Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2017 i Wilderness

IVORY LAKE HUT: IT’S A HARD-WON JOURNEY TO OUR HUT OF THE YEAR LAST YEAR, Ivory Lake Hut was named ‘Hut of the Year’ in the Wilderness Outdoor Awards. There’s no doubt that it’s stunning; perched on a polished rock bench above Stag Creek and overlooking Ivory Lake. But perhaps what makes it even more special is the arduous journey to reach the hut. Since Wilderness crowned the hut, several tramping parties have required rescue from the rugged and sometimes treacherous route. Colin Rolfe of Nelson has been to Ivory Lake twice this season, and he said it’s likely that people underestimate the difficulty of the route to the hut. It’s about 30km to get to Ivory Lake Hut, which typically takes people two to three days. “But there’s no…

WEKAS ARE charismatic birds, often attracted to human activity which makes them an endless source of entertainment for trampers. People who live alongside weka often have a less charitable opinion, as they have to live with the bird’s opportunistic snatching and stealing habits. There are four subspecies of weka: North Island weka, western weka, buff weka (which became extinct in its eastern South Island range around 1920 and is now restricted to the Chatham Islands after reintroduction there in 1905) and Stewart Island weka. There is only slight differences between the subspecies. Weka occur in a wide variety of habitats, from the coastline to above the tree-line, including wetlands, rough pasture, shrubland and native and plantation forests. The birds are predominantly brown, with dorsal feathers streaked with black and all…

PENN CREEK Hut is a seldom-used and highly undervalued gem of a hut. A dedicated team of Victoria University Tramping Club members give the hut a solid spruce-up from time to time, and also work on track maintenance in the area. The hut is most easily accessed from Otaki Forks, via Field Hut. There is also a route, no longer marked on maps, that follows the Otaki River and then Penn Creek to lead directly to the hut. Visiting Penn Creek in the middle of winter is somewhat of a tradition of mine, as there will usually be no other visitors there. It can become a cosy hideaway for a group, to sit by the fire and eat good food. So, come the shortest day of winter, our group of…

KNOWING HOW to stay warm when tramping in the colder months is vital for enjoying your wintertime rambles. Here are a few tips... Rest awhile. Going hard-out, sweating up a storm might feel like the best way to get warm, but once you stop moving, that sweat will cause a chill as it cools down on your skin. Wear moisture-wicking clothing and take rests to avoid over-exerting and drenching your base layers. Keep eating. You’ll need more calories in the cold, so keep munching while you walk. Good options for winter are chocolate, cheese, and salami. Drink plenty of water. It’s surprisingly easy to become dehydrated in the winter – the air is drier and due to the cold you may not feel thirsty. Eating soups and drinking tea at…

FIRE GETS AN UPGRADE The wood-burning Biolite stove has received an upgrade. The Biolite Camp-Stove 2 ($259.99) is claimed to be 50 per cent more powerful than the original version. It features an integrated battery and an updated dashboard for improved control. Burning only wood, the CampStove 2's fan creates a smokeless fire that can cook meals, boil water (4.5min for one litre) and turn the heat produced into usable electricity to charge your devices. Stability the name of the game It’s been 11 years since Merrell first debuted its Moab (Mother of all boots) shoe and it’s still the company’s most popular light hiker. Which explains why it has received an upgrade. The Moab 2 ($219, 888g) has the same fit as the original, but some design alterations have…

Hold it steady A steady hand is crucial, particularly in low light situations when the phone will struggle. Hold the phone steady with both hands, or find something to rest the phone against that can act as a stabiliser. Tap to focus Tap the screen to set the focus point and exposure. On most phones, this will also bring up an exposure slider next to the focus point, use this to make your photo lighter or darker and get the exposure right. Don’t use the zoom Because the zoom is digital, not optical, when you use this function you’re basically just cropping the image and this will result in a noticeable loss in quality. Walk closer to your subject for a better quality shot. Make the most of the features…

Why you should go multi-day tramping Day and weekend tramps are both a blessing and a curse. They’re great in terms of getting an outdoors fix, but they often leave you longing for more. The good news is, for trampers with a couple of overnight tramps under their belts and a few days of annual leave to use, an extended tramp is certainly achievable. Multi-day tramps sometimes require convoluted logistics, but the experience of being in the hills for days on end more than makes up for it. Between four and six days is ideal: enough time to cover a decent distance and to feel at home in a landscape, but not so long that you come home bone-tired and speaking gibberish. Required skills Navigation: It’s unlikely your phone app…

You need to know the route or you’ll need a helicopter to take you out. Warwick Briggs balanced on a near-vertical slope, 300m above the south branch of the Anatoki Valley near Golden Bay. Above him, the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter manoeuvred to lower a paramedic and a sling. The unthinkable had just happened: a fall from The Wireless. Beside Briggs were his tramping companions Amanda Harvey and Julie Sherratt. Amanda was crouched behind Julie to keep her warm. Briggs watched as the wind buffeted the helicopter’s rotors close to the rock wall of the Dragons Teeth, thinking: “What if the chopper crashes?” The Dragons Teeth are a dozen topographical canines that rise up in the Douglas Range in Kahurangi National Park. The route traversing them doesn’t include standing on…

