TEN BEST TRIPS IN THE TARARUAS (+3D MAP) New Zealand's magazine of the outdoors since 1991
NOVEMBER 2014
NZ’S TOP TRAMPING TOWNS
THE BEST PLACES
TO LIVE THE OUTDOOR LIFE Nelson, Taupo, Wanaka, Queenstown, Te Anau, Arthur’s Pass, Hokitika, Ohakune, Thames, Takaka
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» How they first mapped contour lines
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contents NOVEMBER 2014 FEATURES
30 How did they first draw contour lines? Most contour lines on maps were hand-drawn before the age of computers. How was it done so accurately? 32 Hut passes in the north – why bother? Why a hut pass north of Hamilton is about as useful as a Fiordland monorail ticket 37 NZ’s top tramping towns
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The votes are in, see which towns made the cut
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WAYPOINTS DESTINATIONS
18 The tunnellers of Campbell Creek Campbell Creek huts, Kopuwai Conservation Area 20 See more
Mountain views
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48 Subscribe to Wilderness this month and receive a Light My Fire Cook’n Fire Kit worth $50 www.wildernessmag.co.nz
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YOUR TRIPS, YOUR PIX
What did you get up to last weekend?
Al Nisbet with John and Carolyn Vasta on a day trip up Mt Fyffe
Kendall Jones, Fraser Jones and Bryn Drummond enjoyed the walk into Lake Daniels and spending a night at Manson-Nicholls Memorial Hut
Nate and Amanda Lane ski toured across The Remarkables, in via Wye Creek and out via Doolans Creek
Lee McCracken, Thomas and Mike Guthrie tramped to Iron Gate Hut in Ruahine Forest Park
Gini Falloon is delighted to have made it across the Huxley River
Members of Foothills Social Climbers show how much they love the backcountry at Castle Ridge Station, looking out over Lake Heron
Miriam Clark (14) climbed Mt Isobel near Hanmer
Peter Dickson traversed a knife blade ridge along the summit of Couloir Peak in the Arrowsmith Range
Kate and Grant Timlin rode the Rimutaka Cycle Trail
Heather Le Grice and her fiance Nick headed to the summit of Mt Ruapehu on a windy day
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.
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EWAN PATERSON
WAYPOINTS
The ruins of a miner’s hut in Campbell Creek
THE TUNNELLERS OF
CAMPBELL T CREEK
Campbell Creek huts, Kopuwai Conservation Area /
MODERATE
WILD FILE Access Drive south from Alexandra on SH8 and turn onto Symes Rd. Continue past Mitchells Cottage on this water-scoured dirt road. Park off the road after two or three gates and start walking Grade Moderate Time Two days return Map CD13, CD12
he search for gold during the early years of European settlement drew thousands of miners to prospect among the golden tussock of Central Otago. By 1862, the easy gold in the gullies of the Dunstan Goldfield near Manuherikia (now Alexandra) was almost worked out. Eager miners climbed over the Snowy Range (now Old Man Range) in search of new gold-bearing deposits. What they found were the alpine boggy basins and rocky gorges of Fraser River and Campbell Creek. Faced by years of toil to win the gold flakes and nuggets from schist gravels and quartz-seamed rocks, brute force and techniques learned at earlier gold rushes in California and Australia were employed. Dams and water races were constructed to guarantee a ready supply of water. Men formed themselves into groups to undertake these large civil works projects. One such consortium of 18 miners began an ambitious project in 1864 to divert Campbell Creek and mine its stream bed. This required a 200m-long tunnel to be dug through a slip that had partially blocked the gorge. They became known as the ‘Tunnel Party’ and some of the original miners were still working the claim 35 years later. They lived in a small cluster of stone cottages with thatched roofs deep in the gorge, just above the creek that was the scene of their endeavours. Records do not accurately show how much gold was won from here and nearby Potters Goldfield, but a figure of $9 million has been mentioned. From the top of Symes Rd at 1630m, on the summit ridge of Old Man Range/ Kopuwai, the views are expansive. The total openness of this place is at once exhilarating and a source of discomfort. Perfectly calm days are rare; blustery winds are cold and frequent. Walk south along the top of the range on a gravel road skirting the Fraser then Campbell basins and follow the side track to Potters Huts. Camp here then follow a spur leading north-west steeply down to the site of the huts in Campbell Creek. They are perched on a narrow terrace nestled among giant tussocks, gently succumbing to the elements. - Ewan Paterson
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
STRIDING THROUGH T H E AG O N Y IGNORING THE PHYSIO’S ADVICE AND CONTINUING WITH A SPRAINED ANKLE ISN’T THE BEST IDEA WHEN HEADING DEEP INTO THE OTAGO HIGH COUNTRY, DISCOVERS JONATHAN CARSON
DANILO HEGG / SOUTHERN ALPS PHOTOGRAPHY
Lake Hawea and a view that makes it all worthwhile
BACKCOUNTRY
YAP ZHI YUEN
HUTS
Hut passes
in the north WHY BOTHER? For many of us, the backcountry hut pass is about as useful as a ticket for the Fiordland monorail. Matthew Pike asks what value there is for those living north of Hamilton and what they can do about it.
