Southern Adventure - Part Four - Humpridge Track

 Sat 27 Nov - Tuatapere (Rarakau) to Okaka Lodge (Day 1)

We awoke to mostly clear skies and sun. What a relief after the overnight rain. Breakfast was first on the itinerary, and when in Tuatapere that needs to be the Sausage "mini big breakfast". For me, anyway.

Same photo, new day

We were relatively early on the road, driving the 30 min or so to Rarakau road end to start our adventure. We turned up at the same time as Callan and Stacey, as well as a couple of other cars.

We looked around for our check-in point. Nowhere to be seen. Hmm. "You did check in at the Tuatapere office didn't you?", said one of the women who was leaving with us. "It was really clear in the info email."

At this point my phone rang.

Emma on the other end of the line was very helpful and had clearly dealt with this before. "Just download the maps from our website." "We'll let the lodge know that you won't have tickets". etc etc.

Oh well. Learned this for next time. The women who arrived with us quietly rolled their eyes at two blokes who didn't read instructions.

Humpridge track map (humpridgetrack.co.nz)

So, off we set. The first part of the track mostly followed a 4WD track along the shoreline, past cribs and fishing huts, sometimes dropping onto the beach or going up and over rocky points. Beautiful. 

Off we set

Are we tramping or just walking?

Angela gets creative. I can't take credit for this one.

The rain the night before had done bad things to the track in places. At one point we were basically hiking down a bubbling stream with a track underneath it. We met an older couple who were track maintenance volunteers. They knew they'd be needed after the rain and were industriously rebuilding a section of track with shovels and wheelbarrows. We chatted to them for a bit.

After a couple of hours we reached the turnoff that would take us up the hill to the Hump Ridge. Signage was ... interesting, with signs claiming the same number of km or even longer DOC Hours to go, after significant distances of walking. Lots of scratches and cross-outs on the signs. Something for DOC to sort out as they turn Humpridge into Great Walk standard next year. 

It wasn't quite lunchtime, so we decided to walk for a short distance and grab lunch in the bush somewhere nice. 

What we didn't count on was the boardwalk - and how long it was. It went on for miles and miles, through beautiful mossy ground and beech forest. Lovely but it meant there was nowhere to stop. At last we found a break in the boardwalk and somewhere to stop for our lunch.

Boardwalk goes on and on

And on

As we were eating lunch, Angela noticed her bag was a bit wet. Oh. A LOT wet. and her water bladder appeared to be empty as well. It had leaked! All through her bag! She was not happy. After a lot of unpacking and repacking, and swapping water bladders - off we set again. 

We were very close to Water Bridge Shelter - and I needed to refill my water bladder of course. (The place where the hose came out wasn't sealed properly - it held tight with water pressure but if the bag moved the wrong way it spilled all its contents. The other bladder soon showed the same problem too. We kept them on the outside of our packs from now on.) But the creek you were supposed to source water from was far, far below the bridge in a deep gully. There was an ingenious solution to this, which was a billy on a long rope tied to the bridge railing. You lowered it down, jiggled it to get it to not float on the surface of the water, and then reeled it back in with some water in it. After a few goes I was adept at the process and got enough water into my water bladder to get me to the top of the hill. 

This part of the track was going to be the hardest - a quite steep ascent of around 1000m over the afternoon. It wasn't actually too bad, with most of it steadily up and only a shortish section that was properly steep. 

At about 4pm, Angela and I came across a lady by herself, clearly struggling. "You doing ok?" "Yes, I'll be okay." We were a bit worried. We carried on and caught up with Callan and Stacey, who had decided to wait for her. When they had gone past, she'd been in tears and was considering turning back. We were (relatively) nearly there! Just 3km to go out of a 21km day. But she didn't know that and the going seemed interminable to her.

Callan and I hared off ahead and dropped our packs a bit further up. We were hoping we could take her pack for her but she demurred. We walked with her and chatted away with her. She was a Southland farmer and was with a group of friends - who had all gone ahead and were actually at the lodge already (she was texting back and forth to them). We weren't impressed at that. But it seemed to be inexperience more than anything else - if you don't regularly tramp then you don't know things like that! I haven't done too many Great Walks but I think that first day it a bit harder than your usual Great Walk - it might be an issue of people underestimating how hard it is.

Stag Point. Ready? (Click)

Nearly there!

It was 7pm before we made it to the lodge. Slow going. Our new friend was exhausted and at the end of her reserves. We were above the bushline and the cold and mist had blown in, and since we were going slow we were all feeling the cold. At last, the boardwalk began heading downwards and a collection of buildings swam into view through the murk. We were there!