ALL WAS FINE and clear for our Saturday morning wander up the lower Clyde River and into the Lawrence, the Clyde’s largest tributary. The river has a very large catchment which extends north-eastwards for many kilometres to the ranges bordering the upper Rakaia River. This valley provides typical Canterbury high country travel, with mostly shingled terraces, interspersed with tussock flats and multiple river crossings. The Clyde carries a reasonable volume of water, and this day we avoided the main channel. There’s no marked track as such – it’s a route and you need to follow your nose. We stuck to within 100m of the Clyde’s east bank for most of the journey. By the time we reached the Lawrence junction, the Clyde was well away from us – to the…

FEELING I needed a quick and cheeky hut escape, I soon had my sights set on Sylvester Hut. The hut is just a two-hour easy walk from the car park and is nestled on the bushline in Kahurangi National Park. It’s actually an easy day-walk destination, but also makes for an excellent base from which to explore the surrounding tops and lakes. Passing the track entrance to nearby Asbestos Cottage, I finally arrived at the car park, which sits in shade most of the day and so was still dusted with snow from more than a week prior. On checking the intentions book at the track end, it looked like I’d have some company at the hut. The previous long weekend the hut had been overflowing. The early part of…

STRAPS Soft neoprene material is common. Straps should be wide enough to support the weight of the headlamp and allow easy adjustment so the headlamp doesn’t bounce around or slide down while you’re moving about. A top strap is common on models with a heavier, rear-mounted battery pack. Straps should be removeable for washing. Function and mode Single-switch operation is the norm, with one on/off button used to toggle through the various lighting modes. A twist-able face will adjust the light from spot to floodlight (some models are turned on this way). A transport lock is useful to prevent the headlamp being inadvertently turned on in your pack. Many headlamps have a red light function to preserve night vision – useful for reading and stargazing. ON/OFF The torch should be…

Get your photo published here to receive an Opinel No.5 folding knife worth $20. Learn more about Opinel at ampro.co.nz. Last Weekend submission criteria can be found at wildernessmag.co.nz…

The goal is to see if we can engage 100,000 New Zealanders. We think that will have a massive impact FOR FRASER McConnell, getting people to care about conservation involves more than taking pretty pictures of birds and providing grim statistics on declining populations. “The question was, how could we create the most transparent and engaging experience?” McConnell says, crouched next to one of the GoodNature sensor-enabled traps set up in Matuku Link in the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park. The answer: “By being really clear about where the money goes, but also being engaged with it every step of the way.” McConnell, a 24-year-old mechanical engineer, teamed up with a group of young entrepreneurs in late 2016 to launch Squawk Squad, a predator control programme that, using sensors on traps,…

A quickly flowing stream may seem like a great place to collect water. However, the opposite can be true. Halfway up Mt Ngauruhoe, Irishman Alan Moore knew he had a problem. It was 2014, and for the previous few months he’d been thru-hiking the Te Araroa Trail with his girlfriend, but had taken a detour after completing the Whanganui River Journey to walk the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. As he made his way amongst the throngs of tourists, he brushed off his nausea, blaming it on the drinks he’d had the night before. “The clouds came in and I couldn’t see 10m above or below me,” Moore recalls. “They also clouded my judgement, as the onset of light-headedness didn't send me back down the mountain.” He carried on, assuming it was…

THIS EASY 15km return walk has it all – bush, beach, coastal track, wildlife and a historic homestead. North of Long Bay, the walkway winds its way along the Okura River Estuary, through coastal forest to Karepiro Bay and the historic Dacre Cottage, then onto Stillwater. I’ve walked it a couple of times, starting from the southern end at Haigh Access Road. There is plenty of parking but no toilet facilities until you reach Dacre Cottage, 4.2km in. The track kicks off with a 20m wooden bridge across a side arm of the Okura River before climbing through some beautiful mixed coastal forest, with groves of nikau, pohutukawa and regenerating kauri. As the track skirts the river’s edge, wading birds such as stilts and oystercatchers can be seen. Pushing up…

THIS IS the perfect winter spread to utilise the greens in the garden. It has less oil than normal pesto so it travels a lot better (no leaky oil containers in your pack). It’s great for getting more greens into your diet and also has a good protein and healthy fat hit from the seeds. If you don’t have a good source of watercress, you can use rocket instead. This is a favourite of mine to spread on crackers topped with gherkins for some pre-dinner treats in a hut. Profile Prep time 10min Cost $4–$8 (depending if you have greens in your garden) Ingredients ½ cup parsley (tightly packed) 1.5 cup watercress (tightly packed) 1.5 cup kale (tightly packed) 1 cup sunflower seeds ½ cup olive oil ¼ cup lemon…