Old Slaughterhouse Lodge, St Arnaud, Wairau, and home

We leapt out of bed to pack up and try to eat the last of our food - sausage and eggs for breakfast. Time to sort our stuff and send it back down the hill on Suzanne's ATV. But we carried most of our tramping packs down to give her a reasonable load. 

Leftover tramping food. I overcatered!

Black cat helps me pack

Goodbye view

First stop was in Westport to drop off Allyson, outside the YHA hostel where her friend was staying. She's starting another adventure! YHA hostel looked really nice, in ways Allyson's Westport accommodation wasn't.

Now we had a pretty short drive - less than 4 hours - to get to Picton, and all day to do it. So we took our time.

Murchison Cafe was our first stop for elevenses. Their iced coffee was good. Then we caught up on the Stuff Quiz as we drove. The hours flew by.

We stopped again in St Arnaud, because it's impossible to drive past that view. We also found the new St Arnaud Tavern for lunch, in the new subdivision behind the petrol station. It was a lot nicer than the petrol station cafe! I think Alpine Lodge is still the pick of the bunch but the Tavern is close competition.

Obligatory St Arnaud Pier photos

A local bylaw makes it illegal to drive past without taking this photo

Afternoon tea was at the Wairau River Winery. These folks are well set up for light meals in their garden behind the cellar door, and after a week of tramping and self catering it was sooo nice to have friendly wait staff bring us wine and cheese and affogato and tiramisu.

And that brought our adventures to an end. Thanks Janine for all the organisation and the extensive trello board to make it happen. What a superb week with so much packed into very little time.

Old Slaughterhouse Lodge, a lazy day

I was up early, still too full for breakfast after our bbq feast last night. But Angela got crunchy nut cornflakes in bed.

At last we had a rainy unsettled day, and for Angela and I that meant a lazy day in the lodge reading their books. Allyson and Janine headed north to Karamea for a walk. The promised terrible forecast actually turned into an okay day, so they had a good time. 

One of the owners' black cats took a liking to me and went to sleep on my lap. For four hours. I was pinned! 

At 4pm I decided I shouldn't be completely slothful so went for a run. It was high tide so the shingly rocky beach that was left wasn't ideal so I ran on the road. 

Dinner was on the bbq again and equally over-catered and yummy. We watched the sunset and sat out on the deck chatting til bedtime.

Mike is pinned

Then Angela is pinned

Shingly beach. Angela chilling while Mike runs on the road

Last sunset from the deck with the bbq

Paparoa Track - Pororari Hut to Punakaiki, Old Slaughterhouse Lodge

We awoke to gentle rain. Oh well. The jackets and the pack covers came out and we said goodbye to Pororari at 8:35am. But the rain had already turned to mist and our jackets swiftly went back into our packs again.

Today is a nice gentle day to finish the trip. Five hours of gradual downhill through goblin forest and beech forest. Handy signs pointed out the places where successive cyclones had flattened the forest and others highlighted the Ongaonga (nettle) to avoid.

We met a steady stream of daytrippers on bikes and on foot coming the other way. Popping up to Pororari and back in a day would be a great trip if you were down Punakaiki way. 

Soon we met the junction where bikers go one way and walkers the other - heralded by our first set of steps in four days. We joined the Pororari River Track for the last half an hour or so. It was both encouraging and disconcerting now to be sharing the track with families and jandals - it certainly showed that we were nearly done!

And there at last the gates that marked the end of the track loomed in front of us. We gratefully and wearily dropped our packs and took the obligatory photos.  

Now it was down to business. While Janine sorted collecting her the car keys, we wandered about the Punakaiki camping ground searching for the car. It was quite the mission! But we found it in the end, with some dubious directions, at the very back of the camping ground by the sand dunes. Judicious use of baby wipes freshened us up instead of paying the going rate of EIGHT DOLLARS EACH for a campground shower. 

We loaded up and headed direct to the Old Slaughterhouse Lodge, most of the way to Karamea, with just a short stop at Westport New World for our food for the next few days. We went big on bbq meat and eggs, and very, very light on anything dehydrated. 

It was quite bewildering when we got there (but everything became clear after not too long). We overshot the entrance and had to u-turn and come back. Initially Paulie who lives in the house at the bottom of the hill met us; he wasn't too sure what was going on either. But Suzanne our co-host turned up pretty quickly and sorted us out.

