Wilderness - October 2014

New Zealand's magazine of the outdoors since 1991

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OCTOBER 2014

10 MUST-DO WAITAKERE RANGE TRIPS + 3D MAP

$240

KEEN BOOTS TO BE WON! ❱❱ PAGE

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YOUR BACKCOUNTRY

A STING IN THE ‘TALE’

NEEDS YOU!

Why wasps are more than a nuisance

HOW ADOPTING A HUT TRANSFORMS YOUR VIEW OF THE OUTDOORS

GOLDEN TRAIL

The ridge that snakes down to Tekapo

3MINUTES FROM DEATH

TRAIL TESTED Lightweight tramping boots

› HOW TE MAARI’S SECOND

ERUPTION ALMOST CAUGHT THE EXPERTS OUT

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NZ $9.95 Aust $9.95 INCL GST

N ELSON LAKES, LEWIS PASS AN D TH E HOLLYFORD

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20

contents OCTOBER 2014 FEATURES

18 The life saving canine

How German pointer Neo, saves whio, kiwi and petrels

20 Three minutes from disaster How Te Maari explosion almost caught out the experts

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36 A sting in the 'tale'

In some parts of the country wasps are more destructive than stoats and rats

42 Taking care of shelter

You could adopt, and take care of, a back country hut like Geoff Spearpoint is doing in South Westland

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WAYPOINTS DESTINATIONS

22 High above Lake Wanaka A trip to Buchanan Peaks

24 Tasting a Great Walk

Lake Mackenzie Hut, Fiordland National Park

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26 See more

That prickly menace, speargrass

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48 Subscribe to Wilderness this month and you could receive a pair of KEEN tramping boots worth $240 2 OCTOBER 2014

YOUR TRIPS, YOUR PIX

What did you get up to last weekend?

Doug Johnson made the snowy traverse from Camp Saddle to Lyndon Saddle in the Craigieburn Range

Aunty Bex Moar and Keanu Panapa visited Bullendale Hut, Mt Aurum Recreational Reserve

Phil Jones, Annette and Chris Peard, and Brenda and Steve Osborne tramped in Whirinaki Forest Park

Eileen Guthrie tramped Lake Rotoiti in Nelson Lakes National Park

Tim, Cherie, Juan, Jesse and Bryn from ‘The Shed’ community youth project hiked up the Fox River

Czech trampers Martin, Hana, Eva and Lukas climbed Mt Avalanche

Lincoln High School’s year 13 Outdoor Education class visited Boundary Creek Hut in Hakatere Conservation Park

Michelle O'Rourke experienced a perfect winter’s day on the Mt Robert Loop, Nelson Lakes NP

Isabella and Giorgia Doblanovic tramped into Sawcut Gorge with their grandparents Val and Richard.

Sam and Andy Given tramped to Double Hut in Hakatere Conservation Park.

SEND YOUR PIX

Get your photo published here and you’ll receive the Swedish ‘Light My Fire’ FireSteel 2.0 ($22) with emergency whistle and 3000°C spark that works wet lighting stoves and fires or as an emergency signal.

See www.ampro.co.nz for more. Full submission criteria at wildernessmag.co.nz – search Last Weekend.

8 OCTOBER 2014

WAYPOINTS

Descending Daniels Spur towards Lake Wanaka

PERCHED HIGH ABOVE LAKE WANAKA Buchanan Peaks, Mt Alta Conservation Area /

W

hen James McKerrow surveyed the lower Matukituki Valley and climbed Mt Alta in 1862, he was accompanied by the eminent botanist and painter John Buchanan. After him he named a cluster of three peaks overlooking Lake Wanaka, with elevations of 2004m (west), 1905m and 1880m (east).

Today, the Buchanan Peaks are part of the Mount Alta Conservation Area.

Sheltered from the worst of the weather by the Southern Alps and with relatively gentle slopes and ridgelines, the Buchanan Peaks are an achievable target for most trampers. Do not

DIFFICULT

underestimate the size of the climb though (Lake Wanaka is at 279m) and beware of the lack of water anywhere on the mountain.

