24-26 January 2015

 The Fit Trip                               

The trip began with a Friday night bus drive via Rotorua, from where we picked up Peter McKellar and snatched a quick bite to eat, to the DoC camping ground by the Ogilvie Bridge over the Tauranga River.  This is a deluxe camping site with running tap water, flush toilets et cetera and a very friendly DoC man who gave us useful advice before we started off in the morning.

Saturday morning dawned perfectly, no clouds, no wind, so it was with high spirits that we, on cue, at 8.00am trudged up and over the Te Pona a Pita Track.  John and Jean Wilson accompanied us to the crest from where they continued on their trip further up the ridge, whilst we descended to the Waiiti Stream.  By now the sun was well up and lots of beautiful vistas opened out across the valley of sun golden-green bush ridges, topped by a pure blue sky. Very, very beautiful.  This idyllic setting was however shortly disturbed by a wasp attack, those at the back in particular receiving lots of stings.  A short panic run got us past the nest, but a few people were still licking their wounds even after we had come out on Monday.

The Waiiti Stream at the bottom is an easy stream to negotiate and very pretty in the sun with the moving water sparkling, some fantastic pools. It was, at this time of the year, mostly very shallow and quite wide, very easy travelling. We made our way upstream slowly, savouring every minute. Eventually we reached the confluence with the Kaharoa and Whakapirau Streams where, according to the map, there had once been a large pa site. We could see no evidence of this, only a bush covered hill where it probably was. We had our lunch there in a clearing a few metres up the Kaharoa Stream by an empty but obviously well used hunters’ bivvy.

As we progressed up the Kaharoa we were more and more able to avail ourselves of side‑tracks, cutting off corners and even following beside straight sections of stream. As a result we rollicked along and were at the Te U bivouac by mid afternoon. Of interest to those who saw it, on this stretch was a very large and very black eel lurking in a pool. It was a beauty! Finding the bivvy was a bit tedious as tracks seemed to lead everywhere, eventually however, after a bit of a scramble, we struck gold on top of a small plateau between the Kaharoa and an un-named side stream. The bivvy is in reality a typical DoC four bunk hut. Most of us elected to camp outside, where there was plenty of space, because of the heat in the hut, but used the hut for cooking and the large veranda for gossiping and yarning into the evening.

Next day (Sunday) we made a late start (9am) as the distance to be travelled was short and again there were lots of tracks beside the stream which only had to be crossed occasionally.  We were climbing as we went and then eventually had to leave the Kaharoa completely and cross over via a real climb up a ridge and over point 553 and down into the Waiotahi Stream. Again more side-tracks! By lunchtime we were nearly at our destination for the day so stopped short in a lovely shady spot where we lounged and talked. Shortly after this we reached Bob’s bivvy which is situated at the confluence of the Waiotahi and the Paititutu Steam. Most people headed straight to a pool for a swim. It is hard to describe how good that was. The bivvy is a makeshift hunters’ bivvy in a large clearing.  There were three hunters there so we all tented. Another convivial and pleasant evening.

Monday morning and another fine hot day. We started even later (9.30am).  Moving downstream, more tracks and easy going. Eventually we came onto farm land and found a huge pool where we lounged, swam and had lunch before moving on down, partially through a pine forest, to the road end.  Here we waited for Dianne and the bus for approximately an hour. The only excitement being a chase after Chris’ tumbling tent caught in a gust of breeze.  He had put it up to dry from last evening’s dew!

All in all a great, very relaxing trip through picture postcard scenery and perfect summer weather. The lucky participants were: Alan Wilson, Peter Burgess, Paul Quinn, Stephen Prendergast, Lesley Kuggeleijn, John Grace, Peter McKellar, Thomas Johnson, John McArthur, Chris Kay, Sue Kay.

Te Urewera alternative, Anniversary Weekend

The full story is a bit lengthy, but the outcome was that Jean and I (John) did our own trip instead of going with Alan Wilson to Te U. A man with DoC associations at the camp by Ogilvies Bridge in the Waimana Valley told us of a track along Ogilvies Ridge we could take as an alternative to starting further up the road. We set off up Te Pona A Pita Track with Alan's group, but left them at the ridge top and found the walk along the Ogilvies Ridge, following a trap line, an absolute delight - beautiful bush with a couple of distant kokako calls for sound effects.

