Tramp Reflections 786 - Queens Birthday with Waikato Tramping Club

31 May - 2 June 2008

The weather forecast was not good, Kevin was doing a first aid course on the mountain and there weren't any others really interested in a big trip. Waikato Club were doing Crosbies Clearing and the Camels Hump - 2 areas that we have always wanted to go to, so we joined up with them.

We met in a Knox Str car park at 7 pm, with everyone slowly turning up in the dark. Waikato has their own trailer, so they could take 12 people in the van and not worry about luggage. It's a jolly good covered trailer too, that they had especially made for them. We weren't totally among strangers as our own PJ was one of the crew. After picking up a couple of stragglers on the way, we headed for the Kauaeranga Valley where we camped for the night at Booms Flat.

The next morning, we went up through a bit of pine forest and then into regenerating native forest. The track was undulating and not at all arduous. We managed to keep up with the much younger and fitter legs ok. At one stage when we were sidling around a bit of a hill, there was some doubt as to whether we were on the right track as we seemed to be going in the wrong direction. However time and a sign post soon told us what the GPS didn't - we were right.

In mid afternoon we climbed up onto a hill where there was a memorial to the 2 Swedish tourists who had gone missing and believed murdered, many years ago, Heidi Paakkonen and Urban Hoglin. John had been involved in the search for them in 1989. It was a lovely place in which to be remembered as it looked out over the Coromandel and Table Mountain.

From there it was a short drop down to Crosbies Clearing and our campsite for the night, where we were met by our van driver.

The men went off on the search for water and soon found it. Tents were pitched, tea was cooked, a fire was lit and the newspaper and a photocopy of the history of the area read, before some of us toddled off to bed. Others took their flask and radio and went back up to the memorial to listen to the All Blacks game. In all it was a very pleasant evening with good company.

We set off the next day, with our eyes peeled for any relics left of the old farming days. Old fences and a bathtub were all that we found. The scrub is rapidly covering all the grazed areas, but there are still a few open spaces left.

The 2 Johns tried to explore them all! The track was again undulating and not too difficult with lovely views at times. We came out on the Tapu Coroglen Rd where the van was waiting. Most of us walked down the road to view the huge Square Kauri, estimated to be 1200 years old. We looked up at the Camels Back where we were going the next day.

Our campsite for the night was at the Tapu Camping Ground. Some of us pitched our tents and others elected to sleep in cabins as rain was predicted.

It did rain overnight and it was drizzling and overcast when we woke. The weather did not deter us as we set out on the next challenge - the Camels Back. Leader John had done part of the track with his wife on a survey but some of the day was unknown territory.

The track was pretty overgrown and very muddy with a lot of the ground dug up by pigs. Coats were necessary and long gaiters very handy. We had to search for the track in parts, but eventually made it to where the camel's legs probably would have been, for lunch. Most of the crew went on to try to find a way up onto the summit, but had to admit defeat and return. There was a lot of cloud around the tops. It took a while to return to the van with the day going a good hour over the generous estimated time. We were all absolutely wet and filthy when we reached the van and had to lay out newspaper before we could all climb aboard. We drove down to the stream and had a jolly good wash before we changed our clothing to come home.

We both thoroughly enjoyed this trip. We felt welcomed and safe under the leadership and really enjoyed tramping with younger people again. They stopped every hour for a break and checked up to make sure everyone was doing ok at frequent intervals. It was also good to meet up with PJ again. Thanks Waikato Club for a great long weekend.

Val

Photographs by unknown (Olympus uD600).