I Move along please, your hut pass is not valid here. The Pinnacles, Coromandel Forest Park.
f you live in Nelson there are no fewer than 86 huts in the surrounding parks where you can use a backcountry hut pass; 19 in the Richmond Ranges, 21 in Nelson Lakes and 43 in Kahurangi. Even little Abel Tasman has three huts for which you don’t need to book. Christchurch residents can use the pass for any one of 54 huts in Craigieburn Forest Park, Hakatere Conservation Park and Arthur’s Pass NP, while the pass is valid for 69 huts in Otago. For those who live in the South Island the $120 annual fee for a backcountry pass is a bargain – a ticket to the remote and the beautiful. Even Wellingtonians are blessed with 43 huts in the Tararuas alone. But for the 50 per cent of the population who live in, and north of, Hamilton, the story’s rather different. The Kaimais, east of the city, are home to five huts but, north of this, things become barren. There are no huts in the greater Auckland region or the Coromandel Peninsula in which the hut pass can be used. In Northland there are just two. There used to be more, but in recent years popular huts, such as Waitawheta, Pinnacles, Mt Heale and, most recently, Pahautea in Pirongia, have been transferred to the online booking system for the summer months. A
technical snag where pass numbers can’t be verified on the booking system means hut passes can’t be used to book these huts. DOC has confused itself with this system. When we initially called to ask for clarification we were told pass holders could book these huts by phoning or visiting the local visitor centres.When we later put to the department that its website says the pass can’t be used to book these huts, and visitor centres themselves said the same, it became clear that only three huts on the online booking system – Jumbo, Powell and Waitawheta – can be booked at their respective local visitor centres. A new online booking system which can verify hut passes is hoped to be operational by 2015-16. This will make Jumbo, Powell and Waitawheta huts easier to book, but it doesn’t look as though it’ll make any difference to the other huts for which the pass will still be invalid. Campaigners, including Wilderness, have long pushed for more huts in the north. Loyal pass holders, such as Auckland Tramping Club president Tony Walton, are dependent on big trips south to get their money’s worth. “I go to the South Island and lower North Island with the club,” says Walton. “Down there the hut passes are valuable, but up here we’re having to go further afield to use them.” www.wildernessmag.co.nz
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WANAKA Edith Leigh speaks to Wanaka-based trampers who wouldn’t let wild elephants drag them away from the town
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sk any Wanaka resident if they can see themselves living anywhere else and ninety-nine percent of them wouldn’t even dream of it. Phrases like ‘outdoor Mecca’ and ‘love it’ crop up in every conversation. “I’ll be here till I die,” says keen tramper and hunter Bruce McLean, who moved to Wanaka from Dunedin seven years ago. “I love the energy it has for the outdoors, it infects people. You can’t go anywhere without seeing somebody out exercising.” McLean says he has done a lot of trips
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in the past seven years, including taking his two teenage boys out tramping, but still feels like he hasn’t even touched the surface of what’s available close to home. Upper Clutha Tramping Club president Karen Marinkovic, who has lived in Wanaka for seventeen years, says it would take a lifetime to explore all of Wanaka’s tramping destinations. Mt Aspiring National Park, near Wanaka, is the country’s third biggest national park, but the town is also quite literally surrounded by conservation areas offering a huge variety of terrain. The outdoor coun-