We joined the main track and, after a lunch stop, wended our way along to where the track down into Waiiti Stream turned off. We were soon at the stream and were so hot and sweaty that we immediately bathed in a shallow pool to cool off. About 15 minutes down the valley we came to Koaunui Hut, an 18 bunker. A couple of hunters joined us later on.

Sunday was the day for a climb up a track shown on the map to Kaharoa at 1030 metres. The hut is at about 250 metres so we had a reasonable climb ahead. This area is part of the Te Urewera Mainland Island with lots of predator control and once we had located the track (nothing to show you where it started) we found that it doubled as a trap line. The going was good, although the temperature was pretty warm. A local high point at 729 metres was the end of the trap line and the track beyond was very overgrown and difficult to follow.

The conversation mainly consisted of, "Where's another marker?" and "There's a marker!" as we clambered through king fern and over windfalls. I sustained a lot of scratches and scrapes as we progressed. We reached a high point near the top and several peaks could be discerned through the thick forest out to the right ahead. Jean spotted a communications mast on one of them, so we knew that must be Kaharoa. We had some lunch and, re-energised, followed markers and orange dazzle spots, sidling past two or three knobs until we stood on the very top, on which was a helicopter pad adjacent to the mast. There were wide views and farmland in the Koranga Valley, a tributary of the Waioeka, seemed surprisingly near. Higher ridges hid Panekiri and Maungapohatu to the south.

Our fixation on finding markers intensified on our way back as it would have been very, very easy to go down a wrong spur and find ourselves in the upper reaches of some stream and an awfully long way from Koaunui Hut. We kept on course and thankfully arrived back at the hut 8 1/2 hours after leaving.  We were soon bathing our weary bodies in the stream.

We retraced our steps on our way out on Monday but turned off the main ridge and took a shorter track which brought us out to the Lions Hut, where Dianne and Selwyn were waiting for us.                                                   Scribe: John Wilson

& lastly.....

The Base camp alternative

We began the day by at least joining all the trampers for breakfast after spending a night in our brandnew tall tent. One of the other campers at the site commented later in the day that they were impressed at how quiet we all were when we arrived at the Ogilvies bridge site. Score one for brownie points there!

Once everyone had gone their separate ways and we had relaxed until morning tea-time, we decided to follow the herd up the Te Pona a Pita track too but in a much more relaxed fashion – well actually, at a pace I knew I could manage for a wee while. We stopped to admire the view several times, make a close inspection of a possum hanging in a trap in a tree, watch the pigeon watching us, chat with a robin or 2 along the way, and, as we usually do, just botanise. A lovely fine day was leaving a lovely dappled light on the easy track. As we weren’t carrying any lunch we stopped to sit awhile on a strategically placed seat and listen to the sounds of the bush before heading back to camp. There is a wonderful swimming hole adjacent to the camping area so we had to make use of it. It wasn’t until we had scrambled down the steep path that we found the easy track to it.

I had a brief chat with the DoC associate mentioned above and after he mentioned that he was intending to drive further to the 8acre camping area I cheekily asked to hitch a ride. This would give me a good idea of how good the road would be for our 23-seater bus. We headed off later in the afternoon along a road in good condition and quite suitable for the bus but chose to remain at our original campsite and drive partway down on Monday to meet John & Jean.

Tuis sang and flitted around often but I was hoping to hear the sound of kaka as the sun went down but no – the long-tailed cuckoos called all day and all night. An occasional morepork could be heard too.

Sunday morning was again a leisurely start. We opted for a walk along a track on the true right of the Tauranga(!) river which is the all weather track for people needing to get to the road but unable be to cross the river from the Onepu hut track. This is a picturesque walk suitable for anyone and we were able to return to the campsite by walking down the river. A few other campers were also enjoying the environment here too.

That night we were invited to join the ‘DoC’ household and friends for a meal but as we had already eaten we just enjoyed their company for a couple of hours.

Monday morning saw a leisurely start again and a drive down the road to the Lions camp site. We parked the bus in the shade and headed into the bush on the opposite side of the road from the buildings to enjoy an easy walk in the bush. Midway the track crosses the road to the river side but up above the river, and came back to the bus. Barely had we begun getting our lunch ready when Jean & John arrived. With full tummies we turned the bus around and headed out to the highway, turned right and then right again to meet the rest of our passengers before heading home. Ogilivies Bridge campsite would be a fabulous place for a family trip as there are some beautiful and easy walks as well as lovely swimming holes. Participants: Selwyn and Dianne June (driver & scribe)