We were planning on sorting our lives out at leisure at the lodge itself which was a shame for Paulie and Suzanne. That meant that our tramping packs, and our day bags, and our (in retrospect) well over catered supermarket shopping all had to go onto the front and back racks of two ATVs. I think we may have posed a problem here! But in short order, with crates and rope and moving things about for front/rear balance, they got it sorted. (Next time we'd sort our gear out in the car park and bring only what we needed up with us). 

So with Suzanne and Paulie riding up with our stuff, we trudged up the hill. It was fairly steep and seemed never ending - partly because we didn't really know where we were going, partly because we'd just come off the hiking and were ready to not hike anymore. Future trips up and down seemed easy and quick so I think it was our fatigue and confusion as much as anything else.

Once we were there, we were in paradise. A main building and three separated bedroom blocks, with stunning views out over the beach and into the Tasman. Our hosts, David, Suzanne, two black cats and a dog. A stream providing all our water and running a turbine for all our electricity. 

The four of us were sharing the lodge with two other couples - one couple who kept to themselves mostly, and another older English couple we got to know over the next few days.

We retired to our rooms and sorted through all our gear - separating tramping gear from stuff to reuse, sorting out washing bags and leftover food to continue eating. I thought we had lots left over but except for three mostly uneaten blocks of chocolate I think we did okay actually. 

Fired up the barbecue and had all manner of meats as well as vegetarian friendly capsicums and eggplant and courgette and the like. Yum! But we all faded very quickly and were in bed and sleeping very early. 

Paparoa Track - Moonlight Tops Hut to Pororari Hut

It was a long day and a hard day today - maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe the day length, but I think part of it is ironically the smooth, stony, carefully graded track. It's hard work just taking one step after another on hard smooth pavement. I'd certainly recommend sneakers or walking shoes with some give in the sole, instead of my favourite tramping boots with their stiff soles and full leather uppers.

We were up and out of the hut by 8:22am, heading across the ridgeline to some of the most interesting views. First up was a huge escarpment with a massive vertical drop. The track carefully wound its way on the other side of the drop, touching it from time to time to give us a safe impression of height.

Bye hut!

Hello treeline

Onwards toward the escarpment

At one point we got a strong but brief smell of something weird. Gunpowder was the closest we could place it. Strange. But then, a few minutes later we smelt it again, as a huge billygoat stood by the track and ran off when he saw us. Now I know what billygoat smells like - not what I expected! And I also know at least one of the reasons why people don't like keeping billygoats to mow their lawns and suchlike.

We also found coal seams from time to time. Black rock in metre-wide layers. I suppose I'd never thought about it - but yes, it's just another mineral in the ground. 

We had a poignant view of Pike River mine, where 29 miners died in 2010. The Great Walk is in their memory. Recovery operations continue. There is very little to see - the portal into the hill and a ventilation portal above. Maybe it really is possible to mine in an area like this and still tread lightly on the land.

A massive slip near the end was likely the reason the track unfortunately didn't open on time (last year when Janine was supposed to be walking it). The earth was scoured clean, down to granite. A path with a steel fence had been chiseled into the side of the hill to let us pass.

Allyson and Janine navigate the slip

Another, smaller, more recent slip had been cut past by the rangers. Steps up and steps down.

We stopped for a hot chocolate at the Emergency Shelter at about the halfway mark of the day. From here the track descended in beautifully bermed switchbacks, down a spur and into the valley. Barren semi-alpine plants gave way to goblin forest and beech. Spectacular swing bridges took us safely over gullies and gorges. There was very little water in the various creeks, though just enough for me to refill my water bottle. I bet that's not the case when the legendary west coast rains come.

Thirsty work

Little waterfall, I bet it's spectacular after rain

This part of the track would be great fun on a bike. We saw very few bikers today though. The party that slept in Moonlight Tops with us, plus about 5 or so who were doing the whole thing in a day. I guess not many people were keen on getting up at the crack of dawn after New Years Eve!

Through the gaps

At last, Pororari Hut loomed into view. Our last ranger Henri had told us that it used to be surrounded by forest, but after a cyclone a couple of years ago smashed all the trees down, it now sat exposed and with great views.

We were all tired bunnies. I was planning to again sleep outside on the porch - but alas, light rain started around dusk and put paid to that idea. This didn't bode well for the morning. Oh well - we'd been very lucky so far. 

Paparoa track - Ces Clark Hut to Moonlight Tops Hut for New Years

 I awoke at 5am to a stunning sunrise. It seemed rude not to lie in my sleeping bag and just watch the rich reds and oranges spread over the eastern horizon and the mountains in the distance slowly turn from grey silhouettes to having depth and shadow. 

Slowly others stirred. Suzanne emerged to take photos and then disappeared again. 

