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Published: February 18th 2010
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the humpridge track is a 3 day, 53km track that was planned and built by the community of tuatapere. a pretty incredible endeavour for a total population of 700. it was completed in 2001 and is run by a community trust. all of the fees for the track go into this trust which maintains the track and also supports community interests (such as the hospital where jeff is working!)
the track is a loop that begins at bluecliffs beach, just west of tuatapere, and then ascends towards the hump ridge. okaka "hut" (more like a lodge) is located at the top of this steep ascent. for this hike, there is no option of tenting, everyone must book a bed at the hut. there are bunk rooms at the hut and also "deluxe room", which cost a bit more. after initially booking bunks, we decided to treat ourselves to a deluxe room for the weekend (jeff kept saying we were just donating more to the community trust...) the deluxe rooms come with bedding (so you don't need to carry a sleeping bag), as well as towels for a hot shower! the huts were equipped with gas stoves but unlike the DOC
huts, these humpridge huts had full crockery/pots/pans included. so we really didn't need to carry anything more than food and clothes!
the 2nd hut is in port craig, an old milltown (deserted a century ago). there is also a gas barbecue at this hut. we decided to compensate for our low weight bags with decadent meals, bringing along 2 litres of wine, steaks for the BBQ and a marinated chicken curry with veggies and udon noodles (which we cooked in a wok that was at the hut!) we also had some nice old cheddar and crackers; and a large bar of chocolate (for me!!)
we started the hike on friday morning, around 10:45am. it took about 15 minutes to drive to the rarokau farm parking lot which is on the property of a local farmer. after a $5 donation for parking, we were on the go with our somewhat light packs. the hike began in the woods and then descended down to bluecliffs beach. we hiked along the beach for a couple hours before the ascent began. it was quite steep and rooty at parts. we had a quick lunch by the beach (egg/ham/cheese/avocado sandwiches) and then headed
up. about halfway up, we ran into a pack sitting on the trail. an older man appeared and explained to us that his friend (another senior) was having difficulty so he was helping him carry his pack. we offered to help, so in the end jeff ended up carrying the weary old man's pack with my pack stuffed inside, and i carried jeff's pack.
we reached the subalpine peak and dropped off our bags in our deluxe room (compete with little chocolates on the pillows!)...then we headed for the short trail to the summit. in total it took us about 6hrs 15min to get to the hut).
the walk to the summit was quite stunning with gorgeous views of the coastline, mountains and stewart island. it was still sunny and clear outside. the forecast for the next day was not so good.
we had a delicious chicken curry supper stirfied with udon noodles and finished the 2 litres of wine in one sitting!
next day we woke up for porridge at 730am (morning porridge is included when booking the huts.) jeff said it was the best porridge he's ever had. it was very rainy, windy and
cloudy this morning. we delayed leaving for a little bit, hoping things would clear up, but they didn't. i made our lunch that we would have later in the day (couscous with tuna and tomatoes). we headed along the subalpine walk through the forest and along the hump ridge. the clouds began to clear as we reached luncheon rock. by late afternoon, the day had turned around and it was warm and sunny as we descended back to sea level. the coastal portion of the hike follows an old tramway from the logging days. apparently, port craig had been a huge logging aspiration that never really materialized. the largest wooden viaduct (percy burn) in the world was built to help transport logged timber. in this section of the trail there are 4 major viaducts built about 100 years ago. the longest (percy burn viaduct) is 125 metres long and 36 metres high. it was a bit scary walking across. the trail itself was quite muddy at this point. also, we were walking along old wood tracks which required a bit more concentration than usual.
we reached port craig and settled into our deluxe room. we then went for a
walk along the heritage trail which goes towards mussels beach and traverses by old relics from the logging days (ie. old rusted boilers/wagons/haulers).... jeff was quite fascinated by all these old broken down machines.... i was a bit more focused on all the annoying sandflies by the beach. dolphins are known to swim by this beach, but we didn't see any while we were there.
our steak and rice/veggie supper was delicious. since we were out of our own wine, we got a few beer from the hut store (not all the huts are like this!) the showers were broken when we got there (making some fellow trampers a bit unhappy.)... jeff helped fix the showers which earned us a couple free beer.
the final day was a relatively flat walk...though still muddy. we finished it in about 5 hours, jumped into our car, showered up, and then jeff dropped me off in gore (about 1.5 hours from tuatapere), where i will be working for 2 weeks (while jeff is still in tuatapere.)
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