The landscape coated in golden tussock and devoid of forests makes for unimpeded views of Mt Aspiring and the great lakes of Central Otago.

Recreational opportunities exist for a wide variety of outdoor enthusiasts. The Minaret Burn Track at the toe of the mountain is open to mountain biking and horse riding (permission required from West Wanaka Station for the latter), and there is great camping at the mouth of Rumbling Burn.

The approach to the Buchanan Peaks via Daniels Spur from the east makes for a solid walk but without any difficulties, while a traverse of all three peaks requires a good head for heights over some easy but entertaining scrambling in places.

In winter and spring the peaks are covered in snow, and are often visited by ski-tourers, who appreciate the long, open runs on moderate slopes descending into Rumbling Burn or to Lake Wanaka. A scenic campsite with water exists by a tarn just beneath the eastern summit, but beware of high winds – there is nowhere to shelter.

- Zhi Yuen Yap

DANILO HEGG / SOUTHERN ALPS PHOTOGRAPHY

WILD FILE Access Drive to Homestead Bay car park, 18.4km west of Wanaka at the end of West Wanaka Road.

Grade Difficult Time Allow two days for the return trip Map CA12 Further information The western side of the Buchanan Peaks is on private land and permission is required from West Wanaka Station (P: 03 443 7144)

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

THE LONG W AY ROUND

An alpine tarn with the purest water in New Zealand is just one attraction on this valley-hopping trip in Nelson Lakes National Park. By Pat Barrett

Walking around Blue Lake

WILD

PESTS

A

STING IN THE

‘TALE’

The introduced German wasp

36 OCTOBER 2014

Wasps are a pain in the... wherever they sting you. We all know that. But some experts believe there are parts of the country where they’re even more destructive to wildlife than stoats and rats. Matthew Pike asks if we’ve ignored these demons of the forest for too long

A

nnoying. Irritating. Pesky. These are three of the tamer words we use to describe the infuriating (there’s another) experience of trying to eat a hardearned lunch while surrounded by a swarm of yellow and black blighters.

In late summer, there are certain parts of the country where, try as you might, they’re just impossible to avoid. Once you shake one off your hand, there’s another on the rim of your drink bottle. Then another gets caught in your hair, which leads to the strained, frantic buzz of a wasp trying to escape just inches from your ear.

The situation is unrelenting and quickly becomes unbearable, leaving you with no choice but to finish your jam sandwich on the move. The view you were hoping to savour will have to wait until later in the year. The river into which you were hoping to dip your feet will have to continue babbling without you – not that you could hear that babble over the droning din of a million flying insects.

Anyone who’s tramped through forest in the northern part of the South Island and various forests in Northland and around Auckland will have experienced this. There are parts of New Zealand where the wasp density is greater than anywhere else in the world.

The beech forests covered in honeydew (a sugary liquid secreted by aphids and some insects), and kanuka and rata forests are just heaven for them. New Zealand has no native social wasps (the only native species are solitary). So over the last 70 years two invasive species – first the German wasp, then the common wasp – have become dominant, feeding on the bucket loads of honeydew found in forests and with no natural predators.

The upshot is that between January and May each year, there are certain forests in which they are simply everywhere. This is more than just a nuisance. It can be dangerous, particularly for trampers who don’t stick to the paths.

“The problem’s more prevalent with people who head off track,” says DOC entomologist Eric Edwards. “They’re far more likely to step on a nest or get very close to a nest. Wasps won’t build their nests on a hardened track.”

No-one knows this better than keen tramper Lew Shaw. Shaw, who lives near Ashburton, in Canterbury, got attacked four years ago in Black Lizard Gully, on the slopes of Mt Somers.

“I climbed up a small waterfall with my www.wildernessmag.co.nz

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WILD

HUTS

TAKING CA R E O F

S H E LT E R Geoff Spearpoint takes the bull by the horns and adopts a backcountry hut

HUGH VAN NOORDEN

The six-bunk Tunnel Creek Hut is getting a new lease on life now that Geoff has taken on responsibility to maintain it