Mueller Hut, 13-14th April 2013
It was all go for 14 excited trampers 8.00am Sat 13th Apr, as they sorted transport, parked cars out of the way of parking wardens, and met new companions. The weather was perfect, and it appeared that it would stay that way. We headed off eagerly anticipating what Mt Cook region had in store for us, and especially a night in the alpine surrounds at Mueller Hut.
After a good trip enjoying the autumn colours and crisp mountain views, we descended upon the DOC centre, wanting to acquire the necessary hut ticket and then head for it. I would liked to have seen our faces when we glanced at the ‘hut accommodation board’ to see that all the beads [beds] bar 3 were swooped across! Even those of us who are not too hot on maths could quickly visualise that 5 on 1 bunk simply would not be fun, even if allowed.
Team meeting time. The decision was made to make a day trip instead of 2 days, and 1 car would try out Unwin Hut even though we had been aware of a party being held there over the w/e. No luck…so back to join the others and start our ascent about 11.15. Steeply up she goes.. with the Sealy Tarns appearing 1 ¼ hours or so after stomping up 1814 relatively newly constructed steps, sometimes almost as steep as a ladder. The tarns provided a nice setting for a lunch break, plus being about ½ way.
That was to be the end of ‘the nice neat track’. Now we just scrambled and clambered up a reasonably well worn route following the poles. At least we didn’t need to concern ourselves about mud, snow, or cool biting temperatures. Personally I was somewhat pleased to reach the saddle, and then negotiate the rock on the other side of the ridge to reach the rather majestic looking Mueller Hut that was certainly much newer and larger, plus a bit further on, than when I was last there 23 years ago. All our sweaty backs appeared as we dumped our packs, found food and liquid, plus our cameras once again.
Mt Ollivier was calling those who had not conquered it in the past, and still had sufficient ‘up energy’. 5 of us negotiated up the rocky ridge, to occasionally peer down on the Hermitage that seemed to be immediately below us. Apart from the imagined ‘falling forever’ if I slipped in that direction –this scramble and the resulting views were the highlight for me, and made the tedious steps constant climb [and then down] all worthwhile.
Conscious that even in this supreme setting that ‘time does not standstill’, we had to face the reality that we were not here for the night, and had to make base before dark. Down we trotted, some faster than others. It was surprising to see quite low down, some still heading up for the night. Likewise how poorly dressed and equipped many of the day trippers were. I don’t think at any stage did we feel that we were off a popular tourist route, not that that detracted from the spectacular scenery or company.
On reaching the car/camping area, I lost the bod ahead of me, and to my embarrassment –couldn’t find the cars in the fancy landscaped car parks. So made myself useful by going knocking the Deerstalkers and Canterbury Mountaineering Clubs doors.[Some of our party were reasonably keen to travel home after cooking up a meal, as no one brought tents along. Others were keen to make it a 2 day trip still.] What a surprise to find the CMC club had a clean and comfortable empty hut, that had 16 beds, shower, carpet, lounge chairs, gas cooking, dishes as well as pots and pans etc. solar lighting, and a diesel heater had we required it. Any disappointment and tiredness seemed to be dispelled as we claimed beds, showered, and fed ourselves. The evening entertainment/games left us with sore laughing muscles to accompany the leg ones! Just as well we had the hut to ourselves!
Those who snored had a good night’s sleep. It was a pleasant change to have a relaxing wake-up, photo session of the sun rising on Cook and Sefton, breakfast and pack-up. I suspect the warden- who we hardly saw, also appreciated the nights takings .
A short trip and hike had us at the Tasman Lake. Another perfect day for absorbing and photographing the grand surrounds, as well as debating the causes of the glacier retreat, the large lake and the numerous icebergs floating in it.
A couple of hours were spent stooging around the village, with some going to the Sir Ed Centre and DOC centre, while others found the coffee and food somewhat attractive especially sitting in sun on a windless day with Mt Cook reigning supremely.
Midday saw us hitting the roads again; replenishing our tired bodies with icecreams at Kurow; arriving home in time to shower, unpack and load the washing machine before our evening meal.
Thanks Noel for organising a great adventure, and for everyone’s company.
Noel, Ross, Ross, Bronwyn, Phyllis, Maurice, Sam, Colin, Bill, Matt, Teresa, Judith, Els, Jane.
Club Night April 2013
The April meeting was well attended with 2 prospective members present.
Unfortunately the data projector has died so the Club is looking for a replacement as this media is an important way of communicating our activities and enhancing our guest speaker’s talks.
