Tramp Reflections 801 - Urchin to Waipakahi, Kaimanawas

28-30 November 2008

Friday evening we were picked up conveniently in front of our house. We jumped into the van with John &Val and Nick & Sheila. Sharon was picked up on the way to Kevin's home, where he, Grant and Adrienne joined the gang. PJ hopped on the bus on our way out and off we were; in her hurry she had forgotten to bring her new super socks and moulded inlay soles which would later haunt her during the trip. First stop: dinner in Tokoroa for a change. Some of us went to a nice looking roast-meal place, but were disappointed to get food that was microwave warmed, too little, that took too long and on top of that the lamb on the plate was actually beef. John & Val had no such problem, having had their tea already at home as usual.

On arrival at the campsite along Kaimanawa Rd in the dark, the best spot was taken by the people familiar with the site. This became clear the following morning when the sun struggled to dry our tents.

Adrienne (as sort of sub-leader) and Nick & Sheila were briefed by Kevin where we were and where we would go and where they should go to find our river campsite that evening. That's easier said than done while looking at the map. When you actually follow a river, every bend and hill looks the same. They were planning to do some sightseeing in the area first before heading up the Waipakihi river valley.

The rest of us were dropped off by Nick at the start of the Urchin track and gradually we climbed our way up through the bush line to the open top; clear blue sky guaranteeing beautiful views of Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe. We spotted three trampers down in the Waipakihi river valley below us, but that would be all that we would see of human life that weekend.

On our steep descent we were surprised by the cry of a long tail cuckoo (we learned later from Val) that can easily be misinterpreted as that of a child screaming for help. Arrival at the river meant lunch time. Warm temperatures made the many river crossings we would do that and the following day very pleasant. Grant was thinking back at the time that he did the same but in winter and how numb his feet were then.

We arrived at our intended campsite, drank tea and dipped into one of the nice swimming holes; Kevin and John walked further downstream to look for Adrienne, Nick & Sheila, but to no avail. This didn't worry us much, and we all went to sleep nice and early after dinner; Grant and Kevin in their sleeping bags under a flysheet challenging the sand flies.

The next morning we left the tents to dry and went scrambling up the hill behind us. The many windfalls made the trip longer and more challenging. Kevin and Grant tied some yellow ribbons to mark our trail. Following the ridge we arrived at the highest point in the area, Patutu, 1708m. At least that is what the experts thought. Standing on the top we looked at another highpoint 'around the corner' with an actual trig on it with a name I can't remember now, but we renamed it as Patu-one. We had beautiful views of the landscape again, with rugged rock cliffs and some clusters of alpine flora. It was quite hot on the open and barren tops,

Later, reading the November FMC bulletin, I thought we might have been on or on the border of private land, known as Needles Block. Following and removing our markers on the way down, we arrived back at the camp for lunch. Tents and rucksacks were packed and the site was abandoned in a hurry.

Several river bends, flats and crossings further we walked out the widening valley. The last part of the track was washed away and we saw Adrienne and Sheila on the road end in front of us. They had just arrived and were on their way back upstream again to meet us! They had started upstream at only 4pm the day before and had spent the night on one of the first campsites, where we had noticed on our way through that the fireplace was still warm.

Nick & Sheila did enjoy their first two nights of camping in the wild very much and everybody else had a good time also, apart from some blisters here (Val) and there (PJ). All gathered and changed near the van and Nick drove us away and home. Our last stop was the Turangi truck stop diner for a nice big meal to recharge our batteries.

Michiel van Dijk

Photographs by unknown (Casio EX-V7).