The Tramping Report

Kelly Range and Rangi Taipo

The Kelly Range is on the north western border of Arthurs Pass National Park. Rangi Taipo is the high point on the Bald Range, which hinges with the Kelly Range on Kelly's Hill and runs west to the junction of the Taipo and the Taramakau Rivers.

The rolling tussock tops and tarns and phenomenal views from these ranges make them the finest of tramping country but they're undervisited due to the lack of a good circuit route.

We headed off on Saturday with a plan we hoped would make for a good two day round trip.

It was getting on into the afternoon when we turned up the rough 4x4 road into the Taipo River. Following the trail of a regularly visiting Unimog through storm damage, slips and washouts was an interesting event in itself. It took about 45min to get from the highway to Seven Mile Creek.

At 4.00pm we set off walking. The track climbed steeply on the true left of Seven Mile Creek. It was very hot going as the air was still and warm and the humidity high.

Part way up we met Michael Ostash coming down. We'd known he might be in the area so were hoping we'd catch up with him along the way. 

A thousand metres higher we broke out above the bushline. The Taipo twisted around the hills and on out to the Taramakau.

The tussock barely moved with the light breeze, but it was cooling enough after the torrid heat of the climb.

We travelled on across the Kelly Range, up and down past ridges and hollows. Each dip had its own tarn in the bottom. It looked like there had been a spell of dry weather recently as each tarn was a metre or two below its normal level.

Just before we got to the Carroll Hut we stopped and washed next to a stream. Despite the warm day the water was very cold, but it was well worth it.

It was 8.00 pm when we finally reached the hut. There were only two people there.

Libby  and Ann were on their final evening of a five day walk from Klondyke Corner in the Waimak. They'd crossed Harman Pass to the Julia Hut hot springs and then walked down the Taipo to the Seven Mile. They were great hut companions.

In the morning the perfect weather continued. It was so pleasant chatting with Libby and Ann about trips done and places to go, etc that if it wasn't that they had a ride to meet we might still have been sitting there at lunchtime.

But we did manage to get moving at 10.00. Our route took us back across the saddle and around Kelly's Hill onto the Bald Range. The walking is easy and the view gets more stunning with every kilometre.

Again there were numerous tarns along the ridge. Most of them had good populations of tadpoles. One had countless hundreds of them.

There were so many I was concerned I would scoop one or two into my water bladder when I filled it.

It was fascinating just sitting there watching them all going about their amphibian business and interacting with each other.

And the warmth of the day made it doubly hard to move on.

Further on the ridge narrowed for a couple of hundred metres but it wasn't difficult to travel along. It just added to the interest a bit.

At one point I had the option of climbing over a knoll or sidling around it. I was immediately glad I sidled.

My course took me right to a small group native broom shrubs. These Carmichaelias were covered in masses of scented blossom.

I hadn't expected to see much of a floral display on the weekend, other than gentians of course. But as we climbed onto Rangi Taipo the ground was everywhere covered in edelweiss and harebells too. And the ever present bright red fruits of the ground hugging coprosmas added their own contribution.

The summit of Rangi Taipo is a fantastic view point.

To the north, across the gravel bed of the Taramakau 1300 m below, bright blue and green of lakes and farmland contrasted with dark sombre forested hills and the closer golden tussocks of our own heights.

Misty cloud hung languidly in the warm air.

West, the Taramakau wound around the hills and out to the shoreline of the Tasman. Inland Mt Alexander loomed bulkily across the valley. To the east, the Taramakau took a straight course direct from Harper Pass.

South, was the heavily forested Taipo.

Ranged all around were named summits. Tara Tama, guarding the lower valley. In the distance Murchison standing tall. And even Rolleston stood out prominently showing the serrated silhouette of its bony Otira Face.

We couldn't linger as long as we wanted. We had a big descent ahead of us.

Just getting to the start of the track at the bushline needs routefinding care. In the bush the track is steep, and slippery in places with dracophyllum leaves. Simon Lewis and Mauricio Lloreda have done some incredible work cutting and remarking it to make it easily followable. But it's still quite overgrown in places.

It took us 2 hrs 45 min from the summit to the valley floor. It was still hot in the valley even at 6.00pm.

And well yes it was a great two day round trip. I would say it's the best way to enjoy the Kelly tops and Rangi Taipo together.

To The Coast in a Southerly

We had blue skies on the West Coast while Christchurch shivered under early winter rain.

As the weekend had approached, Honora and I mulled over options to fit the unpromising weather forecast. We agreed on Mt French and a base far west. Malcolm Carr kindly made available his family's bach at Lake Brunner. Sorted.

We headed over after lunch Saturday. The Nor'west still reigned at Iveagh Bay.

Morning sparkled with bright sunshine as we drove out along the lakeshore. However turning south dark clouds loomed ahead and rain briefly lashed the car as we passed along the foot of the Alexander Range. We parked at the start of the track to Mt French at the Eastern Hohonu River.