Ann and Steve Leideker are returning to London so the Club thanked them for their contribution during the 3 years they have been here.
Because of poor weather the Club s trip to Mt. Alexandra in the Arthurs Pass area was transferred to a stay in the Avoca Hut near the Torlesse Range, and exploring that fascinating area with views of the West Coast railway viaducts and tunnels, old coal mining relics and cableways. The return journey included a walk through the Cave Stream underground system near Castle Hill for about a kilometre, a cold but exciting trip.
Wednesday Walkers trips have been to Doctors Point near Purakanui with great views of the Otago Heads, Mts. Alexandra and Nobbler from Danseys Pass, and Herbert Forest where a rotted tree decided to fall down on the track very close to four passing walkers. Island Cliff farm was also visited by some where walkers were fascinated with the large ostrich eggs, while the rest climbed Mt. Te Huruhuru in the Hunter Hills.
Coming Club trips are to Mueller Hut at Mt. Cook, a Herbert Forest working bee, the Herbert Forest Guided Walk Day on the 28th April, Mt. Kyburn, and Tekapo. More information is available on the NOTMC website under “What’s on?”
The Guest Speaker was Mark Hay who gave us an insight into travelling in a group by motorbike through Vietnam. Some of the things they saw in their 8 day journey on their Russian bikes were floating fishing villages, a chopstick factory, a 31k long natural cave system with stalactites, and a similar length one dug during the war.
They experienced the wholesome fresh food of chicken, pork, rice and local vegetables, as well as reluctantly sampling weasel coffee and a meal made from a snake.
Vietnam has a young population having grown recently from 28m to 80m. Traffic was coped with under the “he who hesitates is lost” presumption that the locals use!
They marvelled at the huge number ornate shrines some which are still being built, the beautiful scenery, and were fascinated by the motorbikes being used as freight trucks and having to slam on the brakes for a large flock of geese crossing the road.
The final part of the trip included an overnight train trip to Hanoi. They thought Vietnam was an exciting friendly and safe place to visit.
Avoca Hut 23rd-25th March 2013
Trip Report
What do you do when a strong windy, wet NWer is predicted when your trip is to be to Mount Alexander on the West Coast? Well eight keen trampers were still keen to go somewhere. With consultation of likely spots and weather effects it was decided to go to Avoca Hut in the Torlesse Range 50km west of Arthurs Pass.
Not to be outdone by Karyl Robertson, the first stop was Geraldine for a good coffee, the second at Castlehill for cream and raspberry jam on scones. Avoca hut was only 10minutes from the car. It was first built as a homestead in 1906 and has recently been restored by DOC. It is a delight! After settling in, some in tents, the eight of us went on an exploratory trip to the ridges to the North East. Amazing views were observed of the railway to Arthurs Pass including two large high viaducts and 5 tunnels. After a good meal, many stories of the past were told with hilarity.
We were fortunate to have Bill Bews and Maurice and Phyllis Gray who had been in the area before. So our second day was planned to explore the relics and operation of the coal mine that operated, in the area from about 1915 to 1925. It was a full day with reasonable weather. Foundations of cottages and bridge remains were found as well as a steam engine and boiler at the top of a cableway. The track of the connecting railway line to the main line was visible. We followed the cableway(2 cables still intact) through thick bush, on quite a slope, down to the river. Noel Pullan our professional cameraman had plenty of features to photograph. After lunch it was up the river to a side valley to the coal mine. After exploring, we walked up to the Broken river hut(4 bunks) which is mainly used by hunters. On returning we practised our river crossing skills and walked back to the hut. A great meal was had by all. We could only marvel at the determination and hard work of the early coal miners. The stories that were not told the first night were told the second!!
The final day involved packing up and heading to Cave stream by Castlehill. With head torches on and split into two groups of four we walked through the cave system about 1km. The water was cold (the shouting was loud), in places it was deep with several small waterfalls to negotiate and an interesting ladder climb out, but all quite exciting.
Geraldine provided a warm welcome coffee, on the way home, as well as a visit to Barkers.
By the way the weather was as predicted with strong winds at high altitudes so Mounts Torlesse and Alexander beckon for another day.
Thanks to Bill, Noel, Phyllis, Maurice, Anne, Rod and Wendy for great company and making it a trip to remember.
Dave Mellish
Club Night – 11 /03/13
31 people attended.
