance upstream we found some rock outcrops an underwater ledges that enabled most of us to get acro fairly dry by carefulbalancing and jumping. We enjoyed short break filling our water bottles, glad that the hut wt not too far beyond the top of the gorge.

The route out of the stream was well-marked at first r it took us up onto a ledge, but was soon confusing withor further markers. A few rnore markers were found headin upstream, but they too came to a halt with no continuatior After much searching we found that the route took a mor unlikely, dodgy route along some steep, damp rock face and finally climbed out of the gorge. All this hunting fc the route had taken its toll on our daylight hours. In th bush with the thickening cloud and rain, we needed ol torches from 7.40pm. In all it had taken us almost 3 hour to get across Omaru gorge and back up to the 300r contour, travelling less than a kilometre horizontally.

In darkness and increasingly heavy rain we were able t make only about half our previous speed. Numerou windfalls on the ridge covered in bush lawyer were a bit c a challenge, and for some reason the bush lawyer wa particularly athacted to Trish. The rare markers were eve) more elusive now, with marker-shaped white blotches or trees looking remarkably similar by torchlight. We wer walking through the worst of the rain at about 8.30pm. Wr considered the possibility of camping on the ridge, bu camping opportunities were very poor, and we were a happier to push on to the hut - even at the prospect o arriving late. Soon we started seeing small luminous blur markers as well as the standard white ones. We were happl with any sign that we were making progress. We followec those blue markers off and on for the next hour before wr finally emerged into the clearing around Tahupo Hut a

10pm. An estimate for the day: about 21km. What a nice hut. Well okay, perhaps it's not the mos wonderful hut in NZ, but at 10pm, no-one was complaining A pleasant 6-bunker, with the novelty of a porch with e store of dry wood and a sink with running water. The las visitor had been DOC 3 months earlier. When we arrivec

Tramping and Mountaineering 2001 /2002 risholm ild and he trip be just I out...

r to the Stream. Itream.

(where .his was r speed tired. A rps and : across joyed a rut was

:first as vithout eading uation.

Craig demonstrates how it's done, Pokeka Stream (Andrew Chisholm)

a most k faces ing for wewere starving, but when the abundant couscous arrived at about 11pm we all discovered that we couldn't manage as much as we thought. By now the rain had stopped and many stars were visible, and there was the sound of morepork to send us to sleep.

In the ed our i hours

On Sunday morning wewere in no hurry. Last night's dessert was consumed for breakfast. We'd arrived so late yesterday and because we'd made it to the hut, the day would be shorter than if we'd camped back on the track. That's what lulled us into a relaxed start anyway, but I think we all had our torches near the top of oui packs, just in case.

300m t , able io lerous r bit of ?r was ?even les on I wete n. We

A short way west we met the main north-south track coming down from the Matemateaonga walkway. After a bit of mucking about on messy sections and through windfalls, the track became well-defined on the steep-sided ridge. Travel along these regular sections of open, welldefined ridge was very pleasant and very fast, with the moderate westerly nicely cooling. Birdsongwas abundant, as with yesterday - a noticeable difference to the Tararuas and many other areas. A short stop for lunch (including a continuation of the couscous for some), then a fast slipslide down to the Waitotara River just downstream from Trains Hut.

o h r r f zre all rect of s blue lappy .owed trewe Jut at

Once over to the true right of the Waitotara it was 2.15pm and we were expecting a fast couple of hours down to the roadend. The track started wide and fast, with more dramatic bluffs down to the river. It made a lovely change most iningl vith a re last rived

/2002

Tramping and Mountaineering 2001 /2002 to appreciate the bluffs without worrying about descending them. Further on the mud began to dominate, and comparisons with Dusky Track mud were inevitable - though the Dusky's mud never stunk like this. When the mud continued to slow us down we realised that we weren,t going to make the roadend by 4pm. At that time we were still a good hour away at a fast pace.

Meanwhile back atthe bus about now, the stories started to be embellished. Rumours started about our "first-timer,, that could still be sitting, shattered, in some wild country miles away. In fact our "first-timer" was on her first club trip, but has probably spent more time in dodgy bush than the rest of us. Time ticked on without our appearance, and ihe local farmer Larsen exaggerated the challenges of our route, saying he expected us out about midday Monday. Finally at 5.15pm we arrived back at the bus, and at 1" hours late we weren't too popular (at 5.31pm we would have been faced with Larsen's questionable offer of flying back to Wanganui, otherwise it was a long, long way back out to SH3). In all we probably walked 55km - Sunday even ended up being further than Saturday.

So an enjoyable and challenging trip for all. Certainly I have a new appreciation for the wilds of this part of the country, and for the keenness of our leader! Thanks for a memorable trip Craig.

Punters: Craig Jones (intrepid leader), Trish Knox, Anne Relling, Andrew Chisholm ( scribe ).