Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2019 i Wilderness

You may think I’m being sarcastic, but I really am surprised. The announcement that the Hump Ridge Track will become the next Great Walk bumps the number of such walks in the deep south to five – two more than the number of Great Walks found in the entire North Island. The reason I am surprised is because I had pinned my hopes – and expectations – on the Te Paki Coastal Track, near Cape Reinga, getting the nod. When the search for the next Great Walk began, one of the priorities was to find a suitable North Island track and the Te Paki was shortlisted. Oops, Far North, Deep South – easy mistake to make. The reason for Te Paki being overlooked at this time is because there are…

BIKERS STYMIE WALKERS ON PAPAROA GREAT WALK FIVE MONTHS BEFORE it opened, Moonlight Hut on the Paparoa Track Great Walk was already 99.5 per cent full for the season – through until April 30. However, for the same period the track’s other main hut, Pororari, showed close to 100 nights of availability. Why the discrepancy? The Paparoa Track, New Zealand’s first purpose-built dual walking and biking Great Walk, is due to open on December 1. Given that most bikers are expected to spend one night on the 55km track and walkers two nights, it appears that bikers have stolen a march on Moonlight Hut, leaving many walkers high and dry in their quest to book two huts for consecutive nights. Camping is not an option along the Great Walk, and…

“WELL, that didn’t work. This rock is no better than the sugary, treacherous snow I needed a break from,” I called to my climbing companions, Caro and Simon. We’d been tentatively plugging upwards, out of the dawn, towards Mt Travers’ north-east ridge. There had been no freeze overnight and, nagging at the backs of our minds, was a deteriorating weather forecast. The snow was a problem – while the steps we kicked as we pot-holed upwards were deep, they sometimes gave way without warning. Our route took us up steep, exposed snow slopes, interspersed with stretches of shattered rock. Our ropes remained in our packs because there were no possibilities to put in solid protection. Our axes were really only good to aid balance – successful self-arrest was unlikely. Our…

THERE HAS BEEN a long history of people riding the Heaphy Track, with locals and cycle touring clubs using it as a fun way of joining the dots between Golden Bay and Karamea. When mountain bikes first arrived here in the mid-1980s, it was only natural that they would gravitate to the Heaphy Track in search of adventure and whatever came their way. It soon became one of New Zealand’s premier mountain bike adventure rides, but when Kahurangi National Park was formed in 1996, mountain bikes were banned. Eventually, DOC reversed the ban and the track can now be ridden from May 1 to November 30. The Heaphy by mountain bike is generally a two or three-day adventure depending on daylight, weather and fitness. It’s a great track to simply…

If you’re walking off-track or in low-visibility conditions, you can walk on a bearing to reach your destination. But if you aim precisely for the feature and miss it, you will not be sure which direction to go to reach it. That’s where aiming off comes in handy. If there is a good catching feature like a river, it is better to aim to miss your destination slightly so once you reach your catching feature, you will know which way to go. In our example, we want to go from the bend in the creek (A) to the bridge (B). To walk on a bearing to a precise point requires knowledge of exactly where you start from. It is hard to identify the exact point on a bend so it…

CONSERVATION STATUS A native species classed as naturally uncommon. FEATURES The royal spoonbill can be described as a large, fairly heavy, long-legged bird with white plumage. They are similar in profile to the white heron (kotuku) but for two distinguishing features: although smaller, the spoonbill is much bulkier and weighs up to 2kg. The second readily identifiable difference is the shape of the bill. As the name suggests, it possesses a very distinct and long black bill that ends in a spoon shape. During the breeding season, both sexes grow long white crest feathers on the back of the head with male feathers reaching up to 20cm. Diet The royal spoonbill has a unique style of foraging. It feeds while wading in water, repeatedly scything its submerged spoon-shaped bill in…