7am, long after sunrise

I got breakfast and coffee on and brought Angela breakfast in bed to murmurings of jealousy from our hut mates. Breakfast is instant scrambled eggs in a wrap, with extra salami for me. (I tried serving up the leftover instant scrambled eggs when we got back - it was not a popular decision. It's pretty good - but compared to the real thing, not so good.)

The older group headed off super early. Their plan was to get to Moonlight hut, then an hour or so past, and then back again to Ces Clark today.  A long long day! They'd been here earlier and saw nothing but murky insides of clouds, so were repeating the journey to get the views this time.

We were off by 8:20am and thirty minutes later reached the side trip to Croesus Knob. Dropped packs and headed up, along with the group of friends (Seb, Brendan and three women we never got the names of). A fairly steep and ill defined track got us to the top with spectacular views. (I think DOC will need to form and mark the track - the ridge face will get hammered if all of us make our own route up and down.) 

Setting off

I guess this is the top

stunning

ridgeline stretches off

Paparazzi

We carried on along the main track, getting passed by a steady stream of bikers - most in their granny gears, some walking the steeper bits. The track is amazing. Plenty of viz so no issue with bikes and trampers clashing. A great gradient and surface for biking, some fist sized rocks to bounce over but really nicely done to keep the gradient steady and gradual. 

The wind was a bit fresh so the jackets came out

This looks like so much fun!

Onward

Hello Angela

I love these trees, they look straight out of Dr Seuss

We stopped for 'elevenses' an hour out from our destination, on a grey rock slide. 

We reached Moonlight Tops hut at the stroke of noon. The "1km to hut" marker seems to give me implausible energy so I ran ahead, dropped my pack and came back to walk with Angela and carry her pack. Better not make that a precedent.

The hut was impressive. "Hut" isn't really the right word for it. Brand new, with lighting, USB charge points, gas hobs and plenty of space. Two bunkrooms (an 8-bunker and a 16-bunker) and a spacious lounge. Deck space front and rear.

Mansion

Luxury

Soon who should turn up but Sharron's running buddy David, for a water stop, hut log book entry and onward. He was puzzled why Sharron hadn't written in the log book too since he was sure he was behind her.

Then half an hour later, this was explained by Sharron appearing. Again, a quick water refill, a line in the hut log book and off again. They're doing our 4 day hike in just 1 day. Makes me tired thinking about it.

Slowly but surely, the entire hut headed off for Nana Naps. That left Trevor and me with nothing to do. So we went off exploring. We headed up the track and down the Moonlight track. Advertised as a shared walk/bike path, it rapidly turned into a boggy route with no defined track. No way to bike this! And if you did, you'd cut waist-deep grooves through the wetland. Looks like it's a 'carry your bike' route for a km or two before anything rideable emerges.

We wandered down as far as the bushline where it looks like a 'proper track' starts; though looking at the map I think that's false hope, it rapidly gets steep down to the historic hut where the actual track begins. Great little explore though.

Coming back, around 3pm, we bumped into two blokes from the older group, on their way back. They'd made it a long way past Moonlight Tops Hut and were cheerfully wandering back. Still many hours to go to get back to Ces Clark. But lots of daylight to do it in. They'll sleep well tonight!

A little excitement now - after chatting to the somnambulant Angela, I noticed a waft of smoke outside the room. Did someone have a candle lit? Then the smoke got denser and I realised that one of the USB sockets was pouring greyish smoke. Gah! I quickly unplugged everybody's devices. Before I could react much more, there were two loud bangs and the socket stopped smoking. Hmm. Seems the problem solved itself and something inside the socket played 'fuse' to sort the issue out.

Still, we worked out where the fire extinguisher was, and kept a close eye on the socket.

Now it was time for dinner. Malaysian Curry for Angela, and I traded with Janine to have venison stew instead. Verdict: the malaysian curry is the worst of the backcountry vegetarian meals - it's mostly rice and blandness. The venison stew is alright, especially with extra seasonings - I'd learned my lesson and brought chili flakes and cajun seasoning to throw into every meal. 

The can of ginger beer tastes extra good when you've carried it for two days

Followed by chocolate steamed pudding with Janine's custard. The custard made it better, but it was very, very sweet and didn't really taste like custard at all. At least it moved from a 3/10 to a 5/10 I reckon. 

Another couple had turned up, and the fact that their dinner was home made burgers accompanied by pinot noir in glass mini-bottles didn't help us appreciate our dehydrated boiled food too much.

