Innehållsförteckning för February 2017 från Wilderness

NOROVIRUS OUTBREAK ON TRAVERS-SABINE It was a nasty welcome to the New Year for 40 trampers who contracted norovirus on the Travers-Sabine circuit in Nelson Lakes National Park. No one knows how the outbreak occurred, but DOC was made aware of people being sick at West Sabine Hut on December 30 and walkers departing the trail also said they were sick or had encountered sick people. DOC has not confirmed the outbreak is norovirus, but the symptoms, vomiting and diarrhea, are consistent with the illness, which can spread easily in confined spaces. “As soon as you have vomiting in a closed space like a hut, even if vomiting into a bag, you have airborne contaminants,” said Nelson Lakes operations manager John Wotherspoon. “It’s real easy for that stuff to go…

Find an epic view If you are trying to capture that lasting memory of your friend on top of a peak, make sure you include the view which identifies the location. Otherwise they could just be anywhere. Capture the moment That moment of glory might not be the summit of the mountain but a point along the way, so keep your camera accessible and ready. If you are setting up a posed shot, try to get your friend to do something funny rather than just a boring shot of them facing the camera. Compose the shot With shots of people, try not to place the person in the centre of the photograph. Think about the rule of thirds and position the person on these third lines. When positioning a person…

Westland Tai Poutini National Park is an oddity. Many of our national parks have a clear boundary where human development ends and wild spaces begin, but Westland Tai Poutini is smack in the middle of the largest stretch of backcountry in New Zealand. It runs virtually unbroken from the top of the South Island right through to Fiordland. North of the park is the Adams Wilderness Area, east is Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park, south is the Hooker Landsborough Wilderness Area and to the west lies the Taman Sea. It is also one of the most diverse parks in New Zealand, containing several significant peaks over 3000m. The rivers are pristine and free from development from source to sea. The Southern Alps and the Tasman Sea are never more than 50km…

I checked my pack, tightened my boot laces, loosened one slightly… oh for God’s sake, just get on with it I stood on the deck of Fenella Hut in Kahurangi National Park, sipped my tea sweetened with condensed milk from my brand new Kathmandu cup and contemplated two important facts. One, that putting condensed milk in a toothpaste tube is sheer brilliance, albeit ironic in a dental sort of way and, two, that to be here on my own near the place where the mountains live in the sky felt like a spiritual detox. I didn’t mean to stay away for so long. In my childhood, tramping had been the norm. I used to complain every time my parents announced another tramp until, when I was aged about 10, I…

TRAMPING IN THE dark can be exciting, but it means you don’t get to see anything much. So after tramping into Skips Hut (Whangatawhia) in the dark a couple of years ago, I thought I needed to go back and do it again in the daylight, to see what I missed. It’s a bit of a drive to, and down, Okahu Road, where there are plenty of excellent camping spots, but Mid Okahu Hut, halfway along the road, has been removed. According to DOC, ‘Mid Okahu Hut has reached the end of its design life. Due to increased maintenance costs and health and safety concerns, the hut has been removed and will not be replaced.’ And so another one bites the dust. It’s a light womble up and over to…

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MARIA WEINMANN, 43, GERMANY, AND DAVID KLEBER, 50, USA Start date: November 16 Maria Weinmann and David Kleber are making steady progress down the North Island. About to start their river journey on the Wanganui River, they said they’ve been challenged by more rainforest drudgery but were buoyed by reaching the 1000km mark and finding pockets of trail magic. The highlights were the Timber Trail and Hauhungaroa Route, with “massive trees covered with velvet moss looking like something out of a fairytale” and the view of Lake Taupo. The couple also had the opportunity to stay at a sheep farm and watch professional sheep shearers, “doing their work masterfully.” After the sheep shearing, they found a unique bit of trail magic set up by a 12-year-old boy, Sam Pepper, who…

AFTER ASKING at the DOC information centre for advice on a demanding overnight hike with some decent altitude near Queenstown, we were directed to Mt Larkins. The magic of this summit is not only in its 2300m height and outstanding panoramic views, but for the fact that the way up from Heather Jock Hut is not signposted and therefore off the beaten track. Heather Jock Hut is reached on the Mt Judah Track, an old mining trail that passes the Glenorchy Scheelite Battery and other historic mining huts for day use only. Heather Jock sleeps three and there is information in the hut on the best route up Mt Larkins. It’s fairly simple: climb onto the ridge above the hut and follow this to the summit of Mt Alaska, 1965m.…

