To Hopeless Hut (& back)
I had a couple of nights up the Travers Valley with son Richard and grandson Reece as Richard was keen to check out places he hadn’t seen for years. We walked up the side of Lake Rotoiti to Lakehead Hut, on to the swingbridge and a little way beyond and set up our camp. March is a good month for tramping in the mountains especially on a clear fine day with the air being a lot cooler than down by the seashore. Richard and Reece had their tent while I slept under my fly. There was a good frost that night just to remind us that we were in the mountains.

Reece crossing the Travers River.

The next day we walked up to the Hopeless Hut for a look. I was surprised at the flow of the Hopeless River as it seemed to be a good flow at the junction of the Travers and for most of the way up, then where one has to cross the creek and then recross to continue – well, there was no water there at all – just bare stones. So the river disappears for a while but upstream near the hut it flows again. At many side creek crossings along the way, lots of rocks about even where the creek flows don’t exist. The conclusion is that there must have been some heavy rain the last couple of months! The Travers was in full flow though but when in flood it must have spread right across the lower valley before entering the lake, this going by the evidence of debris left high and dry.

The tree daisy Olearia was in flower and the Mountain Snowberry bushes were laden with the snow white berries. After lunch we wandered back down to the Travers towards the lake to set up camp for the night. I didn’t like the look of the gathering clouds around Mt Travers and as I had a hut pass, I thought I’d make use of it and headed for the Lakehead Hut while the others tented again.

Mountain Snowberry.

The Lakehead Hut of 28 bunks had only four bunks empty when I arrived and all the occupants were foreigners but why did I feel out of place? Many were going quite a distance tramping, and observing the bruises and moans on just their first day’s tramp, either they toughened up very quickly or they would be pretty sore at the end of their tramp.

View from Hopeless Hut.

The walk was a good work out though and the next morning, when Richard and Reece caught up, we walked along the lake edge back to St Arnaud.

Rabbit Island – The Almost Ultimate in Conservation: The toilet wastes of Nelson City and Richmond are piped to Rabbit Island after some treatment, more treatment on the island and then what’s left is spread out on the forest floor among the pine trees. The island looks to be just sand but the trees grow like heck – maybe to get away from the smell? Anyway, the resulting timber is of high strength quality and most of the trees end up in the MDF plant of Nelson Pine Forests nearby. What makes the timber so structurally strong? The sand and the smelly stuff, the long hours of sunshine or maybe the smell of many BBQ’s?

Some logs are made into plywood to be used to make laminated beams and such while others are chipped for the MDF board. We visited the MDF plant and although most of the processing we couldn’t see except for the final product, I was fascinated watching logs being picked up by machines, and spun lathe like, with blades of knives, peeling the log down to about 100mm diameter in about 8 seconds, casting aside what was left and repeating the process on another log. The thin layer of veneer was shuffled around to end up as sheets of ply.

Logs await to be loaded for export at Picton.

We help out with trapping on Rabbit Island and also Rough Island along with five others. The aim is to have traps set to catch pests that take the young and eggs of nesting seabirds, in particular oystercatchers and dotterels. We have traplines set along in the sand dunes screening the resting and known nesting sites. At the moment we have 95 traps set on five different traplines. We try but are really disappointed at the people who continually dump their unwanted cats on the islands. These so-called animals lovers are a big problem for the native wildlife.

Enviroschools Day at Rough Island
This seems to be a program of assisting schools who join, to teach the children good things about conservation and sustainability. I thought the schools already did this sort of thing and am concerned that the local taxpayers provide funding. Anyway, for the second year running I was asked to assist – volunteering of course. This was to have a “station” or stand to do with a conservation challenge. About 200 children turned up from around the region and in teams of four to five, raced around the different stations to gather points and to hopefully learn something about conservation. Rough Island by the way, lies right next to Rabbit Island.

Some of the baits used.

On my station I had some skins of pests, a number of different traps that we use and a selection of baits. My challenge was for the children to sniff the different baits and to decide what pest animal they would be used for. I do admit some of the baits have a foul smell but it was amusing to watch the reactions. Generally the children were quiet when they arrived but during the smell session they certainly became very animated! Let’s hope they learned something.

Over The Hill & Far Away

A reflection on the country?

Well, okay, to Picton anyway. Shirl and I hadn’t been to see Port Underwood so after watching one of the inter island ferries being loaded with vehicles we carried on through Picton and stayed the night at Whatamango Bay, a Dept of Conservation campsite. It was nice and peaceful, beside an arm of Queen Charlotte Sound. The next day it was over another hill, up and down quite a bit to a lookout over Port Underwood. The road along this part was metal or gravel, unsealed and very winding but not too dusty. It could be described by some as a Health and Safety horror. It’s probable that if Health and Safety staff came this way they would have nightmares for months and they would definitely need to have counselling afterwards. I just think it is a winding country road.

We passed a number of small bays heading south towards Blenheim, some with notable historic relics too. Oyster Bay: which looked out on “ships of all nations” during the whaling era 1830 – 1847 and Ocean Bay also ‘traded’ in whales during this period or earlier.

Seaweed at Monkey Bay.

And then we came to Robin Hood Bay. It’s thought that the bay was named after a whaling ship and nearby is an old earth cottage being restored. It was a whalers cottage first, being built about 1848 then between 1886 and 1917 it was part of a boys boarding school, which often even looked after them while their parents visited “home” – Great Britain. When I observed the reflection of a paddock in some of the window panes with the next panes broken, it seemed to convey the thought of how we abuse our land.

Cable Station staff in the 1870s.

We drove down to Whites Bay which has a DOC campsite. It was a nice spot too but I guess it would be well populated during holiday times. On the south side of the small bay, a headland ran out which had a hole near the end through which one could see the beach of Rarangi. The first telegraph link between the North and South Islands was set up in 1866 and the old building has been restored too. The photos show station staff in the 1870’s while Shirl stands on the same verandah about 140 years later.

146 years later – Shirl – same place 2016.

Back up to the main road again to come to a corner which presented a grand view of the Rarangi Beach and Cloudy Bay, all the way out to the hazy White Cliffs in the distance.  We stopped by the start of a short walk to Monkey Bay with its impressive rock lined steps. Interesting to watch the seaweed moving around as the swell rolled backwards and forwards. Rarangi Beach had a DOC campsite too but it was just too open and exposed. Behind the village a vineyard seemed to stretch out for miles.

Rarangi Beach, Blenheim.

We headed for home by going up the Wairau to St Arnaud for a round trip and passing by the old Wairau Tavern. At the St Arnaud jetty at Lake Rotoiti, one looks right up the lake, with ridges running down to the lake while far in the distance, about a 12 hour walk, is Mt Travers. At the Lake Rotoroa jetty, just over the ‘hill’ from Rotoiti, the view up that lake looks shorter but it isn’t. Perhaps it is just the larger scale of the mountains on that side? In the photo of Lake Rotoroa, I’d say the high peaks on the left will be Hopeless, Cupola and Travers. It’s great country whatever angle you look at it.