Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2016 i Wilderness

AT HINAPOURI TARN, TOILET PAPER BLOWS IN THE WIND Beating the crowds in Nelson Lakes National Park by finding a remote tarn to camp beside is a popular objective of many visitors. Too many, according to DOC. Wilderness has often promoted the virtues of camping beside idyllic Hinapouri Tarn, just off Robert Ridge and near Angelus Hut. But it appears this option, and others in the wider Angelus Basin, is becoming too popular and human waste is now a blight on the scenery. “We have had reports through the summer of toilet paper blowing around within the basin,” said DOC’s Nelson Lakes operations manager John Wotherspoon. “Any camping above the bushline is hard on the environment. Toilet waste doesn’t break down as quickly – it’s colder and there is less…

It’s bound to happen eventually. After several decades of exploring your local ranges, you’ll scan the map from top to bottom, unable to find a stretch of track or a ridge top you haven’t done before. Even somewhere as track-happy as the Tararuas or the Ruahines has an end point, and you may not have the will or the time to venture further afield. But a group of such trampers from Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay have discovered that the blue wiggly lines on the topomap provide a world of new, unfamiliar adventures in the hills they thought they knew like the back of their hand. For five years or more, Jean Garman and numerous other trampers from Manawatu Tramping and Skiing Club (MTSC) have climbed and descended more rivers and…

Hidden in the excoriated ravines of the upper Havelock River is the tiny Agony Island and Eric Bivouac. The rustic four-bunk hut belongs to the Canterbury Mountaineering Club and was built some 80 years ago to facilitate climbing and exploration in this inhospitable fastness. Though it lies on Christchurch’s back door, it may as well be deepest, darkest Africa when you consider the days of the year on which you may be fortunate enough to reach the ‘shores’ of the island. There’s just one noun to describe the impediment to travel here – water, be it in frozen or liquid form. The bivvy lies near the head of the valley, nearly 40km from the last formed road, Though a 4WD trail penetrates the Havelock for much of this distance, that…

For those who value taking their kids into the outdoors, organising a day out can be exhausting. The more kids you have, the more effort it takes. Where is everyone’s raincoat? Is that cough going to be a problem? Will everyone eat the food? Best solution: stick to a place you know, remove all variables, have a good escape plan. Keep it short, and keep your wits. So take a moment to imagine what it might be like to organise and execute a year-long tramping trip around the world, with three kids. Sarah Climenhega and Paul Meier, from Toronto, Canada, have been doing exactly that, and the family has recently completed their New Zealand leg. I met up with Sarah, Paul and their three kids, Jacob, 13, Kyra, 10, and…

How do you grow the population of kakapo when kakapo can’t do it themselves? Email helps. Each morning during the kakapo breeding season, which runs from late summer to early autumn, Dr Andrew Digby turns on his computer to get the latest updates. He’s not hoping to hear from family and friends, though living in a tent for several months on the remote Whenua Hou/Codfish Island near Rakiura, you could understand if that was the case. What he’s really hoping to see is a graph with a simple red line on it. Simple as it may appear, the red line is significant: it means kakapo on Whenua Hou or at Anchor Island in Dusky Sound have mated. The emails are generated by a little device attached to each kakapo that…

• Check your garment’s care instructions. If it can’t withstand a washing machine, be prepared to get your hands soapy. • Wash your garment using a mild soap and cold water. • Hang your garment and apply a waterproofing spray while still wet. • Put your garment in a tumble dryer on a medium setting for an hour. The heat from the dryer is an important element, as it reactivates the existing waterproof coating and sets the new coating into the pores of the garment’s membrane. • “Wash your waterproof garment as often as you wash your jeans,” Hobbs recommends. You don’t have to reapply the waterproof coating each time you wash it, but keeping the garment clean will prolong the life of your gear.…

NO KIDDING? WHEN STEPHEN CONN (Pigeon Post, April 2016) says that one of the worst things a nature lover can do to the environment is have children, I understand his point. As a fellow nature lover, I share his despair at the environmental destruction going on. But responsible parenting is also the opportunity that we, as a species, have to turn this around. And really, if all the environmentally aware people stopped having children we’d lose this chance. When it comes to my own children, I have found that experiencing nature together provides some of the best chances to nurture their own sense of respect for the natural world. Not only that, but through wilderness experiences they can learn about leadership, decision making and risk, and build relationships that can…

