To cross or not to cross the river...that is the question.
Murphy’s law would have it that our Golden Bay trip fell on a wet, breezy weekend with primo weather on either side. Undeterred by murky conditions, two compact groups of three set off from Golden Bay Holiday Park on Saturday morning, with one party starting at the Kaituna Forks end (close to Bainham) and the other group aiming for the Knuckle Hill end, (beyond Puponga) planning to meet in the middle for a key swap. The river crossing at Kaituna Forks was the only potential obstacle and a local guide had assured Astrid that the river crossing would most likely be doable.
Our group headed for the Knuckle Hill road end and took the scenic route, missing the totally unmarked turn-off to the track. The track itself is well-enough marked, but there’s scope for daydreamers to wander off in a few spots. We had hiked for about 1.5hrs to the wet and windy open tops when good old cell-phone reception saved the day - We had a call from the other group saying that they were unable to do the river crossing; they couldn’t find the bottom with their poles, the river had a good flow on, there were no other potential crossing spots, they knew that we’d face the same river after 7 hrs and a lot more rainfall - Lots of reasons to turn back and call us from Collingwood. We back-tracked to meet the others, who walked in to meet us at our road end. Six soggy hikers had lunch in the cars, then drove on to Pakawau to huddle around the fire with a hot drink at The Old Schoolhouse. We ventured out again in the showery afternoon to explore the tracks in Milnthorpe, a cute scenic reserve just off the main highway between Collingwood and Takaka. Dinner and beer at the wonderfully cosy Mussel Inn was a nice way to end the day.
Sunday’s plan was Mt Stephens, but a wet and windy Sunday morning made us think better of it. Instead, we headed out to complete the Puponga Hilltop walkway, driving to the start of the track close to the Farewell Spit cafe (which burned down in Nov 2019), where most of the group waited while the two drivers drove a car to the other end at Wharariki beach carpark. We had grand enough weather for the start of our walk and enjoyed the lovely views and newborn lambs along the Old Man range, before Mother Nature showed us who was boss again and harried us along with wind and rain from Pillar Point Lighthouse, all the way along the stunning Cape Farewell cliffs, finishing up with a sandblast on Wharariki beach. The whole walk in ‘invigorating’ conditions took us around 2.5 hrs.
Hot drinks at the Wholemeal cafe in Takaka rounded off a fun weekend in good company. Our plans were not to be, but we’ll hopefully be back when Astrid plans another Kaituna Forks crossover in the summer.
Group: Astrid B (leader), Kath B, Michele C, Richard B, Catherine D, Clare Q (scribe).