Off into the sunset …

With the great Lake Waikaremoana expedition completed, and a brief overnight return to civilisation, the next day we were ready to set off on a second expedition: three days at Lake Waikareiti. This lovely lake—almost 4km in length—is about a 5km walk from Lake Waikaremoana, and has a hut at its further end which you reach by either rowing or walking. We arranged to hire a row boat for our three days, which meant that three of our party—on our arrival at the lake’s edge after a steady climb up the track—had the job of rowing the boat across the lake while the rest of us did the 8km walk around. We got the boat launched but it was not until it was well out onto the lake that we noticed that Tony had left his lifejacket behind (it’s totally obvious in the photo below, but we were all distracted at the time, what with getting the boat launched, with people in the right places, the oars in the right rowlocks, and the boat headed in the right direction!). While the rowers powered across the lake the rest of us made our way around the shore, with the kinds of rainforest and ups and downs that we’d come to know and love earlier in the week, staggering out onto the beach at Sandy Bay some two hours after the rowers.

Sandy Bay is gorgeous, as you will see in the pages of extra photos, and the water was warm enough for swimming … provided you were prepared to walk about 100m out into the lake! I had my own plans for the afternoon, however: prior to coming to NZ I had checked out if there were any geocaches in the vicinity (as you do, of course!) and I knew that one of the islands in the middle of the lake hid a secret … and not just a geocache. Thus it was that I embarked on my first attempt at rowing, with three of the other members of the party … but, of course, there was a headwind, and there were “coordination issues” with the other person rowing (I was definitely rowing in time … maybe … sometimes) … and, well, it just isn’t as easy as it looks to row properly. We made it to the island, however, and after tying up at the landing and climbing the steep stairs and following a very short track we found ourselves looking out over a big lake on the island itself: a lake on an island in a lake on an island.

In the evening there was a lovely sunset, accompanied by comments from Peter, a meteorologist, about what kind of weather it might portend.

In the early hours of the morning it was revealed that “red sky at night, shepherd’s delight” is not the most reliable weather maxim in the world: we were all woken by the sound of rain and a howling gale, that blew rain right underneath the verandah and dampened the boots that we’d left outside. This didn’t augur well for some of the plans we’d made for our day of relaxing at the hut. Things got better as the day progressed, however, and we were able to do the things that we’d hoped, such as a walk to a nearby lagoon and then a return trip to Rahui Island and Lake Tamaiti for some of those who hadn’t been there on the first trip. By the time we got back it was getting close to dinner time, and I had promised cheesecake for dessert, so it was time to get out the electric mixer and ‘frige (arm muscles and, as you will see, improvised cooling environment).

[I should note, at this point, that this middle day fell on the 12th. This means I had a bit of a quandary about how to document it, whether as part of my usual 12 of 12 series or as a subset of the whole Waikareiti trip. In the end I've done both, so you'll have to check out both the additional pages for this blog entry and then the 12 of 12 blog entry in order to get the full story. If you can work out why I made the choices for what to include where, please let me know, because I can't remember!]

Our final day dawned windy and got windier. This was fine for the hikers, who had a long walk back around the lake but at least were sheltered for most of the trip. In contrast, the poor rowers may have had the shorter journey—both in distance and in time—but they had a long battle in very choppy conditions to get the boat back across the lake to the original launching area. We were pleased to find them safely ashore but rather weary, and so we were happy to lend a hand getting the boat back into position in the storage area. We then walked back down the last section of track, visiting a nearby waterfall as we made our way back to the motor camp at Lake Waikaremoana for our final night before heading back to Napier.

Bigger and better photos of the three days at Lake Waikareiti can be found here (there are a few pages, but they’re all linked), and you also need to check out the 12 of 12 blog page for the middle day (it’ll be the next entry anyway) along with the extra set of photos that can be found there.

Finally I really must make mention of what a great bunch of walking companions I had. One of my friends from work, Mal (who wasn’t on this trip, but who’d been on another trip with Ann), commented before I left that because Ann is the kind of person she is she has great friends who are just easy to get on with … and so it turned out to be. I enjoyed their company, and, although it might be a little rude—as the youngest member of the party—to make comments about them being more than a year or two older than me, I reckon if I’m doing as well as they are by the time I get to their age I’m going to be a pretty happy person.