A policy for non-members coming on trips which had been passed in Committee was put to the membership and endorsed. The policy will go on the web site shortly. There was also a reminder about the code of conduct for tramping particularly concerning gates and respect for landowners’ property as well as general safety. The President reminded members of the need to support the Herbert Forest Guided walks day in April as well as the working Bee on Sunday 21st April There were a number of notices from FMC and a reminder about the AGM. A discussion about the current membership followed and the need to encourage more involvement and active support with suggestions from members present. It was agreed with a show of hands that there would be no club night in December.
Recent trips included a weekend tramp to Mt St Bathans staying overnight at Boundary Creek hut. After exploring some local tracks on the Saturday there was an early start for the 6 members the following day. After nearly 5 hours of climbing with improving weather, the group were rewarded with amazing panoramic views at the summit. There was also a working Bee on the tracks in Herbert Forest but with only 5 members , the job list was only one third completed leaving many more essential tasks for the next scheduled day on 21st April. 8 people went on the walk from Camp Iona through to the Herbert forest tracks. A new programme is now posted on the website and available in hard copy. Wednesday walker trips included the stoneyards off Balmoral road, Gentle Annie hut where 2 juvenile falcons were spotted, Otekaieke hill and Mt Meyer. On average 20 to 25 people were on each walk. Wednesday walkers would also do some maintenance work on the Herbert Forest tracks.
The guest speaker was Ann Leidecker who described her trip to Zambia last year building houses with Habitat for Humanity. The group of 16 volunteers from different parts of New Zealand worked in a village in the copper belt. They constructed 2 houses using sun dried clay bricks and the photographs showed the construction in progress as well as the basic nature of life in the village which has no electricity or running water. Ann talked about visits to the local school and orphanage and the devastating impact that HIV Aids has had on the country. After the building project there was a visit to the Victoria Falls and one of the national parks.
Mt. St. Bathans
Sat 16th/Sun 17th February 2013
Six of us set out in two vehicles at 9am on a sunny Saturday morning. Uwe, who was supposed to co-lead with Brent opted to stay home after coming down with a cold on Thursday.
We made our way to St. Bathan’s, where we had a coffee (most important) at the historic Vulcan Hotel and Jac a play with the black lab who enjoyed a game of soccer. We then walked around the well laid out track along the “Blue Lake” or formerly known “Glory Hole”, where at its high time gold was sluiced.
We carried on towards the Manuherikia River and after about 5km of challenging (for me as I haven’t done much of it) 4 Wheel driving with several river crossings we arrived at our destination of Boundary Creek Hut near the East Branch of the Manuherikia. The DOC hut is a tidy 8 bunk hut with a fire place and a very small creek behind. We organised our sleeping arrangements, some of us put up a tent, 3 slept in the hut. Then we set off on foot to explore Mutton Creek track, a 4 wheel drive track over a saddle just across the river. We enjoyed pleasant views as we also tried to figure out a way up the ridge to Mt. St. Bathans, our object for the next day.
After dinner and with an early rise in mind we headed to bed with the chooks (not that there were any).
The alarm went off at 5.30am, all packed up and ready to go we started out just before 7 in low cloud. We followed a 4 wheel track up the ridge for about two hours, and at a height of about 1600m the cloud opened up and the views just got better and better. It was like diving into the other direction, another world up there! In bright sunshine and a bit of a breeze we carried on upwards. As it turned out a boundary fence on the ridgeline had been taken out by big machines, evidence being holes all along the upper track, fence posts and loose wire and ongoing 4 wheel drive track nearly up to the top. With rocks and some interesting rock formations this part looked like the surface of the moon! We arrived at the top after 4.5hrs of walking, just right for lunch!
The 360 deg view was amazing: the coast to the east, Mt. Aspiring to the south west, Mt. Cook to the north west. and the Kakanui Ranges to the north east. Time flew, we spent a whole hour on the summit of Mt. St. Bathan’s at 2086m, taking in the views. Also the cloud had pretty much disappeared in the valleys. The only flaw being piles of rubble including seven black car batteries and wood leftover from a triangle trig.
The way down the same track took only about 2.5hrs, a distance of about 9.5km, and descending roughly 1,300 meters, so we arrived back at the hut mid afternoon. Not long after that we drove back – more 4WD road – via Falls Dam and the settlement of small cribs. The drive took a lot longer than was thought and by the time we got to Palmerston it was 7pm and everyone was hungry. Fish’n Chips filled the gap and there was enough time for Graham to catch the bus to Dunedin for work the next morning.
The rest of us carried on back home, tired, but pleased to have had a great time.
Sylvia for Brent , Jac, Matt, Graham and Jane.