Soon the realisation hit: we’d gone the wrong way. WE HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO NEGOTIATE AN UNDULATING RIDGELINE OF ROCKY GENDARMES each of which had to be climbed or sidled. The extensive hill country of southern Marlborough is frequented by few, mainly just hardy hunters. The Raglan Ranges are really the ugly sister of the beautiful Nelson Lakes National Park, further to the west. But for those adventurous souls seeking solace, or challenging new terrain, this neck of the woods is worth a look. Friends from a local tramping club had explored this region five years previously, and I joined them on their repeat journey – a four-day circuit of Scotts Knob, which promised tops travel interspersed with valley tracks, plus a smattering of remote huts I could add…

Tongariro traverse Ngauruhoe-Tongariro-Tahurangi, Tongariro National Park Tongariro National Park’s three distinctive mountains draw summit-seekers, and some climbers like to tackle all three peaks in one day. A more leisurely option is a weeklong tramp around the park, bagging the major summits en route. Take the track from Whakapapa Village to Mangatepopo Hut, then join the Tongariro Alpine Crossing to the impressive amphitheatre of South Crater. From here, a well-trodden route climbs the northern flanks of Mt Ngauruhoe (2287m), followed by an exhilarating scree-run back down. At Red Crater, take a side-trip along the ridge to Mt Tongariro (1967m), before descending to the Emerald Lakes, and down into the Oturere Valley and Oturere Hut. Past Waihohonu Hut, continue south on the Ruapehu Round the Mountain Track, with Rangipo and Mangaehuehu huts…

YOU DON’T HAVE to drive far to find the wilderness beyond the high street and Queenstown’s tourism hustle and bustle. Just 12km west of Queenstown is Mt Crichton Reserve and a popular two hour jaunt around a valley circuit of mountain beech. There is plenty of evidence of gold mining in the area; miner Sam Summer lived here for 10 years in a small stone hut (still complete) and utilised water from Twelve Mile Creek to blast away and slice gravels in the search for gold. The old hut (from 1930) and a 24m tail race tunnel are worth a visit. Mt Crichton (1870m), the dominant peak at the corner of Lake Wakatipu, can be climbed via a long ridge from the Mt Crichton Loop Track. The route starts 100m…

What did you get up to last weekend? 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…

BELLBIRDS, OR korimako, are the most widespread and familiar honey (nectar) eater in the South Island and are also common over much of the North Island although completely absent north of Hamilton other than on the Coromandel Peninsula. They are found in a wide range of habitats including native and exotic forest, urban parks and gardens. Bellbirds are green with a short, curved bill, slightly forked tail and a noisy whirring, fast and direct flight. From a gender perspective, males are olive green, slightly paler on the under parts, with a head tinted purple. The females are browner with an obvious narrow white-yellow stripe across the cheek from the base of the bill and a bluish gloss on top of the head. The most distinctive feature of both sexes is…

“SEE IF YOU CAN find Hillary’s name,” challenged Joe after we arrived at the historic Boulder Forks Hut. We set about examining the interior of the hut, thought to be more than a century old. It was built for mustering when optimistic graziers thought they could make a go out of running sheep in these high, dry mountains of southern Marlborough. When Edmund Hillary and two other RNZAF personnel arrived here in June 1944 to climb nearby Pinnacle (2120m), they stayed in the hut. Back then, sheep still roamed to eat what little grass they could find. Since Hillary’s visit, the sheep have gone, with manuka and wilding pines claiming the lower spurs and mountain faces. Not much has changed to the hut however. The bunks have been removed (as…

IF YOU HAVE a taste for tussock and classic remote huts, a jaunt to Becketts Hut in the Takitimus will be right up your alley. It’s an ideal weekend getaway if you’re in the southern reaches of the country, and will almost certainly give you a sense of solitude if you’re after some peace and quiet. Our trip into the Takitimus was a fortuitous plan B; we were forced off an epic due to weather, and the Takis were the driest part of the South Island for our weekend tramping aspirations. The Takitimu Conservation Area is just south of Te Anau and, with 12 huts and a plethora of tracks to explore, is a perfect stomping ground to get away from the crowds. The Takitimu Mountains is named after the…

ON CHRISTMAS DAY just over 200 years ago, Māori joined European missionary settlers to celebrate the first Christian service in New Zealand. At Rangihoua Bay in Northland’s Bay of Islands, the Rev. Samuel Marsden preached at what is now the Marsden Cross Historic Reserve. In 1814, the bay was overlooked by Rangihoua Pā and it was the local chiefs, Ruatara and Te Pahi, who had invited Marsden to set up a mission in New Zealand. John and Hannah King, Thomas and Jane Kendall and William and Dinah Hall travelled halfway around the world to set up this outpost of Christendom. It was at Rangihoua that the first European school was built, the first book on te reo Māori was prepared and the first Pākehā child was born. Marsden Cross is…