Start of the Trip - CollingwoodKaramea - Heaphy TrackRolling River, WangapekaMurchison, New ZealandLewis passArthurs PassRakaia RiverLake Clearwater, New ZealandLake Ohau, New ZealandWanaka, New ZealandArrowtown, New ZealandTe Anau, New ZealandTuatapere, New ZealandTe Waewae Bay
 | walk4kiwis |  | A long walk to Save the Kiwis |  | Arthurs Pass |
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Feb 9 2010, 11:40 AM
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Arthur's Pass (Arthur Pass), New Zealand
The walk into the first hut was about 6 hours, easy going through beautiful beech forest and along river flats. The bird life was fairly prolific with the usual number of cheeky robins and several riflemen checking us out at every stop. We were also followed by some of the biggest dragonflies I have ever seen!
About half way up the Hurunui River we came across a fisherman and his guide who had flown in by helicopter for a day’s fishing, The guy had just hooked a massive fish and after the photo session, put it back in river. Personally, I think if you go fishing, you go to catch a feed, but that’s just my opinion. The 1st hut on the track is the Kiwi Hope Hut a lovely Lockwood style of house, with 2 separate bunk rooms and a huge living area. It is set at the end of a long river valley (the Hope River) so the outlook was great and we had it to ourselves.
The next morning was one of those really magic mountain mornings which make it all worth while. Mist hanging in the valley floor, clear blue skies, the sun just shining on the mountain tops and not a sound. The sort of morning when you really couldn’t want to be anywhere else. We set off at about 8.00am and just enjoyed the atmosphere of the whole place.
We climbed up and over Kiwi Saddle, a whole 660 meters, again on well-benched and maintained tracks. Shortly after, we got our first glimpses of Lake Sumner, which we eventually dropped down to the head of.
One crazy member of this intrepid pair went for a swim! And it sure as hell wasn’t me! All the major river crossings on this side of the pass are bridged, so dry feet again!
Second night was at the Hurunui hut, again we were the only occupants. We have a mountain radio with us, which we turn on at 8.00pm every evening to get the latest mountain forecast and any messages. It is a great service and certainly worth the extra ¾ of a KG weight. It can sometimes be a bit of a bugger swinging the aerial out and often calls for a bit of good ole Kiwi ingenuity!
On this particular evening we got 2 messages that put a bit of a damper on the rest of the trip. The first was that my Dad had been admitted into hospital and had to have a pacemaker fitted. He has since had this done and is fine, but one feels a bit helpless out in the middle of nowhere. The second bit of news was that the two hunters we shared a hut with nearly 4 weeks ago at Branch Creek hut had both been medi-vaced out by helicopter with leptospirosis, a bug normally contacted through water contaminated by rat’s pee.
I have since been to a doctor who assured me I would know by now if I had it. I do feel fine but my thoughts and best wishes are with these 2 guys who treated us so well a few weeks ago.
Day 3 was our shortest day and also the most enjoyable. Again, the track was well marked and benched and still nice and flat! But the highlight of this particular section was the natural hot pools about an hours walk from the hut. As you walk along the track, suddenly in front of you is a stream with clouds of steam rising into the air. A short scramble up the side of the stream and you come to a pool about half a metre deep and about 30 degrees Celsius. What bliss! DoC have very thoughtfully put a sign there warning you not to put your head under the water. Unless you were only knee high to a grasshopper I think it would be somewhat difficult to do so!
Anyway, after a leisurely soak and scrub it was on to our next abode .The No.3 hut is an old type of hut and as with the previous 2, is well maintained and really comfortable. Along side this hut is a weird looking DoC staff quarters, which looks like a couple of over large corrugated iron water tanks cut in half and a small plastic house built on the front of them. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a decent photo of this so you will have to use your imagination. This hut is set in the centre of the Hurunui Inland island, an area that has and is being trapped and now has a fairly healthy population of Great spotted Kiwis and a few Orange Crested Kakiriki. We heard a number of Kakiriki calls but never saw which ones they were. As it was still early afternoon we strolled on to the next hut which was a real old type cullers hut. Built in 1955, I don’t think anything has been done on it since.
Still, I’m sure that if it was snowing and blowing a blizzard you would be very grateful to see it. I am so glad we decided to stay here, as about 10pm the very unmistakable cry of the male Great spotted Kiwi was echoing through the valley. A few moments later he was joined by the female and on the occasions we awoke through the night, they were chatting away to each other. As with the beautiful dawn we experienced a couple of days earlier, this goes down as another one of those moments you could never experience anywhere else on this earth. The following day dawned a wee bit cloudier than the previous 2, and I thought for sure we would again be cheated of any views from the top of the pass. As the morning wore on the cloud cleared and before we realized it we were at the top of Harpers Pass. A nice, easy climb up and a well benched track to walk on. Just like all passes should be!
It was the 6th pass/saddle on my trek so far and I was about to enter the 3rd National Park (Arthurs Pass). The views down to the Taramakau Valley were awesome and we knew that within 2-3 hours we would be down there.
One of the things I was stunned to see was the flowering Southern Rata all over the mountainsides. It was magnificent! I never realized just how prolific these are down in this part of the country. The track down this side was a lot steeper than the side we had just come up and often following dry creek beds and again I was so grateful the weather was on our side. It was a 6 hour walk in total to our final hut on this track. Locke Stream hut was built in 1940 and renovated in 1993 thanks to a bequest by some kind hearted ex-culler. The view from the porch speaks for itself
Unfortunately, some bloody grubby sods had been in here some time previously and left behind a mountain of rubbish. I have never been able to understand why these sort of people even bother coming out to places like this. Eric, god bless him, loaded up a large empty bag with it all and carried out the following day.
The final day was down the mighty Taramakau River and it wasn’t hard to imagine what this river would be like in high flood. The debris lines were, in places, about a hundred meters from the river we now followed and there were some pretty big logs that had been deposited by past floods along the way.
Again, a well marked track through to Kiwi hut, about 3 hours walk down the valley.
From here the going got to be the hardest part of the whole track. It was just a matter of picking your own way along the river in what you though was the easiest route. Sometimes boulder hopping, sometimes through very fine gravel and the occasional river crossing. The river was really low so we only got wet feet twice! But the previous 4 days we managed to get through without once going over ankle deep! Wonder of wonders! On the banks of the Otira river we stopped for our last gourmet lunch of, you guessed it, peanut butter and salami on corn cakes and then waded over the river (again below the knees) to our pick up point and the end of what I have already said is the best part of the trek so far. All you lucky people who live within striking distance of this place, do yourself a favour and get yourself onto this track. I would recommend starting from the Lewis Pass end, 1 night at Kiwi Hope hut and then a couple of nights at the Hurunui. From here it is an easy hour’s walk to the hot springs and they are great. You could then walk out the same way or exit via Lake Sumner or go on over the Harpers. Whatever way, I am sure you would love it.
Eric, it really was a fantastic walk and thanks heaps for your company.
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