2009 Expedition: Southern Crossing in the Tararuas

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b]November 8, 2009

Things worked out well for us today, as we had no trouble getting to the trailhead, 15 miles from where we stayed last night. The owner of the motorcamp offered to drive us right to the start for a mere $20. Any transport company would have easily charged $30 per person.
With enough food to last three days, we set off into the Tararua mountain range to do the Southern Crossing. These are the same mountains that gave us trouble during our last trip, and they are known to frequently take the lives of trampers. The last two deaths were only a month ago, and they were two locals. So we came prepared to be on top of our game.
The track started with a brutal climb from the river in the jungle-looking valley bottom, up to above the tree line. Altogether we ascended about 4500 feet. The first two and a half hours were spent on the dense green mountainside with very few views. We stopped for lunch at Field Hut, which is the oldest usable hut in New Zealand, dating back 85 years. We had plenty of daylight left and the weather was good, so we decided to take advantage of these factors and push on to the Kime Hut. The next two and a half hours were spent above tree line on the exposed ridge, where we had great views of both coasts of the country at the same time. Then around 3pm we arrived at the hut, happy to be finished climbing. Kime Hut has no wood-stove, as there is no wood for fires this high, and is reputedly a very cold hut. We will find out tonight just how cold it is.

November 9, 2009

The hut last night was indeed very cold, so we were looking forward to getting to tonight’s hut since it had a fire-stove and would be warmer. Today’s theme would become disillusionment.
The rain began immediately as we stepped out of the hut door to begin hiking. We had four hours ahead of us on the exposed and jagged ridgeline, so this was not a good sign. We trudged onward, though, summiting Mount Hector within about 45 minutes. From there the overall grade was slightly downhill, but you would not have known it with all the ups and downs along the way.
The rain pelted us intermittently, and the clouds obscured any views we would have had along the tops. Within an hour of walking, everything I was wearing was soaked through, and with each step came the squishing sound of standing water inside my boots. We pushed on, not stopping for anything, as we had been told that this was the most dangerous part of the ridge.
Though I was drenched, I was thankful that these clouds didn’t have much wind in them. I began to understand how a soaked hiker could easily get hypothermia in minutes if there was a strong wind.
After four hours, we came to the end of the ridge and the trail ducked down into the forest. We soon came to Alpha Hut and began thinking of the great fire we were going to build. Unfortunately, there was no firewood that resembled anything dry. I did manage to find a few cut log sections off in the woods, but the fire we got from burning them was hardly enough to stay lit, and certainly not enough to dry our clothes out. However, the incredible effort it took to move these 80-pound chunks of wood back to the hut and chop them up momentarily distracted us from the discomfort of the situation.
Then I turned to the inevitable task of taking my boots off. I was assuming I would find several blisters since my feet had been sloshing around in them all morning. The one bright spot of today came when I found no blisters!… However, this was quickly overshadowed by the discovery that the rain had gotten into my backpack, making most of my spare clothing and my sleeping bag wet.
So, today was not one of the “fun” hiking days, but at least we arrived safely at the hut and should have a much less exposed track to walk tomorrow should the weather stay this way. It’s all part of the New Zealand tramping experience.

November 10, 2009

Today finished so far from where it began that it seems difficult to imagine that I woke up this morning wet and cold in a hut high in the mountains. But that indeed is how the day began. With our boots and clothes marginally drier than they’d been the day before, we started our hiking with some very much appreciated morning sunshine.
The hiking took us along Marchant Ridge. It was quite muddy at times from all the rain, and it was covered in thick beech forest, so the views were minimal. After four hours, we had summitted both of the modest mountains along the ridge, Omega and Marchant, and began the descent towards the valley floor. By 4pm, we finished the track, but still had to walk 4km to get to the highway. Around 5pm, we were picked up by a painter who was heading home for the day. He was kind enough to bring us to the train station half an hour down the road. There, we boarded the commuter train, which took us (by far the dirtiest and most disheveled passengers) into Wellington, home of our friends Mark and Karen.
Once we arrived in Wellington and found their place, we soaked up all the conveniences that we had been missing lately: hot showers, laundry, a filling dinner, and warm bedding. To top it off, we even spent part of the evening soaking our tired bodies in the spa pool. Quite a long day of walking, but I am very glad to be out of the Tararuas and into civilization for a bit. That mountain range has once again proven its ruggedness to me. We didn’t see another soul on the trail for the final 48 hours we were on it.

November 11, 2009

Today was just a rest day spent in Wellington. We walked downtown to meet Mark for a sushi lunch, and then got a good tour of the downtown area, which included Parliament and several of the cultural centers. Wellington is New Zealand’s capital city and is a pretty cool place. Then in the evening, Mark and Karen took us on a tour of the surrounding area by car, where we got to see the panorama of skyline lights from one of the many hills in this city by the bay.
And as it turned out, we chose well to leave the Tararuas yesterday instead of resting there for a day first. The weather turned very cold and it rained buckets all afternoon in the area we had come from.

November 12, 2009

One more rest day in Wellington. I made a couple calls home, caught up on the blog, did the grocery shopping for the next track, and helped Eric make dinner for Karen and Mark for graciously letting us stay with them. Now that we’re rested, we hope to be ready to tackle the 50-mile long Heaphy track over the next four days. Our flight leaves Wellington tomorrow morning and we will arrive half an hour later in Westport, on the South Island. From there, we hope to hitchhike about 100km to the start of the Heaphy.

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