April 2014

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APRIL 2014

TESTED! THE BEST

season sleeping bags

DESTINATIONS OF SMAUG

4 walks from the latest hobbit movie

AUCKLAND'S

COAST TO COAST WALKWAY

IS IT REALLY TRAMPING IF YOU NEVER LEAVE THE CITY?

CLIMB MORE MITRES

It’d be sacrilege not to stomp all over these bishop’s hats

THE LIVING DEAD Join the ‘species hunters’ as they bring the once extinct back to life

» PLUS

› FIND NORTH USING YOUR WATCH › LEARN THE CLOVE HITCH KNOT › ARE PLUSH DOC HUTS RIPE FOR PRIVATISATION?

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› TNF’S LATEST BIG-LOAD CARRYING PACK

contents April 2014

FEATURES

15 Dreams aren’t free

How to get trail fit to knock off your big tramping dreams

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17 The perfect tramper’s

breakfast Fuel up on this outstanding feed for long-lasting energy

26 The big three

Armed with a pair of binoculars and a little tracking know-how you can observe these three game animals

36 Big city, big tramp

You pound pavements and manicured parks on Auckland’s Coast to Coast Walkway, but can it be called tramping?

44 The living dead

Follow dedicated species hunters as they search for animals so rare they’re thought to be extinct

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WAYPOINTS 18 Destinations

Adelaide Basin, Fiordland National Park

20 See more

Climb more Mitres

22 The destinations of Smaug Four top hobbit hikes

24 Top 3

Three walks that offer maritime history and a sense of remote ruggedness

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35

Subscribe to win

Subscribe to Wilderness this month and you’ll go in the draw to win one of 10 One Planet RFG Gaiters

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1

YOUR TRIPS, YOUR PIX

What did you get up to last weekend?

Bryce Buckland rode The Old Ghost Road

David and Andrea Coburn bagged Double Hut in Hakatere Conservation Park

Peony Stephens took a break on the Sealy Tarns Track in Aoraki/Mt Cook NP

Neil, Anne and Craig visited Kelly Knight Hut in Ruahine FP

David Barnes walked across Campbell Island to North West Bay

Kirsten Tucker climbed Mt Duppa to catch the sunset over Nelson

Callum, Hayden and Steven Strachan climbed Xenicus Peak in Kahurangi NP

Fenn Mercer walked Deadman's Track in Ruahine FP

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.

Jess and Steve Alloway went to Lake Angelus

6 APRIL 2014

Wulf Wilkening, 12, walked the Routeburn Track

WILD

ANIMALS

THE BIG

THREE If you’re heading into the hills this autumn, you’ve a good chance of spotting and observing three big game animals. Greig Caigou shows you where to look

A

Note the inquisitive gaze of this chamois – a truly wild moment with a beautiful animal

MATT WINTER PHOTOGRAPHY

s a hunter, I often meet trampers in the backcountry who want to see alpine specialists such as chamois and tahr in the natural environment. My quick answer is that unless you’re heading into mountainous regions, you’re unlikely to spot them.

But for those who do a bit of trans-alpine tramping, particularly at this time of year, there are ways to increase your chance of seeing not only chamois and tahr, but red deer as well.

CHAMOIS

A gift of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph, chamois were liberated in the Tasman Valley on the lower slopes of Aoraki/Mt Cook in April 1907.They have since spread throughout the South Island and can now be found living in quite a wide range of habitats including alpine bluffs, grasslands, herb fields and sub-alpine scrublands. But because they are so widespread, trampers might even spot them in low altitude river gorges, creek beds and Westland forests at sea level.

In summer, they are a lovely rich chestnutty shade of orange/brown with black framing on the legs and belly. Come autumn though, chamois go through the process of changing colour so that by winter they are jet black. Bucks develop a beautiful dorsal stripe of long silver-tipped hair.

Chamois are wonderful to observe and can be quite playful. High in the Lewis Pass area I once came across a gulch filled with snow. At the top of the snow chute were several young chamois and an old doe. They would run down the snow, drop to their brisket, legs splayed and then slide to the bottom of the chute where they’d jump up and gallop back to the top to repeat the fun!

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WILD

ANIMALS

ALPINE BIRDS

With good optics, expect to see chamois moving from lower habitat and feeding up towards daytime rest areas with commanding views

LEARN FEEDING PATTERNS Most animals follow a feeding pattern and it’s while they are eating that you have the best chance to observe them. Red deer will feed during the night on clearings – these are often near huts and good campsites. At the pre-dawn, the first bird-song is often the signal for them to start moving back into the cover of bush. If you are not positioned overlooking such areas before first light, you are unlikely to see them.

Chamois and tahr follow a distinct vertical pattern and generally do not feed during the night, but begin feeding at dawn and continue doing so as they climb until they bed down midmorning at higher altitude. Here they will ruminate and are more difficult to locate until they begin their afternoon feeding and start descending again.

HIMALAYAN TAHR In spring, these animals range in altitude from around 900m early in the morning to 1300m where they bed down. During autumn, they will be found in the range 1300-1600m so to see them you need to be camped high or be viewing them from a distance with good optics.