The lodge was certainly impressive. A large collection of accommodation blocks, luxury units and common rooms were linked together with an extensive network of step free (and, we learned, wheelchair friendly) boardwalk that also led to a helicopter pad. Our lodge host welcomed us warmly and pointed us to our bunkroom. It was well set up with what you'd expect in a comfortable lodge. Near new, and what you'd find in the nicer ski lodges at Ruapehu. They even had complimentary gumboots - in smallish size and largish size - to use to walk to the toilet with at night.

We sorted out our sleeping bags and stuff, and wandered through to the lounge/kitchen. Now came the best part. The shop, selling dinner (for us to cook ourselves) and an extensive* range of drinks. All at totally reasonable prices**, particularly since everything has been brought in by helicopter.

* OK not that extensive, but a lot more extensive than any tramping hut I've ever been in.

** For example: $13 for the famous Sausage and Mash meal, $15 for a BackCountry Meal (same price as Macpac Riccarton), $40 for a bottle of nice wine ($25 in a supermarket). They'd all sell for double the price no problem.

Us three meat eaters happily ordered ... the Tuatapere sausage, mash and peas meal each. We each got three frozen sausages, a portion of frozen peas, a portion of potato flakes and a portion of gravy powder. But it cooked up to something amazing, and the mashed potatoes were really good, you'd never know they were dehydrated once. Yum!

Angela didn't fare so well. Their wide range of back country meals had, for vegetarians... the 'Pasta Vegetariano'. Which is by far the worst one. It's what it says on the tin - pasta (spirals) and, vegetarian stuff. I had chilli flakes with me which I think made it a little nicer. And it turns out we had vastly more potato and gravy than we could ever eat, so Angela ate a lot of that too. I finished her backcountry meal in the end.

Well fed, we retired to our dorm. I had trouble with my sleeping bag zip - it had come unlatched and I couldn't get it started again. After a while of trying and studying I realised that part of the zip was still halfway up the zip and I needed that part to make it all work. Angela and Stacey were giggling, and that's when I realised that Callan was having exactly the same trouble, for exactly the same reason, and we both slowly worked out our problems at identical times.

Oh well.

Sun 28 Nov - Okaka Lodge to Port Craig Lodge (Day 2)

The rooms were pretty cold, but we all slept really well in our nice cozy sleeping bags. I needed to get up for the bathroom at 5am - and I'm glad I did because I timed it for sunrise. The skies had cleared completely overnight, and the spectacular views from the tops had become visible for the first time. I watched the sun slowly rise over Stewart Island and the south coast. Incredible.

After a delicious porridge breakfast we were off and walking for our next day - which promised to be a more gentle descent back to sea level, following the main ridge down to the sea again. First though was a boardwalk loop up the hill and around the peak above with plenty of viewing spots for the scenery to the south and north of us. 

Then it was down, down, down boardwalk, interspersed with familiar deep Southland mud, very familiar to us from Stewart Island. My tramping boots were doing the job but Angela's feet were getting more and more sore with the constant down.

Lunch at Luncheon Rock

Two phones, two panoramas. Who did it better?

After 5 or so hours, at last the gradient lessened and we emerged off the Hump Ridge and onto the South Coast track. This was a fascinating area - we followed a tramway from a huge but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to set up a major logging operation along the south coast. It included massive viaducts, the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere. It was certainly nice going, following a dead-level, well formed railway track that went through the terrain rather than over it. 

There were lots of information plaques on the way, and of course I insisted on reading each one of them. I spent a lot of time reading, and helpfully explaining what I'd read, in detail, to Angela. I'm sure she really appreciated it.

After another three hours we found ourselves at Port Craig township, a mown area with the schoolhouse still standing and now converted into a quirky DOC hut. Then, just 50m on, was the lodge. (Last night we'd heard the story of the man who had bunked down in the schoolhouse, and not gone to the lodge, because he'd mis-read the 'Lodge, 50m' sign as meaning he still had fifty miles to go).

We heard talk of dolphins in the bay, so eagerly headed off to see them. Only to discover that it was a bit further than we thought, down to the shore. Angela decided her feet had taken enough abuse and we'd seen dolphins before. So we did the Port Craig walking tour on the way back instead, from a pamphlet with a short loop walk and information panels to tell us about the old buildings and structures we were seeing. I duly read out all the signs, in full, in my best tour guide voice.

