Leader: Kate Krawczy
We started out from the locked gate up the Wairoa Gorge on Friday at 8:30am. There was about five kilometres of road to start and it was good to get that out of the way.
But then we started up the track following the true left of the Wairoa River and almost wished we were back on the road: the track was not easy.
It is a slippery and difficult sidle along the river banks with lots of up-and-downs to get around the gorgy bits – very slow going. We made it to Mid Wairoa Hut after 1:00pm, way behind schedule. We had a good rest and lunch break to replenish ourselves for the next 4–5 hour trek up to Tarn Hut.
Daylight savings hadn’t happened yet so we were pushing it, but knew we had enough daylight. The track was climbing up a spur to gain the ridgeline near Bushy Top. It was steep and tough – we climbed over 800 metres from Mid-Wairoa Hut – but it was just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other. We reached Tarn Hut at 6:30pm and it was a very welcome sight after a hard day on the trail.
Mike, John and I set up tents as the hut only has five bunks (and there were a couple of hunters staying there). To top off the day there was a blue duck relaxing on the tarn.
The next day was an easier one. We knew the weather was forecasted to turn on Saturday afternoon, so the plan was to get to Rintoul Hut early then stay dry and warm. It only took us just over four hours to get from Tarn to Rintoul along the lovely ridgeline towards Bishops Cap, where we hung a right to Rintoul.
It was a lovely place to spend the afternoon and for once, Metservice was spot on: the rain passed through between 2–5pm and we were warm and comfortable inside. Mike had thoughtfully brought up cheesecake mix and proceeded – with help from British Baking Champ Andrea and NZ Legend Mrs. Edmunds – to make us a yummy cheesecake in a wilderness hut. This was complimented by whiskey that John poured from a glass bottle – because “it tastes different out of plastic.” It made for a jovial atmosphere.
The next day was another hard one and made me realise why this is really meant to be at least a five–day trip and not four days. We left Rintoul Hut early – an hour earlier than we all thought – the clocks had gone back the night before. It was a fortuitous thing because it turned out to be a VERY long day! We left Rintoul Hut and climbed straight to the top. Over 500 metres climb in less than one kilometre. We had amazing views from the top.
“I was happy to have ‘knocked the bastard off,’ having spent years looking up at Rintoul and wanting to climb it.”
Over the other side of Rintoul we dropped down steeply 300 metres only to have to scramble steeply up Little Rintoul for over 200 metres. Talk about adding insult to injury! I laughed when I saw it. Up down... up down….
The weather rolled in as we had a lunch stop on Little Rintoul and our grand views disappeared. But, as Mike says, ‘views are over-rated sometimes’.
We descended steeply again to the ridgeline and proceeded towards Old Man. We were already tired at this point – even though we hadn’t covered many kilometres we had been ascending and descending difficult, steep, rocky terrain for five hours. (I could see why anyone in their right mind would stop for the night at Old Man Hut!)
Nevertheless, we pushed on and stuck to plan, making it to Slaty Hut at 5:30pm. Here, Chris Louth had come in from the Hackett to meet us. He had the hut warm and it was a lovely welcome after such a hard day.
The next morning I think we were all happy to be heading home to bathtubs and beds. The weather was still clagged-in and it was raining intermittently past Starveall Hut and down to the Hackett. It took longer than we expected to descend from Starveall because the wet weather made the steep descent more slippery and tricky than usual.
Participants: Kate Krawczyk, John Whibley, Andrea Cockerton, Madeleine Roeher, Mike Drake & Chris Louth.