Lakehead to Upper Travers

December 28 18km 7.5 hrs est.

A pleasant start to the day walking up the Travers valley open grassy areas interspersed with patches of beech forest. Steady climb reaching the sunny John Tait Hut for lunch. A short diversion to see the very picturesque Travers Falls, and then a more steep 220m climb to the open grassy area leading towards the Upper Travers Hut. Good views of Mt Travers with patches of snow. The stream water is sooo cold !

St Arnaud to Lakehead Hut

December 27 2011 9km 2.5 hrs

Our ATC group of 7 set off early afternoon with our Heavy 12 day packs - grateful for a short flat walk today along the side of Lake Rotoiti mostly in beech forest. A super hut , but sandflies soon zoomed in for a feed. Walked over to the other side of the valley to where the Travers River now lows.

Pelorus Bridge to St James Summary

December 27 - Jan 15

Combining one of the Auckland Tramping Club's Christmas trips with Te Araroa is what this period is all about - not a standard through trip, and quite a bit more. This consisted of

Dec 27 - 29 St Arnaud to Blue Lake Hut
Dec 30 Hut day because of rain
Dec 31 Moss Pass - d'Urville River - Upper d'Urville Hut - 8hrs, big downhill from Moss Pass
Jan 1 David Saddle - E&W Matakitaki - Bobs Hut - 12 hrs 50 mins ... ahhh
Jan 2 W Matakitaki - 3 Tarns Pass - Ada Pass Hut - 9.5 hrs
Jan 3 St James Walkway joining the TA Waiau route late morning - north to Caroline Biv
Jan 4 Over Waiau Pass on a lovely sunny day to Blue Lake Hut
Jan 5 - 7 Back to St Arnaud via Sabine / Speargrass Hut
Jan 7 Road section from Richmond Ranges track to St Arnaud
Jan 8 - 15 South to North Richmond Ranges and Pelorus River track / road to Pelorus Bridge

The end result is that I covered the section from Pelorus Bridge to the St James Walkway with some great and very experienced tramping companions, and now keen to continue on south for up to 2 weeks more before heading back to Auckland again. Wonderful scenery, mostly good weather, and a much needed reminder of how much harder some parts of TA South Island are than further north.

TA Opening and Plans for summer 2011 - 2012

It was great to be at the official opening of Te Araroa with Hazel on December 3rd and from it get a better appreciation of the major undertaking that has brought TA to this point. The Island Bay setting was superb and the weather was so kind. Afterwards we followed TA back into the city, as ever impressed by how strenuous Wellington city walks can be !

Soon after Christmas I will be on the trail again, first from St Arnaud south to the St James Walkway and then a big loop back to St Arnaud with a party from the Auckland Tramping Club. Then reversing my normal direction, two of us will be going south to north up the Richmond Ranges, so that I can then complete the TA route up to Pelorus Bridge, where I arrived from the north back in April. All going well I will then travel back down to the top of the St James Walkway and follow that until where my first trip left off, and then continue, ever on.

Queen Charlotte Track to Pelorus Bridge

Sunday 24th April 38.5 km 8 hours, including a good break in The Mussel Pot, Havelock, for lunch

Rained all night, and pleased that my tent coped remarkably well. Packed up in the rain, and then off on the last 30 minutes of the Queen Charlotte Track to Anakiwa. Water everywhere, and the rain continuing on through the day only too regularly. So now at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound, with a combination of walking tracks and roads to take me away west from the sound, and over to the head of an arm of Pelorus Sound.

As promised the side track up Mahakipawa Hill was steep, but fortunately not the bare clay surface going up as per the TA notes - if it had been, that would have meant a road diversion. But steep up, and then steep and more slippery down with Havelock being so close at the bottom, so a lot of care needed to stay on my feet - success !

Patchy views of the surrounding hills, and the Sounds looking quite brown from the runoff from all the rivers and creeks that were now in flood. After lunch along SH6 towards Canvastown, with time to watch the flooded rivers and creeks, and the many waterfalls on the side of the road. With the creeks flooded, at Daltons Bridge, rather than taking the new track from there to Pelorus Bridge (which has side creeks to cross) I stayed on the main road. As soon as I reached the Pelorus Bridge DOC sign a sandfly spotted me.

A change into dry clothes (yay!), a pie at the cafe, and time now to leave Te Araroa until next summer. Richmond Ranges ahead, which are serious tramping country - I will have to check out my options before continuing on.

Queen Charlotte Track Day 2

Saturday 23rd April 7.5 hrs 32.5 km

Bay Of Many Coves campsite to Umungata (Davies) Bay campsite. Now along the ridge between Queen Charlotte and Kerepuru Sounds, with views sometimes to one side, and sometimes to the other. Fortunately not following the exact contours of the ridge, so not a steep up and down track all the time - just some of the time when coming to the lower saddles between the two Sounds.

By late morning the occasional light drizzle had become occasional, and then more persistent rain. But not cold or windy, so relatively pleasant if you kept moving. Track becoming a bit more slippery in places, but staying on my feet all of today. Pitched tent in the rain, and it now really was quite continuous. Just about at the end of the track, but stopped here because this is the last DOC campsite.

South Island - Queen Charlotte Track

Easter Friday 22nd April 36 km 7 hours

From Ship Cove to Bay of Many Coves campsite. A fine day with some cloud, but wet weather on the way, so making the most of it today.

Time for a quick look at the Cook memorial, then off up the hill away from Ship Cove. In and out of little valleys, past Resolution Bay then up to a saddle looking down into Endeavour Inlet. Where I caught up with the large group of mountain bikers who had passed me earlier. But then they were gone off down the hill.

A close encounter with the track, courtesy of a tree root, left a bit o damage, but nothing to hold me up too long. Down along the shore of Endeavour Inlet, on past the houses at the end, and then a lunch stop looking back to where I had been an hour or so earlier. And so the track winds on, into and out of Big Bay, and then the direct route up to Kerepuru Saddle (bypassing Camp Bay) Now views of Sounds on both sides of the track, notably from the 2 Eastwell lookouts - the second especially a superb high point up a steep side track.

And so on to the Bay of Many Coves campsite on the ridge looking down into Queen Charlotte Sound. A weka tried to souvenir one of my walking socks, but had the sense to understand that it was fairly undesirable, leaving it a short way off in the undergrowth.