try ranges from steep, bush-clad mountains, to open tussock high country, to the flattopped block mountains of Central Otago. Close to town are walks and bike tracks alongside the lake and Clutha River, Mt Iron and the Diamond Lake Conservation Area. Slightly further afield are the Matukituki Valley, the Makarora region, the 105,000ha Hawea Conservation Park, the 23,000ha Pisa Conservation Area and another 12,000ha encompassing five conservation areas to the west of Wanaka. That’s a lot of tramping country but, if you want more, Queenstown tracks are just an hour
DENNIS RADERMACHER
Views of Lake Wanaka and beyond from Roys Peak
sunny, wonderful, blue sky days”. Summer is hot and dry; autumn’s cold temperatures mean intense, beautiful colours; and winter is exciting, with snow on the mountain tops bringing skiing and spectacular scenery. Outdoor opportunities in Wanaka don’t just stop at tramping. The town is becoming a hub for mountain bikers, with bike parks such as Sticky Forest, and a big choice of tracks such as the purpose-built Deans Bank Track, Glendhu Bay Track, and a brochure full of other options. Rock-climbing was established at Hospital Flat, just 12km from town, in the 1970s and has since exploded with new crags, routes and bouldering opening up all the time. Diamond Lake and the Riverside and Roadside recreation areas are all close to town, but there is plenty more within easy drivaway, Mackenzie Country is easily accessed through the Lindis Pass, and the tenure review process is opening up new areas all the time. Marinkovic says she organises about nine winter tramping club day walks every year and, in the past ten years, she has hardly repeated a walk. Aside from such a smorgasboard of tramps, Marinkovic loves the four distinct seasons Wanaka experiences. Spring is ushered in with “gorgeous, sunny days” and when Marinkovic spoke to Wilderness, the town was “on day twenty-four of fabulous,
ing distance. In winter there is skiing and in warmer weather the lake is great for kayaking, paddle-boarding, sailing, boating, fishing. “There is just so much,” says Marinkovic. So much, that it can be hard to choose and tramping can find itself on the back seat. For a small town there is also a good variety of theatre and concert events on. On some day tramps “we’ve got to make sure we’re back in time”. Wanaka’s pace of life is generally a little slower than that of nearby Queenstown. But while its nightlife might not have the same attraction, it
can boast better weather. South-facing Queenstown cops the winds coming straight up the lake, which then hit the Crown Range and Harris Mountains and head right over the top of Wanaka. While every Wanaka resident can wax lyrical about the outdoor opportunities the area offers, they are all a little more subdued when it comes to the cost of living. For people who are not big earners it can be difficult, say residents. Just one supermarket means higher food prices and when it comes to housing, Wanaka is second only to Auckland. Harcourts Wanaka manager Grant Parker says the median house price in Wanaka is $486,000 and the median cost of renting is $388 per week. “Tricky”, is how Parker describes the rental market, particularly when seasonal summer and winter workers flood the town. For those looking to buy, an entry-level three-bedroom home in Wanaka is likely to cost you $400,000, although prices do drop a little for those happy to live a short drive from town in the likes of Hawea. According to Parker, however, the town is in a real growth phase. “You can’t turn a corner without seeing a bulldozer or new home being built. “All up it’s a really exciting place to live at the moment. The energy is incredible.” Wanaka is primarily a tourist town, so tourism and hospitality account for lots of jobs. But that doesn’t mean there are not other opportunities. The building boom is bringing in tradespeople, and the town has traditionally attracted people whose work or business allows them to work from home. Wanaka is working hard to win Chorus’ gigatown competition to bring more IT businesses to the region. It’s also popular with retirees, and retired farmer Brian Cleugh says life couldn’t be better. The Matukituki Valley “is almost a second home” and during winter there are three ski fields in close proximity. All in all, it’s enough to make any tramper or keen outdoors person up sticks and head south and inland. www.wildernessmag.co.nz
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