Leader: Kate Krawczyk
It was a beautiful Saturday morning to be setting off from Nelson into the unexplored eastern reaches of the Richmond Ranges – unexplored for us anyway.
Nine of us drove out to the Wakamarina Valley and walked 7km into Devils Creek Hut and then walked another 45 minutes past the hut to the remains of two stone huts thought to have been built during the 1880s by gold miners. The history in this area is very rich and the efforts the miner’s went to are amazing! Devils Creek is a beautiful area to explore.
From here, Simon decided to walk on through to Onamalutu Reserve where we were camping that night so we gave him the PLB and wished him well while the rest of us walked back to the cars and continued onto Northbank Road and the campsite – with a quick but necessary chocolate stop at the Four Square in Havelock.
Onamalutu Reserve is a beautiful place to camp! I had no idea what to expect other than the brief description on the DOC website, so we were pleasantly surprised to find a lovely Kahikatea grove to camp under, nice and clean flushing toilets, and heaps of birdlife to enjoy. Simon’s timing was amazing with him arriving at the campground only fifteen minutes after we’d gotten there! The tuis and bellbirds gave us a tea-time serenade as the sun set and the moreporks sang us to sleep. I haven’t experienced many dawn choruses but I must say that it was a good one for me! And then, all of a sudden, at 6:15am, there was the call of the rare ‘Andrea Cockerton’ bird calling “Would someone put on the kettle?”
Just past 8am the rest of the party arrived. Barry James, Pat Holland, Lou Kolff and David Blunt had left Nelson in the early hours of Sunday morning, all keen to tackle the Mt.Sunday–Mt.Riley Circuit.
We drove to the road-end and started up, and up, and up, and up some more! It was a 1200m climb from the car park to the top of Mt. Sunday – pretty much straight up. The track has been rerouted, possibly because the access road has been moved so, instead of going up the main ridge from the car park, it now starts farther up the valley and climbs a steep spur to join up with the main ridge and the old track. This caused some confusion on the access roads. Chris and I used our GPS’s to lead us to the old road-end, but in the end it makes for a much simpler round trip. Now the track begins and ends at the car park. There are DOC signs en route to help folks find the way. But the topographic maps and GPS have not been updated yet so beware and just trust the road signs.
The track itself is well marked but is steep, slippery and quite technical in some places – not for the faint of heart. The climb leads to the beautiful narrow ridge tops of Mounts Sunday and Riley. While I hear the views are stunning, panning from Blenheim to the Marlborough Sounds... unfortunately we were engulfed in mist so there was no wind to blow it away and give us a view.
We re-grouped for lunch at Mt. Sunday Bivvy, a cute little two-bunker that would have an incredible outlook on a good day. Ian Morris ticked this one off of his hut-bagging list and happily signed the visitor book.
We carried on through to Mount Riley via the saddle which only drops about 100 metres between the two peaks. From there, it was much the same as the other side – steeply downhill for another three hours. At the end of the track, only 500m from the car park there’s a gorgeous little river gorge and waterfall. From there, it was on home for a welcome shower and fish ‘n’ chips.
Participants were Kate Krawczyk (scribe), Simon Garton, Sue Henley, Chris Louth, Rod and Carole Lewis, Ian Morris, Andrea Cockerton, John Whibley, David Blunt, Barry James, Lou Kolff & Pat Holland.