We amused ourself by taking selfies using the new big thing that's usurped 'duck face' which is 'horse face'. At least we believed Janine when she told us this, after at least an hour of idiocy she admitted that her and a friend had made it up.

Neigh!

Then onto games night, and bananagrams. This really showed me that thinking had become really, really hard as I struggled to make the sea of letters in front of me join into anything coherent. We even had Angela playing though I think we wore out her tolerance for group games by the end.

And then, abruptly, I realised that everybody had slipped off to bed with the exception of me and Janine. Travesty! There are two rules of new years eve - you stay up until midnight, and you always have it in a different place. (That last one is just me I feel).   

What to do now? It was only 9pm or so! We went for a walk to fill in some time - again heading out towards the Moonlight track. The mist had come down over the hut and it was damp and atmospheric. The mist cleared to let us see stars, as we moved away from the little gully that the hut was in. We could hear ruru and kiwi and other wildlife calling to each other as we walked. It was atmospheric and beautiful.

We got back to the still, quiet hut and snuck out to the front deck to avoid disturbing others. Janine had rum and I had whisky. We sat and chatted in the wet mist until 11:50pm when it was time to wake up the others. Angela sleepily emerged but Allyson played dead and didn't stir for me. Angela got an emphatic 'NO!' from her when she tried.

At the crack of midnight Janine cranked up the 'Auld Lang Syne" but inadvertently picked the Boney M version. Which was slightly surreal. It was followed by the Rod Stewart version which was a bit more appropriate. Anyway we all hugged and kissed and saw in the new year.

Now we were all awake, and Angela in particular wanted to go do something before we went back to bed. So off we set for a 1am walk. Janine had her red light head-torch which meant that we disturbed the wildlife less. And that paid off after a while when a kiwi ran across the path in front of her. It headed into scrub and Angela and I heard it blundering around in the scrub for ages. Alas it didn't emerge. But we "saw" it wandering about the scrub.

We all finally sloped off to bed around 2am - certainly a different New Years that we'll remember for ever. 

  

Paparoa Track - Smoko-ho road end to Ces Clark Hut

There was no hurry to leave on our adventures so we got ourselves ready in a leisurely fashion and first headed to Greymouth for our last supplies. Countdown for wraps, cheese and snacks; The Warehouse for a baseball cap and hand sanitiser. Then off through the charming eccentric Blackball to the Smoko-ho road end and the start of our adventures.

The first smart decision was to have brunch in the car park. All the less to carry! Still, as we set off around 11am, my pack felt very heavy. It was something north of 20kg I think. Maybe all the cheese and snacks, and the steamed pudding desserts, weren't that clever after all.

And off we go

The track was wonderful. Even and well formed. A perfect Great Walk and shared track for bikers too. We wandered along up a gentle incline in lovely weather. 

Like a highway

Wonderful track

Lots of sturdy new swing bridges

Our first stop was Garden Gully Hut, a historic canvas-sided hut from the gold rush era (though I suspect like Grandfather's axe, little of the original structure remained). Right beside a wonderful swimming hole that had Angela sorely tempted. 

The water's so clear!

We dropped our packs and followed the signs to the stamping battery. An impressive structure it was too. We didn't continue on to the mine as other walkers had told us not to bother.

Stamping Battery

Reunited with our packs we continued on. It started more steeply uphill from here, but still a comfortable gradient. Long thin beech grew over the track at first, but soon we were in subalpine scrub. A small marker showing 1km to the hut was a welcome sight. 

Onwards up the track

Ces Clark Hut loomed in the distance as we grew closer. We arrived, around 4pm, to the sound of happy trampers. Suzanne from the walking meetup group was there, and her tramping buddy Trevor. There was also an older party revisiting a past trip where they saw nothing but murk, and a third group of friends that we followed the whole way. 

The hut itself is wonderful. It's got an old school charm and a quirky design that follows the contours of the hill it's built on; but it's been done up nicely with new double glazed windows and a new roof and a huge deck and fresh paint inside.

The deck immediately attracted me, especially since the hut was hot and we had upper bunks. I found a nice space for my mat and sleeping bag, to the amazement and dubious looks of my hut mates. 

Nice deck. Long but with good girth too.

Dinner was of course, a backcountry meal. Tonight's delight was Creamy Carbonara and it definitely hit the spot. Especially with a tin of tuna quietly mixed in. Creamy Carbonara al pisce.  The steamed pudding that followed, not so good. Stodgy and dry. Janine's golden syrup version much nicer. 

As it got dark, around 9pm, we crept off to bed. I tried my best to sandfly-proof and weka-proof myself and tucked up on the deck.