MICROSPIKES TO THE RESCUE In January 2012 I walked the Three Passes from Lake Kaniere to Arthur’s Pass. I’d taken my boots for a spin the prior weekend and noticed a little looseness of the sole at the rear, but had not thought much of it. I should have taken the warning more seriously! About half an hour up the Styx River, first the right and then the left boot started to comprehensively lose their soles. Before long, both soles were attached only by a thin strip at the front of the boot. I was contemplating whether it was safe to continue when I remembered I’d brought with me some Kahtoola microspikes as a compromise between carrying crampons in the middle of summer and walking over the permanent snow of…

FROM SONGS of the right whale in Te Waewae Bay to echoes of pioneers amongst ancient podocarps, the Hump Ridge Track is a trail of stories. Its next chapter, as New Zealand’s 11th Great Walk, has just begun. Announced in June by Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage, the 61km sea to summit track is a jewel of the Southland Coast, crossing beach, forest and subalpine landscapes. Typically a three day, 61km loop, the track will receive around $5 million in funding to bring it to Great Walk standard for a 2022 opening season. Upgrades are under consultation, but may include new accommodation near the Percy Burn Viaduct, easier gradients, upgrading gravel surfaces and new sections of boardwalk. The announcement brings the South Island’s Great Walk total to seven, following the construction…

How to nominate Head to wildernessmag.co.nz to read more about each category and to nominate your favourites! TOP TIP: WE WANT TO KNOW WHO YOU’VE NOMINATED AND WHY. The more convincing your nomination, the more likely your choice will be to make the cut. Angelus Hut was voted the Hut of the Year - which will it be this time? Get your nominations in!…

LOOK CLOSELY at Sir Ranulph Fiennes, and you’ll notice the marks of adventure. A gash in his dress shoe relieves pressure on an old frostbite wound – the skin graft, he says, fell off in the bath years ago and it’s been painful ever since. The fingertips of his left hand went the same way. Mummified by frostbite, the digits were sawn off with a fretsaw in the garage by an impatient Fiennes and his late wife Ginny, months before a scheduled operation. If he felt pain or saw blood, the blade would be moved closer to the blackened tips. “I do remember the thumb took two days because the bone was much thicker than the other ones,” he says without sentiment, as though talking about salami sliced for a…

RANGIPO HUT serves as a welcome refuge in the middle of the windswept Rangipo Desert. This 20-bunk hut functions primarily as overnight accommodation for those attempting the multi-day Round the Mountain Track. However, its close proximity to the Desert Road also makes it a perfect weekend getaway. The hut can be reached with either a full day hike from the Desert Road via the Waihohonu Track or a half-day stroll from the 4WD access road of Tukino Skifield. The best time to visit is during the winter months when you can often have the whole hut to yourself. The track crosses a vast barren terrain under the shadow of Mt Ruapehu. Sparse in vegetation, the loose volcanic soil gets eroded into deep gullies by fast-flowing streams and rivers. Layers of…

“BE PREPARED for your lungs and legs to burn and your knees to cry out in pain.” That sums up the challenging Cape Brett walk in the Far North that has tested many a hiker on its gruelling hills and sheer ridgelines. It’s one of the recollections Whangarei woman Katrina Gysberts has of the time when she and her six friends walked the track which spans from the tiny beach-front settlement of Rawhiti to the Cape Brett lighthouse. She also remembers vast oceans, amazing birdlife and “views that blew us away”. Which is what draws people to Northland’s most epic trek and makes the hard slog worth it. Accessible via Russell in the Bay of Islands, the track starts at Oke Bay in Rawhiti and snakes through 16.3km of regenerating…

MANY KIWIS HAVE MEMORIES of primary school earthquake drills – of diving under the desk and bracing their heads while the teacher counted backwards from 10. Living in a geologically turbulent country, many too will have memories of the real thing. But how many Kiwis know what to do when a big one strikes in the backcountry? The alpine fault line, which runs through the Southern Alps, is due a decent shake and it’s not a matter of if, but when it starts to rumble. QuakeCoRE’s Dr Caroline Orchiston works in the AF8 [Alpine Fault Magnitude 8) team, developing nationwide response plans for a magnitude 8 or higher quake. “My interest in the alpine fault goes back 20 years of mapping the fault, and I’ve spent quite a lot of…