We agreed we weren't convinced of getting clear skies up on Mt French, and we both wanted an enjoyable day. So Mt French could wait another time. We left the stormy clouds behind on the ranges and headed up the coast in dazzling sunshine.

Honora had friends and memories to revisit at Punakaiki, north of Greymouth. And I'd never crossed the Grey, so it was all new country to me.

After visiting Honora's memory lane we drove on to Punakaiki. It was just after full tide when we got there so the blow-holes had past their best display. But I must admit I was more interested in the geology and landforms than in the maritime dramatics. DoC's visitor centre was a great place to get the big picture. Also the crafts gallery next door was well worth the visit. And we finished off our visit to the pancake rocks of Punakaiki, with pancakes for lunch at the cafe.

Heading south again we stopped at Rapahoe for a walk to Point Elizabeth. This became the highlight of the weekend.

The 2 km to the Point was a very pleasant meander through bush and flax dominated scrub. However there were strolling family groups and runners also on the track. We may have looked a bit overdressed to them in our tramping gear and carrying large tramping packs (to hold our snacks and bits and pieces).

On our way back from the Point Honora discovered a place where we could abseil down a cliff onto the beach. This made for a perfect circuit.

Earlier we'd been talking about walking up the beach from the carpark. However it had looked like it would be a dead-end.

In fact we did find a few dead things down there too - a large dead skate and even a dead cow. But Honora went fossicking among the rocks below the Point and came away with her prize - a good haul of very large mussels.

On the way home we called in at Paddy's for a meal. That worked out well too, as Trevor Scott and Richard Wills had just arrived there from their day's tramp over Little Jordan Spur. And then while we were having our meal Mike Plug walked in with friend Sheila. Bumping into them really made it a great finish to a sparkling weekend.

Rocky Griffin yet again

The Rocky Creek - Griffin Creek circuit is a favourite for Honora and me and we keep going back.

Andrew was to be leading this one for the CTC. He'd said he really wanted to do Rocky - Griffin. But Honora was the only one to put her name down on his list. So he canned it.

But no matter. It now became Honora's trip and Jonathon and I decided to go along.

We spent the night at the club lodge before motoring over the pass. It was 9.30 when we started walking from the beehives at Taipo bridge.

Jonathon wasn't happy having boots full of water within 50 m of setting off. Honora and I were in sandals as usual so it was a non-issue for us.

The hour on our new track through the bush to Rocky went fast, though we did stop and clear a few windfallen trees as we went. At Rocky creek we took a long snack break in the bright sunshine.

Moving on, we seemed quite sluggish travelling up the bouldery creek bed. The plan was to have lunch at Rocky Creek hut, but Honora's union lunch break time of 12.30 arrived before we got there. Lunch was an outrageously long loaf too, and then we stopped again half an hour later when we reached the hut.

Going by the hut book more people seem to be travelling through Rocky Creek now. Honora and I both appreciate the kind words people write about our track maintenance efforts. It's certainly a different reaction from what we got from the old guard in the tramping club last year when we busted our gut trying to get things running positively there again.

Anyway, on we went. The stream bed past the hut narrowed till it was overhung by scrub. Then  a short muddy climb took us to the saddle. We crossed the ridge and pushed on down the gully toward Griffin Creek. This gully is quite overgrown but it's not difficult to travel through.

It was 5.30 pm when we reached the Griffin Creek hut. That time makes it 10 minutes slower than last May when we were travelling through snow!

There was a young hunter, Ben, from Kumara in residence, and a friendly weka strutting about outside. However there wasn't a lot of chatting in the hut this visit, so it was a fairly quiet evening and we were soon to bed.

The morning's first sun slanted across the dramatic face of the Razorback Ridge. This high range walls in the valley to the south. With its verdant podocarp bush covered steep flanks and gullies and mist curling around its upper slopes it looked like the fabled heights of Bali Ha'I from South Pacific. Jonathan heard its call and was soon out taking photos.

Ben's helicopter swooped in next to the hut and lifted him out. We headed off on foot.

Griffin Creek is a real pleasure to travel. The gravel, stones and boulders are varied and interesting colours. Of course it's nephrite country too, so it's fun trying to spot the low grade greenstone.

In less than an hour of crossing back and forth across the stream, the markers and cairns of the track signalled a change of pace. We stopped to fill water bottles. There wouldn't be any more water until we were virtually at the road.

There was a change too, from horizontal travel to vertical travel. The track climbs 300 m to Harringtons track on the Griffin Range ridgeline. The climb is quite steep and much use is made of tree roots and flax leaves for steadying handholds.

Near the ridgetop is a perfect rest spot with fantastic views. We stopped for lunch there. Brilliant red flowers of rata were all around us.

From the rusted rain barrel at the track junction the track drops 800 m to the road. Some of it is heavily overgrown but it's not hard to follow.

Honora and I had been thinking about recutting it. We weren't really looking forward to the work of doing it all ourselves, and I'd talked to some of the keen people in the Peninsula Tramping Club about it.

