Trip Reports

West Coast Trip   —   11-22 March 2003

Leader: Paul

Because of a number of reasons this trip was a little later in the summer than most club trips to the South Island. Apart from the time changing in the middle of the trip (which we ignored) we probably had picked the best time for it with a spell of glorious weather.

I should mention some of the trials and tribulations of the trip to give some balance to it - there was the endless boulder hopping alongside the mighty Whitcombe River, the flying fox across it near Rapid Creek Hut, the massive wire bridge further upstream that ends in a cliff face necessitating climbing off it using a chain as a handhold, then a ladder followed by another chain until relative level ground was reached. There were the sandflies at Frew Hut that took 0.2 seconds to find exposed skin - no West Coast trip is complete without them.

The climb to Frew Saddle (6 kilometres in 7 hours) wasn’t as slow as later climbs up Steadman Ridge and from Poet Hut to Toaroha Saddle that took about three hours hard yakka each. There was the almost impassable passage of bushes and Wild Spaniards in the Upper Hokitika valley, the almost impossibly slow passage in the middle Toaroha where we climbed up and down around bluffs and side creeks covering 2 kilometres in 3 and a half hours. There was the knife edge half way up Steadman Ridge with a scree slope on one side and a cliff on the other where Lynette reckoned the easiest way up was on hands and knees. I recall thinking I was glad we were going up it and not down it.

There were several creeks that were cold, slippery and really hard work finding the best passages. There was the cliff across the track where we passed the packs down rather than hang over the edge trying to feel a foothold without the extra weight on our backs.

I’m already starting to forget the hardships and remember the highlights more vividly. The day usually wasn’t that old before Ray was reminding us what a glorious West Coast day it was. There was the lunch stop at the summit of Homeward Ridge gazing at the snow covered Southern Alps all around us. This scene would probably rival the view from Cascade Saddle further south from here. Looking across to the bivy on the Toaroha Saddle 4 kilometres away that we would reach 24 hours later. Camping at Frew Bivy amongst the swirling clouds akin to a scene from “Lord of the Rings”, climbing up above Bluff Hut and looking down some 2000 feet into the Hokitika Gorge. Even the toilet at Bluff Hut perched across the cleft in the rock that didn’t have a bottom (excuse the pun please !)

There was the series of 6 bush huts and bivies that we hope DOC will preserve for what they are.

There was the DOC hut gang at the Upper Toaroha Hut who happily moved things aside in the hut to accommodate us. They had put on the billy before we had even thought about a cup of tea. They had flown in with the gear for the maintenance programme they were undertaking. They roasted a chook with bacon wrapped around it. We almost matched them with dehy chook followed by one of Ralph’s trifles. There was a bit of culinary cross sampling between the groups. Unfortunately our supplies of tea and coffee were no real exchange for their meagre supplies of Canterbury Draught - can’t be onto a winner everytime.

“The pure mountain streams and clear air” I hear Dave say. “Can’t get that in Auckland.”

There was the soak in the hot springs at Cedar Flats that loosened up those tightened leg muscles. “Not as good as last time I was here”, said the lass from Balclutha rolling her R’s. “The creek has diverted over the main heat source and will take some serious shovel work to rectify.” There were discussions about other hot springs. David asked her if she had heard about Kerosene Creek south of Rotorua. Yes she was familiar with them which lead me to pick up my ears and ask her, “did she realise there is a book about the hot springs of New Zealand.” “Actually I am the author” she replied to what must have been the dumbest question of the year.

There was Ross the taxidriver who bumped his van 3 kilometres up the Whitcombe access to save us lumping packs along it. Within 40 minutes of getting the call that we had come out 2 and a half-hours early he was there to pick us up in the Upper Kokatahi.

Two days he took us out for the day charging us only the cost of petrol - Lake Kaniere, the Lewis Fault that’s going to move up to a metre any day now - see the bubbles coming up in the lake, the Hokitika Gorge, the site of Stanley Graham’s house at Kowhitirangi were on the itinerary. There was his steady supplies of jokes, crude some may have been. I purchased his book of happenings as a taxi driver in Dunedin for $10 - only for men though. He is compiling another book on happenings around Hokitika and we were privy to some of the highlights of it.

Ralph and I went for a ride in a helicopter covering the entire route we had taken. It seemed so much easier from above. Forty minutes later we were back in the hanger. Some things just can’t be seen in the same perspective.

On the last night we stayed at “Formerly the Blackball Hilton” which as it name suggests is at Blackball north of Greymouth. On the last day some of us visited Shantytown followed by a tour of Montieth’s Brewery.

The bruises, cuts, scratches and aches are long gone but I am sure the highlights of this trip will take much longer to forget.

The team was Paul, Dave, Lynette, Ray and Ralph