Ann, Victoria and I were glad we’d gone for our view-seeking late afternoon jaunt yesterday because when we woke up this morning it was to find the summit shrouded in mist and the lake barely visible below us. The mist burned off as the day progressed, but it made for interesting effects as we looked out across the lake and also as it drifted around the nearer peaks and trees. We left Panekiri Hut as soon as we were organised, knowing that we had to get to the end of the track in time to catch the water taxi back to the main camping area that we were using as our base.

The downhill was not as bad as I’d been led to believe. Yes, it was a bit of a strain on the old knees, but the nice thing about downhills is that they are gentle on the lungs, perspiration levels, and facial colouring. The first part of the route made its way along the ridge top (more undulations, but in a downhill direction overall and relatively gentle in its descent), with the occasional difficult-to-negotiate section of track caused by erosion. Having reached the end of the main ridge (Victoria is at that point in the first photo below), we hit the steeper part of the journey. By keeping our motion under control, this was quite manageable, although we were reminded that it really was a long way removed from horizontal by the fact that the people we encountered heading upwards were panting and occasionally lacking enthusiasm for the direction of travel (basically you descend/ascend 350m in 2km).  Some 4.5 hours after we had left the hut, Victoria and I came out at the bottom.

As we waited for the others to arrive, I went in search of a couple of caches (successfully) and then I joined Sally, Victoria, and Ann for a detour to the picturesque little lake shown in the second photo below. We got back just in time to meet the incoming water taxi, which took us back across the lake to our base camp. It was nice to return to civilisation and its accoutrements (notably, showers!), and we celebrated the conclusion of our expedition with an enjoyable pot luck dinner together as a group, with each of us contributing something to the meal. Apparently I wasn’t too tired after all of this, because just before it got totally dark I went out and did a 2km return trip in order to … umm … oh, come on, you surely know what to guess by now!*

More photos of the day’s events can be found here.

* Okay, just in case you don’t: I went and found a geocache. It turned out to be a very useful find, because it allowed me to discover a nice alternative route for the start of tomorrow’s expedition.

TO BE MOVED TO JANUARY 10.

With patches of blue appearing in the morning sky some of us were confident enough of improved weather conditions to pack rather than wear our rain gear before setting off for the day’s big climb. It began moderately strenuously, the track undulating its way through lush damp rainforest, which glistened in the increasingly frequent patches of sunlight that appeared during the morning. The undulations were of the frustrating kind, because every downhill was resulting in a loss of altitude that you knew would have to be regained again (uphills are bad enough without having to do them twice!). Each of us tackled this section at our own pace, and, as it happened, I ended up out in front, enjoying the solitude and the simple focus on walking and enjoying the scenery. Every so often I’d stop and allow the group behind me to catch up, as I didn’t want to get too far ahead.

After about 4km in the softer-feeling part of the rainforest we hit the harsher part as the track climbed more steeply across the front of the Panekiri Range. The harshness was reflected in somewhat rockier terrain and less richness in the undergrowth … and in the increased angle of the track with the resulting decrease in my enthusiasm for uphills! As we neared the ridge line we started to get occasional views of Lake Waikaremoana below us, but the forest grew tenaciously all the way up to the top in contrast to my expectations that there might be an exposed rocky skyline traverse.

I feel the need to highlight the backpack that you can see in the photo of me (in the hat) overlooking the lake below: this is the pack that my parents gave me for my 21st birthday. It is a trusted comfortable friend that didn’t leak in yesterday’s rain and which seems to have adapted to my contours … by still hurting in all the places it ever did! (All packs hurt. You’re carrying stuff you don’t normally carry. Of course you will ache.) Interestingly, Macpac — the company that made it — is a NZ company that still exists, and they still make the “same” model — “Cascade” — but with a rather more contemporary set of features.

Once up on the main ridge, the track continued to undulate as the ridge headed to the higher parts of the range. In places years of rain and trampers’ boots had eroded the track to a waist-deep 50cm-wide canyon; in other places the tree roots provided useful steps as the route made its way steadily higher. I’d put the coordinates of our goal into my GPSr (and I was carrying a map), so I had a good idea of how far we were from our destination (well, at least in terms of “as the crow flies”, since the GPSr—though it had the track marked—couldn’t calculate what length of track remained). It was, therefore, no real surprise—but a very good feeling, nonetheless—to come out at Panekiri Hut which perches on Puketapu, one of the summits of the ridge.

