Bushwalking Index
Bushwalking Index
Bushwalking, Hiking and Tramping in New Zealand
This is a very useful sketch map of the Travers Sabine Circuit from the New Zealand Government site. The NZ Government has worked really hard to make it easy for tourists to find information, and to book travel and accommodation. I believe they have the best such system in the world.
Photo: http://www.doc.govt.nz
An excellent 3D sketch map at the upper car park of the first part of the walk to Bushline hut using Paddy's Track.
Photo: Don Hitchcock January 2007
Source: Display board by DOC at upper carpark.
After arriving at St Arnaud, I had got a lift with some kind people who I met in the coffee shop, to the upper car park, and after we looked around there, they dropped me at the start of Paddy's track, and took my photo. New Zealanders are a friendly and helpful lot, and I love their sense of humour.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, 11.51 a.m. January 2007
Not long after starting, I got this lovely view of Lake Rotoiti.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Leptospermum scoparium, an Australian plant naturalised in New Zealand. Perhaps seeds blew across the Tasman at some stage, it has very light and small seed. The oil from the leaves was used for medicinal purposes by the Maori people before white settlement, so it is not a garden escape.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Possibly a Wahlenbergia sp.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Nearly an hour later, I was able to get a better view of the lake, and the village of St Arnaud.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
After lunch, and a long talk to some daywalking fellow bushwalkers from Australia with mutual friends, I got to Bushline hut at 3.30 p.m.
It is a well fitted out hut with a capacity of 14. I shared it with a German backpacker, whose food supply seemed to consist entirely of a loaf of bread and some peanut butter. He said he was going to go to Angelus hut, but in the morning he decided to go back down to civilisation, probably a wise decision, given his lack of preparation.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Just before dawn, you could see the lights of the town below, but the lake is hidden by the brow of a ridge.
It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Bushline hut is, as you would expect, at the tree line, and the track up Robert Ridge leads across low heath, with snow poles marking the way.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
A large earthworm crawling across the gravel. There were many of these on the track.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
The Robert Ridge had flattened out a lot by this time, and was now a well defined track across a broad ridge, marked by snow poles.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Lake Rotoiti was by now a long way down.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
The classic U shaped valleys of glaciated areas, with flat valley bottoms and steep sides was very evident in this view.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Department of Conservation buildings in a beautiful position in a cirque.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
What the well dressed tramper should wear!
The wind had come up, and had turned cold, though the sun was still shining brilliantly. I put on thermal underwear and a lambswool sweater, as well as my very warm hat which I made on the sleeping bag principle, with an inch of insulation, guaranteed to keep my head warm.
My pack was standing up to the rigours of the walks well. I had hand sewn the back pocket on at Karamea to provide more room, and that made a big difference. In it I had a daypack full of the necessities for the day's walk, securely moused to the pack.
The gaiters are essential for New Zealand walking, as they keep the sand out of your boots when crossing creeks and rivers.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Hebe epacridea, found only on the South Island, at altitudes from 1200 m to 2100 m, on scree and loose rocky debris or crevices in fellfield.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
The ridge became much more narrow, and an exciting place to be. The wind continued to increase.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Haastia pulvinaris - Vegetable Sheep.
These are called "vegetable sheep" since from a distance they look like a sheep on the hillside. They occur in alpine areas between 1300 m and 1900 m, on shattered rock outcrops or on stable scree. They are a variety of daisy.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
There were a number of these vegetable sheep on the broken rocks near the crest of the ridge at this point. Photo taken looking back down the track.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
This rock had been cracked and infiltrated by harder sediments, possibly quartz veins, and was now weathering away, exposing the internal structure of the rock.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
The remains of a small glacial lake, much reduced from its original size in this large cirque, hanging above a large drop to the river below.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
The track dipped below the ridgeline to avoid the broken rock on top.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Looking back down the track, I was struck by the huge expanse of loose scree on the side of the ridge. I brewed up some turkish coffee while I admired the view across lichen covered rocks in the foreground, packed up and pushed on. The weather was starting to get dirtier.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
The cloud ceiling was starting to come down, and the wind was still increasing, but these tarns perched on the edge of the abyss were beautiful.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Another species of vegetable sheep, probably Raoulia eximia. It forms very dense light grey cushions up to 2 m across and 30 cm or more thick. The dense covering of soft wooly hairs on the rounded leaf tips gives a velvety texture to the cushions. Found on South Island at 1100 - 1800 m. (New Zealand Alpine Plants, Mark, A. and Adams, N.)
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Looking down the slope to the valleys far below.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
The weather was closing in, and I was hurrying to get to the Lake Angelus hut before it got too much worse. This ridge is very exposed, with no shelter anywhere. The contrasts with the benign conditions when I left Bushline hut were stark.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
A beautiful grasshopper, untroubled by the weather, but armoured like a medieval knight against whatever the environment could throw at it.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Visibility was now down to less than fifty metres, and the track led over the top of the frost shattered rock on the ridge.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Looking down at a field of tarns in a boggy flat area below the ridge.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Vegetable sheep and Hebe epacridea growing side by side in a beautiful juxtaposition of colour and texture.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
I loved the unusual fine structure of the vegetable sheep, so different to anything else I have ever seen, with their grey whorls punctuated with water droplets in this photo.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
The remnant of a glacial lake, perched above a cliff. Eventually the stream will cut through the final barrier, and the tarn will empty.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Safe haven ahead. Angelus hut on the Angelus glacial lake.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Looking back up the track I had come down, the exposure and lack of shelter is obvious. It is the sort of track that should only be attempted under good conditions. I had been lucky, and the weather had been very kind to me on this trip, barely hinting at what it would be capable of in another weather pattern.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
But I wasn't there yet. This sharp ridge led away in an arc before coming back towards the hut. I got there about 1.30 p.m., just as the weather was becoming much worse, with sharp, cold rain as I got to the hut door.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
I sorted myself out, found a place to spread my sleeping bag, had some coffee, and talked to the few people already in the hut. More came during the afternoon, and the hut was full by nightfall. At about four p.m the snow started.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
During a break in the snow, I went outside for a look at the surrounding countryside. I didn't stay long, as the weather closed in again.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
By 5.30 p.m., icicles were forming.
Just after taking this shot, and retreating inside the hut, a party of German daytrippers showed up. They were very wet and very cold, some close to hypothermia. The occupants got together and got them dry and warm and fed, and they spent the night bundled up, warm between other sleepers on the benches. They were lucky there were no other repercussions.
They had set off in perfect conditions, but were totally unprepared for the journey, quite unfit, no adequate rain gear, let alone warm clothes, and thought that they could go up to the lake and back in a day from Sabine hut, where they had landed after taking a boat across the lake. A fit, young party could have done it, but they were neither.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, January 2007
Bushwalking, Hiking and Tramping in New Zealand
Bushwalking Index