This meal is best cooked over a campfire or on a hut fireplace as it takes a little while for the lentils to cook through. For a faster cook time, soak the lentils in water for a couple of hours prior to cooking. It is best served on mash or with sausages. I enjoy topping the stew with a dollop of sour cream or yoghurt and a sprinkling of chilli flakes. PROFILE Prep time: 5min Cook time: 35min Serves: 2 Cost: $4-6 RECIPE 1 tbsp olive oil 1 small red onion 3 cloves garlic 3 small carrots 1 cup dried green lentils 3 tsp veggie stock powder 4 tbsp tomato paste ¼ cup raisins ½ cup pumpkin seeds 2 ½ cups water Salt and pepper to taste METHOD Dice onions…

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GRANITE FORMS a distinctive feature in the landforms of several of our national and forest parks. It’s a plutonic rock, classed in the igneous group: rock that has cooled from a molten state very slowly, forming sizeable crystals. Granite is usually pinkish to white in colour, although occasionally brown, and the glint you sometimes see in it are flecks of mica or hornblende. Although anything other than the most rudimentary understanding of geology has eluded me, as a tramper I appreciate the simple beauty and diversity of rocks encountered in the backcountry. Here are five tramping destinations to marvel at granite. 1 ANAPAI BAY, ABEL TASMAN NATIONAL PARK The Abel Tasman Coast Track is famous for its coarse, golden sands and granite headlands. Perhaps the most exquisite granite formations…

ON A CLEAR DAY, Henry Peak in Egmont National Park is a memorable destination for strong hikers. Over the course of three heart-pounding hours, you’ll climb through forest, wander along tussock, see the iconic Pouakai Tarns, and gain a spectacular 360-degree view. This trail is actually part of the famed Pouakai Circuit and is a nice option if you don’t have two cars or want to avoid the congestion of the North Egmont visitor centre. From the top of Mangorei Road, the trail begins on a gravel road before entering the forest after about 10 minutes. It’s not too steep to begin with and passes by huge rimu trees covered in epiphytes. The forest’s birdlife is slowly increasing thanks to a huge effort to make Taranaki predator-free by 2050. Millions…

CAMERA: Fujifilm X-T2 LENS: Fujifilm XF16-55 SETTINGS: 55mm, ISO200, f8, 1/200s Good outdoor photography is all about interesting light. Unfortunately, our control over light conditions in the great outdoors is limited. On some days we are stuck in the undesirable middle ground between golden sunsets and the gloom of angry rain clouds – light, flat as a pancake and clouds with no detail turn the world dreary due to a lack of contrast. But there are ways to spice up the look of your images back at home or even on the trail. TURN UP THE HEAT Changing the white balance setting either in-camera or on your computer can help to warm up the mood of an overcast day. If you’re planning white balance changes back at home, make sure…

Midsole Most midsoles are EVA, a polymer designed to handle the stress and impact of walking over uneven ground. Varying densities of EVA provide either firmer or softer support. Soft-flex shoes are more comfortable on level ground and when moving fast. Stiffer shoes are better for rockier terrain and allow more precise footholds when climbing and scrambling. HEEL A heel counter supports and stabilises the foot, preventing heel lift. A shock absorber will reduce heel strike. Stability A shank sandwiched between the midsole and outsole provides load-bearing stiffness and prevents the shoe from twisting and being overly flexible. Shanks can also protect the foot from being bruised by stones and trail debris Eyelets and laces Fabric lace loops are common, with some metal or hard plastic eyelets used on those…

You walked the TA in 2013 when around 150 people were also doing it. Now, more than 1000 walk it each year. What do you make of its growing popularity? I think I was extremely fortunate to have had the experience that I did because for me the magic was in having that space on my own. When you hike with other people, you invariably end up talking about yourself, your job, your favourite music, stuff at home. You’re not as connected to the environment as you are when you’re walking solo. When you get to a hut and you’re out in the middle of nowhere on your own, all that internal chatter just stops and you start tuning in to the sounds of nature and the feel of it,…