Dolphins down there

"And here, we have the building where boilers once stood..."

We were welcomed to the lodge by Alex who was hilarious, American and sassy. She sorted out our food and beverage needs. Food, of course, was Sausage and mash again. Angela was much happier to find a much bigger selection of vege food, including a Radix chickpea meal that she reported as tasting delicious. 

Mon 29 Nov - Port Craig Lodge to Rarakau (Day 3)

After yummy porridge for breakfast again, 8am saw us starting on this short day with an easy, flat walk out to the car park. The day was stunning, and we were walking on the beach for much of the day. 

THE SOUTHLAND SASQUATCH! Totally not two deer prints at all.

We were back at the car park before 3pm, wearily and happily changing and getting ready for our next journey. I'm so glad we hooked into Callan and Stacey's idea of these trips, thanks heaps you two! It's a part of the world that was great to re-visit and explore. 

Southern Adventure - Part three - Invercargill to Tuatapere

When we reached Invercargill, we went straight to Merv and Susan's place for dinner. Andrew and Merv had worked together at DOC, and Andrew was keen to catch up with them. What a great evening. Merv had done a lot of impressive alpine trips and he and Angela spent most of the evening going through his fantastic photos and stories.

Next morning we were up at, groan, 4:30am to get Andrew to the airport for his flight home. Bye, Andrew! He was needed at work so had had to cut his trip short. It would be just the four of us on the next leg of the journey.

Now it was time to get through our list of inter-tramp jobs along with some 'sightseeing' in the perpetually cold drizzly and miserable place called Invercargill. 

First stop was the Gladstone laundromat. After a bit of fun and games working out the system and buying washing powder from the grumpy staff at the Night-and-Day next door, our smelly dirty tramping gear was clean and ready for new action. 

Then for breakfast we hit the Batch Cafe. It was a great place. Yummy eggs and yummy cheese scones. Highlight of our visit.

Next on the list was the Southland Museum, one of the best attractions of Invercargill. It was closed. Since 2016. Apparently it might reopen in a couple of years if they can get some earthquake strengthening done. We walked around the back where the Tuatara were and sure enough, there were 2-3 of them resolutely sitting under the heat lamps.

Tuatara in there somewhere

Then we visited the home of Backcountry Meals. We thought there might be a factory shop or even tours. No. I opened an anonymous door in the side of the building to find a whole lot of admin people working away and avoiding eye contact. Someone turned up to drive out with a car and Backcountry Meal trailer - he apologised that there wasn't anything customer facing but thanked us for coming.

OK that was all our jobs done. And it was only 9:30am.

We "tiki toured" around Invercargill to visit the various houses where Sally and I had lived, and then we couldn't spin out our Invercargill day any more. So off to Tuatapere we set, going via the coastal (Colac Bay) route. There were a series of beaches on the way - Cosy Nook beach with a few nice wee cribs and a wonderful little beachfront beside it; and Monkey Island, with an island we could walk to since it was low tide. We wandered out through the drizzle and wind and up a series of steps to a lookout. While we were there, a couple of cars pulled up and then a woman went running fully clothed straight into the surf. What was she up to?! Fortunately she came back in after a while, and we got to chat to her as we went back to the car. She'd grown up here and it was the first time back for years and years. She just had to go for a swim, no matter how awful the weather. 

Southland beachwear

Next beach was Gemstone Beach but we drove on by, we were a bit beached out with the nasty weather. Turns out it's famous and really has "gemstones" on the beach. Oh well.

We made it to Tuatapere around lunchtime and pulled into the Tui Base Camp. Whatever you wanted, they had. I couldn't find the way in, so I went into the bottle store to ask where to go. The bottle store owner took me behind his till, where I found myself in the bar. Past the bar and an invisible line on the ground was the restaurant, and then the motel and camping ground checkin had the right-hand half of the restaurant counter. Between Base Camp and the 4 Square across the road, each and all of our conceivable needs were met.

We were planning on camping in the van tonight, but the drizzle was steadily turning into rain and then heavy rain. The attraction of a motel unit was great. So we did it. The motel unit was spacious and clean, a little bit tired (the couch had collapsed!) but well maintained and delightful to find. We hauled all our stuff in from the van and sorted and re-packed and prepared for our next adventures.

Lots of sorting and packing needed

Tuatapere has self-claimed the title of 'the sausage capital of the world'. This bold claim is apparently a joke that got a little out of hand, but I quickly chose Sausage and Mash for my dinner meal and it was pretty good I have to say.