From here there were a couple of gaps in the cliff-top vegetation which afforded great views over the lake below us, and we marvelled at the extent of the massive body of water with all its inlets and headlands, and at the altitude change between lake shore and ridge line. Needless to say we also took a group photo at the trig point (the photo below shows some of the gang trying to get organised without losing the plot; the actual group photo is on the separate photo page), in addition to taking photos of the lake. Just before dinner Ann, Victoria and I went for a walk along the track a little further in order to find a better place for getting views of the lake … and to get a sense of what we might face tomorrow when the 600m of height that we gained today has to be lost with as little physical damage as possible!

An additional set of bigger photos can be viewed here.

TO BE UPDATED TO JANUARY 9

The rain that arrived yesterday afternoon continued overnight and into the morning. I always find it a bit depressing to hear the sound of rain on the roof when I wake up the morning (not that I’d actually slept very well—the sand-fly bites were still doing their midnight itch-and-overheat-my-feet thing), because you know it’s going to put a dampener on things (pun intended … except that it probably isn’t actually a pun, it’s just the literal version of what is often used metaphorically (sorry, I’m really just explaining that to myself!)). It was time to dress up in all our best rain gear (you know, the stuff you carry because you hope that, by carrying it, you guarantee you won’t need it), and parade our wet weather fashions to all and sundry. Then, suitably attired to handle the steady downpour, we trudged off into the grey gloom. It really was one of those trudgy days, where everything is just a little more awkward than usual and, although everything is still pretty, you kind of just want to get to where you’re going. The challenge of negotiating the track with its squelchy mud sections and frequent tendency to become a creek bed added interest to the trudge, but although there is the mental exercise of picking an optimal route (and the physical exercise of actually negotiating it, and the occasional embarrassment of finding that the anticipated secure footing swallows your foot in an ankle deep concoction of mud, water, and leaf litter) there comes a point where you (I!) just say “Fergedit” and plough straight through, boot cleanliness notwithstanding.

The track continued to follow the shoreline, but rose up quite high on the slopes and was narrow and awkward in places, as it searched for a reasonable route along the contours and into and out of the gullies through which streams tumbled. Three hours after setting off (and having encountered a few less well-equipped/organised people heading the other way) we stopped for lunch, where it was nice to offload the pack. The others in our group decided to continue directly to our next overnight stop, but Sally and I decided we would like to detour along the track to Korokoro Falls, which we hoped would be spectacular as a result of all the rain. Well, we have no idea if they were or not, but the river coming from there certainly was. As you may be able to see in the last photo (and shown in the separate page of additional photos), the track to the falls actually crosses this river—with a cable to cling to, which you can just make out slung between the orange arrow on the near side, and the faintly visible orange arrow on the far side—but the amount of water made it impossible to cross. It was still a worthwhile 2km diversion, and Sally and I enjoyed the beautiful rainforest and seeing the force of the river.

The rain was easing by this stage, and had all but stopped by the time we reached Waiopaoa Hut. A NZ member of one of the other parties staying at the hut pointed out a kereru (large native pigeon) feeding in a nearby tree, and it was great to watch it for a while. I took some photos, but they didn’t turn out all that well because my zoom lens really wasn’t powerful enough.  The rain seemed to have kept away quite a few hikers which meant that the hut wasn’t very full, although it was still crowded around the stove with all the boots and socks drying out in readiness for tomorrow (there are few things more unpleasant than trying to put on cold damp socks and boots in the morning (well, actually, there are probably millions of things more unpleasant, but not right at the moment you are actually doing it!)). With the smell of steaming socks as background ambience while the evening light faded we again turned to card games for entertainment. As someone who plays only rarely I had a crash course in the rules and terminology of “Rickety Kate”, but it certainly provided an opportunity for some applied probability theory!

More photos of the day’s wet wanderings are here.

TO BE MOVED TO JANUARY 8

Day 2 was a leisurely day, with the 6km journey between huts completed before lunch (just how much before depended on age, fitness levels, number of stops taken, and support of the idea of “leisurely”). It was overcast for most of the day, which meant “flat” and subdued lighting conditions for photography, but the rainforest was still beautiful and some sunshine snuck through for a brief moment or two at lunchtime. Unfortunately, during the afternoon — and before the clothes I’d washed had had a chance to dry — it started to rain.

This didn’t stop some of us venturing outside, since there was a whole afternoon to enjoy. I decided to follow the track a little further over some of tomorrow’s route, in order to try taking some time exposure shots with the tripod that I nearly always carry on hikes (well … I wasn’t carrying a tent … !). The slight problem was that there weren’t as many nice little waterfalls as we’d seen earlier, and the photos were disappointing, so you aren’t seeing them. I got myself a little bamboozled on this little excursion, too: the track went inland in order to cross the stream (they’re streams in NZ, not creeks, even when they are raging rivers) before coming back out to the lake shore again, and I completely failed to identify the point at which the direction changed which left me quite disoriented. Despite being aware of this, it happened again on the return trip, and, to my embarrassment, the following day when we continued on our journey.

