I was going on over a month without a day off so fieldwork was as good excuse as any to get out of Dunedin. The rivers and waterfalls were well swollen through Haast Pass and the sky was still socked and raining by the time I reached Haast. Still toward the coast it seemed to be clearing. By the time I approached Jackson Bay the weather was looking to stabilize. The weather over the next few days was more or less exactly what I guessed from the forecast: touches of rain but mostly just overcast. I hiked up and over the low saddle into the Smoothwater, a great big valley with a bizarre drainage due to glaciations and Alpine Fault offset. I wandered my way down a small foreseted creek to the trail down the right bank of the Smoothwater. Before long I noticed the horizon between the trees, indicating I reached Smoothwater Bay. Here I crossed the Smoothwater River just meters from the crashing waves of the sea to follow the coast. Almost immediately I could see a formidable obstacle in front of me.
I had to climb down into slippery rocks between crashing waves and quickly rock hop between them, then climb up a couple meters on the other side to regain safety. I would be exposed to the waves and be getting very wet if I happened to slip. I could now see why low tides and low swells were recommended. I correctly put away my camera and GPS in a dry bag before observing the waves for just a few minutes and going for it. It went pretty well but I was wet to my waist and had a wave splash my face by the time I passed the obstacle. To my delight the coast I could now see ahead was benign and I continued rock hopping my way without incident. On both sides of Homminy Cove, steep tracks climbed up and over headlands to bypass wave battered cliffs. These gave great views of the coast through the trees. Once past Homminy, two long beaches made up most of the scenery. The Stafford River was easily crossed and I enjoyed a cozy night in the tidy new Stafford Hut.
The following morning I got an early start, climbing up the undulating spur behind the hut for over an hour. I soon realized my GPS battery was running low so I reverted to using map and compass. I stumbled across the old benched pack track between Jackson and the Cascade, now much overgrown and eroded. Regenerating face-high rimus choked the track, ensuring I was dripping wet before long. This track led nicely to the schrubby tablelands northeast of Teer Plateau. I found good outcrop in a creek which confirmed it was an ultramafic moraine deposit. Despite its considerable soil development confirming its old age, the vegetation was still stunted from the ultramafic composition of the rocks. I spent the better part of the day crossing these three plateaus: "Stafford", Teer, Cascade. As I headed toward the Cascade, the moraine composition stayed more or less the same but the increasingly younger moraines meant progressively less scrub, less soil development, less swamp and more rocks (see three pictures below). Portions of Teer Plateau were particularly swampy with ankle-twisting holes hidden beneath the vegetation. Between the plateaux it was necessary to drop steeply through thick vegetation into a creek and then climb back up the other side. The day dragged on until it was after dark by the time I reach Pt 587 at the head of the Cascade Plateau and desperately searched for the least mushy ground to pitch my tent. I used some of the scrub to build a foundation for my tent to hopefully keep me drier. The irony was apparent by the morning. It was a beautiful starry night. Very quiet.
In the morning I awoke to light rain and occasional water drops on my face. I took my old lightweight (but now mostly unwaterproof) tent. My carefully engineered foundation proved successful with the result that the tent underneath me was now the driest point. Oh well, at least the rain started in the morning and I had a decent night's sleep. I packed up and bombed my way through the particularly thickly vegetated slopes of the moraine. Time dragged on, but eventually I reached the open flats of Laschelles Creek, crossed the Martyr and started walking the road back. I got lucky with a hitch to the Arawhata by the time I reached the Martyr bridge, and a second ride shortly after to deliver me back to my car. I stopped in at Lake Ellery to check on a few things then had a nice dinner with fellow cavers at the Hokitika Anglers Hut in Neils Beach. I broke up the long drive back with reading breaks in scenic locales. It was good to get away.