Angela doesn't look convinced

We retired to our room and went to bed to the sound of pelting rain on the roof. The forecast was for improving weather, but this didn't bode well for the next leg of our adventure.

Southern Adventure - Part two - Rakiura / Stewart Island

Mon 22 Nov - Ulva island, Akers Point (Day 0)

We were up and about early-ish to make the most of our 'free day' in Oban. We'd all read about Ulva Island as the place to go, so off we headed, a short walk over a hill to Golden Bay where the ferry left from.

The ferry was a cute little boat, the boarding passes were mutton scrub leaf with nice writing on the back. Soon enough we were at the Ulva Island jetty, milling about and figuring out what to do. There are a series of walking tracks through the island in a rough loop, that took us through wonderful untouched forest with so many birds flying about. Angela sighted an incredibly rare Tīeke (South Island Saddleback) flitting about. 

The tracks took us from beach to beach as well, to see weka running about fossicking for bugs and suchlike. There were weka chicks that were so cute! No seals to be seen but plenty of mussels on the rocks. 

After a couple of hours we'd sucked the marrow of all the tracks and our return ferry appointment was looming. So back to the jetty we wandered. It started to drizzle at this point but we were warm enough under our jackets. 

Back at Golden Bay we had lunch in the little shelter by the jetty. Then it was time for our second destination of the day. A local pointed us off in the direction of Akers Point with something about cutting through the golf course. It all made sense when we got to the end of the road we were following to find the shoreside track washed away and an impassable cliff face in its place.  But a fairway followed around the erosion and we were able to rejoin the track after the no 5 green. The course was... rustic, with lots of grass mulch on the fairway and a green that was pretty well like the fairway but with slightly shorter grass. It'd still be quite something to say you'd played that course though. 

Soon we were approaching Harrold House, when Stacey let us know that her great great ... grandparents were the original occupiers! The Pākeha side of her family got a lot more mention on the signs than the Māori side which miffed her a bit. Still, the old stone cottage, where her ancestors had raised 9 or so children, was delightful. 

We followed the track on and on to Aker's point, via some houses and interesting old machinery out front. We had all the seasons - sun! Cloud! Showers! More sun! At last the now automated and modern lighthouse loomed into view and there we were.

By the time we got back to Oban, we'd walked significantly further than any of our actual hiking days. Off to the pub for dinner, then an early night in anticipation of our upcoming travels.

Tue 23 Nov - Oban to Port William Hut (Day 1)

Trail map (DOC)

9:30am saw us up, packed, a bag left with the backpackers to look after, eating scrambled eggs at the pub, and off.

Our tramp started with a slightly interminable walk along sealed road to Lees Bay. It must have been a couple of hours but it seemed to last forever. At last we reached Lees Bay and edged around the Mamaku Point conservation reserve - a little known pest-proofed peninsula that is thriving.

Off we set

On we go

Lee's Bay

The track is nice

Today's walk was fairly straightforward, mostly following the coastline and dropping us onto the beach from time to time.  We stopped at Māori Beach for lunch and to look at the old sawmill that had been left behind over a century ago. It's fascinating what was done to try to make a living in the most inhospitable places.

It was a short distance to Port William Hut, and in spite of our relatively late start we were there before 2pm. What a great hut! Reasonably full with people hanging about on the grass outside and at the beach just in front. 

Rakiura huts have a bed bug problem, that they seem to have got on top of but they weren't taking any chances. Most of our stuff stayed outside, on the porch, wrapped in plastic (I'd bought pack liners just for this). 

I discovered a part completed wasgij puzzle in the hut, and spent quite a bit of time on it. A good way to decompress. (Angela noticed, and guess what I got for christmas?)

Our husband-and-wife hut wardens were lovely and somewhat eccentric. We first got a long lecture on how to use a camping stove without burning down the hut or setting ourselves on fire. Then we got a really good set of hints for the evening about how to spot kiwi.  We tucked into our Backcountry Meals having cooked them very carefully and in compliance with the safety instructions. Angela had boil-in-the-bag MTR Indian meals with rice on this trip as an experiment - and absolutely loved it. The slight increase in weight was more than made up for by the massive uplift in taste and flavour. I think that's her go-to easy vegetarian tramping food now.

After dinner we wandered down to the campsite, 200m or so from the hut, to get away from the crowds and hopefully see some kiwi. We celebrated Stacey's birthday with some little bottles of liquor that Callan had brought in. Were there kiwi to be seen? No, there were not. It was a beautiful evening though so a wonderful excuse to sit in the dusk and quietly chat.