Eric Buenz was dismembering a bighorn sheep he had shot when the thought struck him: why was the bullet he’d pulled out of the animal about half the size of the one that went in? “You have to wonder,” he says. “Where did the lead go?” That was nearly 10 years ago, and Buenz, who was a Mayo Clinic College of Medicine biomedical researcher at the time, realised that the lead disintegrated into microscopic fragments – and that, over the years, he’d probably been eating them. “Saying there is an explosion of lead throughout the animal would be a bit over the top, but not by too much,” he says. “The concentrations are higher near the point of impact, and aren’t isolated to the wound channel.” Further reading bore out…

Whether it be soaring and gliding high over a backcountry ridge or gently winging its way along a main highway searching for roadkill, the sight of a harrier hawk, or kahu, is common in New Zealand. Also known as a ‘swamp harrier’, it is a native species. The harrier occupies a very wide ecological niche and is abundant throughout most of New Zealand, including the coastal fringe, estuaries, wetlands, pine forest, farmland and high country. Although the plumage is highly variable, adults generally have a tawny-brown back, a pale cream-streaked breast and yellow eyes. Fledglings and juveniles have a much darker chocolate brown plumage all over. Females are slightly larger than males and the overall colour of both sexes becomes paler with age; older birds are almost a creamy white…

Nelson Lakes has a great variety of dramatic scenery. On a fine day above the treeline, the panoramic views are second to none. This view of Travers Valley was gained after a trip to the saddle just north of Mt Cupola. We had been staying at Cupola Hut and, wanting an alpine foray free of our backpacks, had climbed to the 1900m saddle to take in the view of the Sabine Valley. As we were retracing our footsteps, I found the going easy, giving me time to take in the scenery below. I let my mate go on ahead to provide some scale amidst the dramatic and huge landscape. Cupola Hut is not far away, just round to the left. The ridge directly ahead comes down from Mt Hopeless and…

There has been an outcry recently over the crude slogans painted on the vehicles of rental company Wicked Campers. Paula Bennett, the Associate Minister of Conservation, has spoken out, suggesting something should be done to get these visually-polluting vans off the road. She is the right person for the job; she is not someone you could accuse of being ‘PC’. As a leader in the tourism industry, she can help ensure it maintains a social license to operate. Tourism, more than any other industry, makes its income off the back of public goods. Whether roads, beaches, tracks or mountain tops, tourism seeks to commoditise what belongs to us all. The trade-off the public makes is for jobs, tourism spending, vibe and the opportunity to meet great people from around the…

Part way up a mountain in Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park a dozen hikers conduct a tense exchange. Gusts of wind strike at random, so fierce they force everyone to a crouch. Turning around seems the obvious choice. But several members of the party have come from overseas; they’re armed with cameras and anticipation, and to give up below the summit would be disappointing. They’ve come from America, England and Australia, with hopes of making it to a rock at the top of Mt Wakefield with words and symbols painted on it. Another gust, and they’re clutching alpine shrubs to hold steady. “It’s just too risky,” says Julian Rosser, an Aucklander, who knows they have not yet reached the most exposed ridge. He has been up Mt Wakefield several times, which…

A trip out of Glenorchy doesn’t have to be a multi-day event. For trampers seeking shorter tracks without sacrificing the region’s famous views, the Mt McIntosh Loop fits the bill. On a clear February morning, I shouldered a daypack and set off along the Glenorchy-Queenstown Road, passing through the Whakaari car park and began to follow the dusty Mount Judah Road into the high country. Like most former roads-turned-tracks, the initial elevation gain was consistent and required some legwork. A little over an hour from the car park, I reached The Junction, the turn-off point for the Mt McIntosh Loop. To the right, trampers can continue on the road to visit the area’s historic scheelite mines. Scheelite, a tungsten ore used to manufacture durable, heat-resistant steel, was actively mined in…

SEND YOUR PIX Get your photo published here to receive a set of four Light My Fire Sporks – one for you and three for your friends! Learn more about Spork at ampro.co.nz. Last Weekend submission criteria can be found at wildernessmag.co.nz…

One of the most magical parts of tramping is the moment you prop up your trail-weary feet on a weathered stone in a wild landscape and dig into your well-earned supper. Andrew MacDonald has tramping cuisine down to an art form. It all started on a trip he took with his father, Grant. A few years ago, they were tramping in Kahurangi National Park in search of the elusive rock wren. “It was a massive mission, and when you’re that tired and hungry, anything should taste good.” As they sat down to dinner one night, Grant pulled out one of his first freeze-dried creations: a Sicilian pasta, created in his own freeze-drying machine. Andrew’s packaged food didn’t hold a flame to his dad’s delicacy, and inspiration struck: Grant’s background in…

