We repacked our semi-dry gear from the morning's Ore Stream adventure and headed off to the East Matukituki Valley. Packs on our backs and bikes on our shoulders, we crossed the Matukituki River, then biked up the valley across the river flats. We crossed the river and streams where necessary until the river flats finally sizzled out and we ditched the bikes in the bush to switch to tramping mode. We then followed the glacially-blue river, crossing numerous times, to reach our camp at Junction Flat at the base of Hester Pinney Stream. Here the view of the east side of Mt Aspiring and its glacial cirque was phenomenal. To save on weight I left the tent in the car and instead enjoyed a rare night of sleeping outside. I slept well despite curious possums in the night and the dawn patrol of hungry sandflies. The few times I awoke I was treated to the ethereal lighting of the moonlight filtering through the scattered tree branches overhead.The next morning we set off up the track until we reached the right elevation and subsequently plodded through thick bush towards the canyon. Once again we somehow managed to find just the right place to drop in. This canyon was wall-to-wall bedrock and had a surprising lack of sediment which made for deep blue-green pools and exposed beautifully-polished schist. We passed through a fun narrow section requiring bridging before approaching a series of waterfalls we rappelled or jumped. Anchor options were sometimes less than ideal, but we did what we could. Periodically the canyon would open slightly and present us with a commanding view of Mt. Aspiring (Tititea, Glistening Peak in Maori), Pope's Nose and the Kitchener Glacier. We enjoyed a moment in the sun before the canyon started up again for the grand finale.
The second part of the canyon was a seemingly endless chain of waterfalls and deep potholes, most of which were able to be jumped. These were some of the most impressive potholes I have seen anywhere in New Zealand- some of them had defiantly overhanging lips and reached depths >6m. Like all good things it eventually came to an end. We enjoyed a snack sitting in the river flat grasses before we tramped our way back to our bikes and biked our way back to our cars. All in all, a pretty full-on weekend. We managed to fit 3 sports in a single day and joked that next time we should bring an inflatable raft to add another activity.
Mt Aspiring on center skyline
No comments:
Post a Comment