Wed 24 Nov - Port William Hut to North Arm Hut (Day 2)

Today got off to a cracking start as Angela sighted a white-tailed deer on the way to the toilet. It was pretty tame and just hung around the hut. Cool. 

Over breakfast we witnessed a stove disaster, as someone using a borrowed stove managed to snap the spork they were stirring with, which catapulted their dinner onto the bench. Luckily they've followed instructions from last night and were cooking well away from the edge of the bench and standing back. Risk mitigations right there. 

We somewhat chaotically packed up along with everybody else on the porch. (More on that later). Today we were ascending to a mighty high plateau, towering ... 180m above sea level. Just an 11km day again, but it did take us all day because of the mud we found. The track was well built and maintained, but you can only do so much when you go through swamp. I discovered the trick of following the line of the track through the mud, and hoping to find the fabric and plastic netting that was used to give the track some resilience. If you stayed on that you were okay. If you fell off it, or it just wasn't there, then the mud was deep.

Packing up

Lush!

Mud

Splosh

Yes, mud

Andrew and I were very happy to have leather boots and gaiters. We kept our socks clean and dry for the whole trip and could just splash through the deep puddles that everyone else had to pick through. My irrational distaste for gaiters is well known but I may just have had my prejudices broken down by this trip. Can I change? 

Near the midway point we found a couple of temporary huts used for track maintenance. Interesting how they do this. They build a foundation and platform for the huts, then simply helicopter in the hut itself and tie it down. Much less work and easy to then move huts about as they're needed.

Temp hut for lunch

The midway buoy. With the boys. Har har.

There was also lots of old cast iron milling equipment in evidence, including boilers for two huge log haulers. The old wire rope followed our track for quite some distance.

It was quite a relief when North Arm Hut appeared. We made use of their boot washing station and again, wrapped our gear in plastic and left it outside. This hut had had a major infestation and they had gone hard to eradicate it - stripping the bunkroom back to framing and rebuilding it after a thorough fumigation. Every nook and cranny had been sealed with silicone. Bed bug monitoring traps were everywhere. I felt pretty safe.

The last descent to the hut

Then, as we were wandering about before dinner, we sighted a pair of white tail deer. They were incredibly tame. Callan got within 3 metres of them and they just couldn't care less. They wandered around the campsite near the hut, then down to the hut itself, to the delight of all the occupants.

This was the point where I realised that in the chaos this morning, I'd managed to not put my puffer jacket into my backpack. It must have been still sitting on the porch, mixed up with other people's repacking, when we left. Gah! There had been quite a bit of water taxi traffic to and from the hut the morning we left, so I hoped against hope that I could be reunited with it in Oban.

Thu 25 Nov - North Arm Hut to Oban (Day 3)

Another shortish day today, with a little bit of mud but not nearly as much as the day before. We were out by 11:30am! There was still a reasonable few km of road walking to get us to the pub and lunch though. Andrew and I found long grass and a stream to mostly wash our boots off and arrived in Oban with relatively clean gear.

I called in at the DOC centre in Oban and was delighted to find that they had my "sleeping bag" (puffer jacket) neatly tagged in their lost property bin. Wonderful!

Another delight awaited when we collected our bag from the backpackers. I tentatively enquired about how much a shower would cost us - after our Punakaiki experience of $12 shower fees (as a nice bait-and-switch after paying them hundreds of dollars for car relocation) I assumed the news would be bad. "Oh, you were staying with us before you did the track, weren't you? Just go have a shower, no problem." Another tick for the amazing Stewart Island Backpackers. 

Our Rakiura adventure was nearing its end. After a well earned lunch and drinks at the pub, we wandered across to the ferry terminal. The freight boat was in so that gave us a bit of entertainment, watching an eclectic collection of stuff from cars to windows to beds to ride-on mowers come off the smallish boat with a built in crane. It seemed like chaos at first glance but the crew were well experienced and knew just how to unload each item the most efficiently and could drop things straight onto waiting trailers when need be.

After another fast but gentle crossing we were back in Bluff, reunited with our cars and blissfully unaware of the local knowledge about regular break-ins and vehicle thefts there. We parted ways for now with Callan and Stacey and were back on the road again.

Rakiura is such a special place. Angela in particular is super keen to go back and spend more time exploring the longer routes on the island. I regret not exploring Southland more in my teens when I lived in Invercargill and had so much opportunity to. It's so much harder/more expensive/more time consuming to get down that way from the North Island. But, I think we'll be back again soon.