1 - TONGARIRO NATIONAL PARK Outside the Tongariro National Park Visitor Centre is a large volcanic rock, dedicated in 1998 when Tongariro became the first national park in the world to receive dual World Heritage status for both its natural and cultural values. Representatives from several iwi attended the memorable and moving celebration to mark this occasion, and each brought a rock from their own maunga. These rocks were together interred into a large rock from Tongariro, beneath a commemorative plaque outlining the area’s history as a national park – which, of course, was New Zealand’s first. 2 - ABEL TASMAN MEMORIAL, ABEL TASMAN NATIONAL PARK Dutch navigator Abel Tasman was the first European explorer to reach the islands of New Zealand and record his experiences. Cultural misunderstanding and bloodshed…

Our meticulous planning had us book the bus, boats and backpacker beds months in advance. Alas, we couldn’t book the weather. Doing the Dusky, New Zealand’s most difficult track, is not straightforward. The 84km route is about the same length as the Heaphy, but takes twice as long due to the rugged terrain. It’s similar to the Milford Track, in that both track ends are only accessible by boat. But all similarities with Great Walks end there. Mention the Dusky to those in the know and you will hear tales of knee-deep mud, voracious sandflies and non-stop rain. It’s a true classic, a rite of passage. It has a splendidly nasty reputation. Our trio embark on a Real Journeys vessel at Pearl Harbour, a stone’s throw from Manapouri. Surrounded by…

From lush lowland forests to vibrant ocean shores, New Zealand is positively teeming with abundance. For a keen forager, it’s an absolute gold mine. Foraging has gained popularity in New Zealand in recent years, with people increasingly more interested in locally sourced food, opting for sustainably harvested produce over imported fruits and veggies. To forage is to search widely for food, a movement which challenges the convenience of supermarket shopping, and encourages people to reestablish an understanding of where their food comes from. For Christchurch-based Peter Langlands, foraging is a way of life. He says his approach is more scientific than culinary, which is partly a nod to his ongoing research for Massey University and DOC. Much of his research lately has been in the Catlins, monitoring bar-tailed godwits. He…

A magnificent horn of a mountain, carved from the competing attentions of several glaciers, Mt Hooker is an arresting peak that forms the centrepiece of the expansive Hooker-Landsborough Wilderness Area. It was (re-)named in 1863 by explorer Julius Haast after the esteemed British botanist, Joseph Dalton Hooker. Early last century, the mountain was a coveted prize. Mountaineer Samuel Turner tried to climb Mt Hooker every year for 12 years, before he was finally successful with the first ascent in 1928. In Turner’s day, access was long and difficult, and his success was partly thanks to securing enough packhorses to gain access up the area’s notoriously large and difficult rivers. In some respects, not much has changed. Completion of the highway between Wanaka and Fox through Haast Pass in the mid-1960s…

GENTLE UPWARD PLANK 1 Start sitting on the floor with your feet hip-width apart. Feet flat on the floor and just forward of your hips. 2 Put your hands on the floor behind you, palms down with fingers pointing forward. If this is uncomfortable, you can try turning your fingers out. 3 Press down through your hands, lift your chest forward and up. Let your shoulders come down away from your ears and slightly back. Relax your shoulders. Do not pinch your shoulders back. 4 Hold for a few breaths, rest and repeat. INTENSE UPWARD PLANK 1 For a more intense stretch, keep the action in your hands, arms, chest and shoulders but now try lifting your hips up. 2 Press your feet into the floor. When your hips come…

FLOAT WHILE WALKING Comfort is what Teva says sets its latest Terra-Float range of sandals apart. Men’s and women’s Terra-Float ($139.95 - $199.95) are said to have the functionality of sports sandals combined with the wearability of casuals. They are made from a new ‘Float-Lite’ foam compound formulated for comfort, durability and low weight – from 145g to 238g. The sandals are said to offer better rebound, increased cushioning and a longer life than previously, and a wider upper allows for a more customisable fit. There’s an anti-microbial EVA footbed, adjustable nylon webbing and Teva diamond pattern outsole. QUICK RISOTTO Taking mama’s recipe, or great, great, great grandmother’s recipe, and turning it into a real meal that can be enjoyed within minutes seems a worthy enough endeavour. Hence Riso Scotti…