The Himalayan tahr was introduced in 1904 and as much as is possible their spread is confined to a strict range and the population is managed at specified densities with both recreational and aerial-assisted killing occurring in hot spots where this is exceeded. Tahr love rock systems and are masters of the steeps, with hooves that have a flexible, rubbery core that allows them to grip smooth rocks and a hard, sharp rim which can lodge into small footholds.When put to flight, it is amazing to

A juvenile bull tahr

witness their skill in the gnarliest of terrain.

Female tahr (nannies) are gregarious and will generally be in groups so where you see one, keep your eye out for others. Females are goat-sized and of light colour whereas the male is a much bigger and more solid animal. In autumn he will be dark in colour.

If travelling in the mountains of the West Coast, look for tahr near bluff systems rising out of thick scrub. In the eastern valley systems, tahr dine on tall snow tussock and mixed short podocarp scrub, typical of what you would find on tramps in the Ruataniwha and Hakatere conservation parks, or the Rangitata, Godley, and Dobson valleys. During the middle of the day they will invariably be amongst their lofty bastions of rock and crag.

SEASONAL VARIATIONS There are seasonal variations to where you will locate animals. On top of this, gender, family groupings and food requirements influence likely locations.

At the tail end of summer and heading into autumn, family groups of females with their young and previous years’ juniors, will all be found grazing together, usually with an older female ‘on watch’ above the grouping.

Approach such groups with a watchful

eye out for this sentinel. A shrill whistle means the game is up. They know you are there and will generally flee.

Sometimes, if they are not sure what you are, the animal may stay put and their whistle can be handy for discovering tahr or chamois that you might not have known were present.

Lay low or get behind an obstruction for a time and you may well get another chance at getting closer.

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OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

the

RAY SALISBURY

LEADS A MISSION THROUGH THE MINERAL BELT OF THE RICHMOND RANGES

30 APRIL 2014

RAY SALISBURY/LIGHTHOUSE CREATIVE

Ray Salisbury contemplates his solo summit bid of Red Hill, centre left

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The Lion

the volcanoes and the pint

ALISTAIR HALL PHOTOGRAPHY

Is it really tramping if you never leave the city? Alistair Hall walks Auckland’s Coast to Coast Walkway to find out

36 APRIL 2014

CITY WALK

of beer

Who’d believe you were in downtown Auckland? Wade and Scott on Auckland Domain’s Lover's Walk

ape Brett has one. So does Cape Reinga. There’s one on the tip of the Coromandel and a huge 66km one down in Canterbury that takes five days and traverses St James Conservation Park. Walkways are everywhere. Even in Auckland.

The notion you can walk from one side of New Zealand to the other, from coast to coast, in the space of a few hours is a tantalising prospect for any walker. For three Aucklanders, throwing in the prospect of discovering corners of the city we had never seen before and an ice cold beer at the end of a long hot day, and the Auckland Coast to Coast Walkway suddenly became a must-do.

Onehunga Bay Reserve is not your typical trail head. Instead of chirping birds and bush-fringed isolation, you’re greeted with power pylons and the constant rumble of cars and trucks speeding along the South-Western Motorway.

We’re here to see if you can get your tramping kicks without leaving New Zealand’s largest city. The walkway is no small fry; it’s 16km – more than many, but less than the greats – and involves a little more than 300m of ascent and a bit more descent. But where boots tread groomed trails on the St James Walkway, or sand on the Te Paki Coastal Walkway, hardy Coast to Coasters in Auckland mostly pound pavements.

It’s knee-jarring. That’s why we brought our walking poles and heavy duty boots. The terrain might not be difficult, but it sure is hard.

Boots laced, gaiters tied, walking poles extended, we begin our tramp by dipping our hands in the Manukau Harbour – or more accurately what would have been the Manukau Harbour had the South-Western Motorway not blocked access. The plan was to do the same when we reached the Waitemata. A ceremonial touching of water to celebrate walking from one side of New Zealand to the other.

We follow the foreshore of the Onehunga Bay Reserve for all of 20m before leaving this nominal natural setting to cross the road where the first climb of the day awaits. Normans Hill Road is steep but the lovely character villas lining the street help make it a pleasant amble.

A right turn down Grey St soon has us treading the first bit of green through Jellicoe Park.

There’s history here – and on other walkway landmarks – to rival the Otago goldfields. It’s one of occupation, conflict and education. In one corner of the park stands the Onehunga Blockhouse, one of 10 forts built in 1860 to protect Onehunga residents from perceived attacks by Maori who were at the time organising themselves into the Kingitangi movement.

It’s possible building the Blockhouse on a Maori kumara plantation upped the perceived risk a tad. The building housed 12 militiamen for a www.wildernessmag.co.nz

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OUTSTANDING OUTLOOK After a sweaty grovel in the flood-damaged North Elcho Stream, a tributary of the Hopkins in Ruataniwha Conservation Park, we called it a day on some ledges at 1900m.

Here, Sam Bosshard relaxes in his sleeping bag while taking in the view to the Hopkins River.

We climbed Mt Ward the next morning and enjoyed a calm sunny summit.

- Ewan Paterson Camera: Panasonic Lumix LX2 Settings: ISO 100, 1/50sec, f6.3

Submit your hotshots to editor@lifestylepublishing.co.nz

72 APRIL 2014