Some amusement was provided during the afternoon by some members of our party who had discovered some invading non-indigenous flora, and so foraged for feral potatoes. Boiled in pieces and buttered, the fruits of the hunter-gatherers’ labours made a nice appetiser for our dehydrated fare in the evening. (That’s Sally in the photo searching for decent-sized spuds. Please note that thermals under shorts are de rigeur — or, at least, widely accepted — in tramping circles!)

With the weather inclement and the light fading, the evening entertainment was card games by candlelight, until about 9pm when everyone headed for bed. I had great difficulty coping with such early nights, and it didn’t help that I’d managed to acquire a whole collection of sand-fly bites on my legs and feet that itched like mad, starting around 11pm and continuing into the early hours. I’m sure my tossing and turning kept everyone awake in the close quarters of the bunkhouse sleeping platforms!

A collection of additional day 2 photos can be found here.

TO BE RELOCATED TO 7 JANUARY

One of my Uni of Melbourne work friends likes to go hiking to wonderful places with some long-time friends from her own uni student days along with other invited tag-alongs. I’ve been on one of Ann’s trips in the past, to the lighthouse at Wilson’s Promontory, but circumstances had conspired to prevent me being able to go on a couple of other trips further afield. When Ann told me that she was planning a hike in NZ in the 2012 new year, I drooled but hesitated because it was scheduled for just after I moved to Tasmania and I knew I would still be unpacking and settling in … but then I just decided to go anyway.

We all met up in Napier a day or two before the start of the walk, a party of ten — shown at right just before we set off on the actual hike — ranging in age from the youngest (me) to a 70 year old, with many of the party being fit and enthusiastic folk in their 60s (setting examples to aspire to for the future). We travelled by bus from Napier to Wairoa and then car shuttles to Lake Waikaremoana, in order to embark on one of New Zealand’s famous “Great Walks”. These walks pass through spectacular scenery, the tracks are very clearly marked and often (though not always) more carefully graded and constructed than some of the rougher back-country hikes, and not only are there huts available but they have running water, mattresses for the bunks, and sometimes even stoves for cooking (though not in this case). Since the walks are very popular (NZ’s famous Milford Track is one such walk) you have to book the huts in advance, which also allows control of visitor numbers to regulate the impact on the environment.

We set off the next day, my pack containing a food bag that felt ridiculously heavy (but then it had 5 days’ worth of food) but without the added weight of a tent (which was just as well!), with the trek beginning with a trip across the lake by water taxi (speed boat) to get to the start of the track. We were doing an anti-clockwise circuit of the lake, which meant that we would spend three days or so working our way around the lake’s edge before tackling the climb and descent of the Panekiri Range which overlooks the lake at its southern end.

After farewelling the water taxi at the drop-off point we shouldered packs* and headed along the track. This skirted the shores of the lake, although the temperate rainforest, in all its beautiful lush dense greenness, goes right down to the water’s edge for much of the trip, meaning that you spend most of the time under its shady canopy and it’s only every so often that you get a good view out over the lake. Our first day’s walk was about 8 or 9km and we arrived at the Waiharuru Hut not long after a late lunch, allowing us plenty of time to relax, cook cheesecake (my contribution to the evening meal) and enjoy the views of the lake and far range in the afternoon.

I’ve documented the day’s travel with a few photographs and extra words on a separate page, which can be found by clicking here.

* Me, being me, decided to carry all my gear**. The others took advantage of the water taxi service which allowed them to have all but the necessities needed on the walk transported to the next overnight stop, which could be done for all the hut stops except for the last on top of the Panekiri Range.

** I claim that this is because it has been a while since I have done an extended walk (more than two nights), and I wanted to see if I was up to carrying a full pack on a longer trip (not that it was an entirely accurate test, because I wasn’t carrying the tent or a sleepmat). I’d like to think — egotistically perhaps — that the others thought I was being considerate of their age, and using the extra load as a handicapping method to slow down my real (or imagined) youthful enthusiasm. However, I suspect the others were actually thinking that I did it because I am a stubborn idiot. They’re probably right.

TO BE RELOCATED TO 6 JANUARY AT A LATER DATE