But now DoC have agreed to pick up its maintenance, and the PTC have decided to work on the track further along the ridge from the rain barrel. Good on them.

But the 1 km section from the bottom of the hill to the road, bypassing Pat Fitzgerald's farm, will always be ours. I'm proud we could so easily solve what had been for so long an unneccessary problem between the landowner and trampers.

Two hours from our lunch spot we were out and walking the road back to the Taipo. The road was very busy with traffic from the Hokitika Wild Foods festival.

Back at the Isuzu the bees were very active around their beehives. I've never been concerned about bees so never gave them a glance. But while I was getting changed Honora took off at a run, waving her clothes about. I wondered what the matter was, & soon learned. A bee flying past suddenly turned and made a rapid bee-line charge for my face, slamming into me right between the eyes. A few others also started hanging around a bit close. I trotted off too, brushing the sting sac out from the first suicide mission.

Jonathon and I thought a discrete withdrawal was called for, so we just threw everything in the back and moved the vehicle a bit further away so we could finish changing in peace.

On the drive home Honora was quite chuffed that we managed two refreshment stops, at Steve's in Arthurs Pass and then at the Kowai in Springfield. It was good we stopped at Springfield too as we bumped into Merv Meredith returning from a PTC trip to Goat Hill. Serendipitous meetings with people who share the love of the hills is a highlight for me on any trip.

Rocky-Griffin for trampers

This tramp started with my 100th night spent in the Christchurch tramping club house at Arthurs Pass. I didn't need to celebrate the occasion. It was good enough as it was--a new mix of people heading away for another weekend in the hills - everyone chattering - newcomers and companions of many tramps alike--passing round the bikkies with a hot drink.

We were away in a hard frost with first light - drove over the pass and down past Jacksons to the Taipo River. We filed out of the carpark and immediately plunged through the cold footbath at the bottom of the terrace.

The route travels up the Taipo for a few hundred metres, to a small side-stream with a pretty waterfall streaming over a boulder.

A symmetrical cairn and a red permolat marker show the start of the track. They're ones that Honora and I added.

I'd always thought of the Rocky-Griffin Creek circuit as the ideal West Coast moderate weekend tramp. When I heard the tracks had become overgrown I didn't take it seriously. But then serious people complained too. We checked it out and found the tracks were virtually gone--the only way through was serious bush-bashing.

Honora and I decided to take it on as our next project. We spent the next few weekends relocating and marking the original track - then set to work recutting it. Rob Nicholl, of Kumara, put in some great work with his slasher on the first section too.

So here we now were, walking it bush tourist fashion. We just seemed to glide through and reached the banks of Rocky Creek in less than an hour and a half. The creek splashed down quickly over large boulders. The crossings were cool at first. But the sun soon reached down and warmed us.

Rocky Creek hut was our lunch stop, and a perfect one for sitting outside in the sunshine. The tiny hut is newly repainted and has a cute doll's house look about it.

At 1.30pm we carried on. The creek narrows above here, of course, but becomes easier travel - the bouldery clambering not quite so strenuous. The team got a bit spread out as we travelled at our own pace. Near the head of the valley Richard came back and said he, Stu, Flo and Theresa were going to go ahead to the hut. Richard had doubts that we would get there in daylight. Off he went.

Honora, Helen and I plodded on. There were snow patches reaching the side of the stream. Sometimes the going looked better in the snow but usually it turned out to be better just walking in the water.

The grey slip has a cairn at its far side. Just past this I tied a plastic tag on a tree so people won't be falsely lured up the slip. The real track to the saddle begins only another twenty metres upstream, and is clearly marked.

At the top we surprised Richard by catching up with him.

There was more snow in the gully down the Griffin Creek side, but route-finding wasn't a problem. Half way down a well marked track bypasses a waterfall section.

Back in the stream we caught up with Stu, Flo and Theresa too.

Then right at the point where we needed to leave the creek for the track to the hut we stumbled upon a pair of blue ducks. They waddled around a boulder and glided to a pool further below.

We reached the hut at 4.50 pm. It didn't surprise me that it was still light, but it did surprise me that we were virtually all together.

Within minutes of arriving Honora had the fire blazing. Cooking and changing was a little bit cramped inside but we made do. The hut has five bunks. Richard seemed to relish the idea of sleeping outside in the frost in his bivvy bag, and Theresa settled for the princess stack of therm-a-rest mattresses on the floor.

Stu entertained in the evening by reading entries from the hut's pooh bear diary.

The frost in the morning was even harder. That made splashing through the many crossings of Griffin Creek an experience to remember.

We all warmed up climbing the steep track to the spur. Flo lead us to an excellent viewpoint a short distance from the junction at the top.

Then it was down the very long descent of the Harrington's track to the road and three km walk back to the cars. The trip was all over by early afternoon.

All that was left was the mandatory refreshments and settling-up at the Bealey Hotel.

Thanks, team, for helping test walk the new track, and at a tough time of year.