Thunder Creek Feb 16

Almost every time I would drive to the West Coast for fieldwork I would stop on the way through Haast Pass to have a quick scout of this canyon. People said there was probably nothing there and the access would be horrendous. It didn't fit the right paradigm for a Haast Pass canyon. Nevertheless in all my scouts I was convinced there could be more to the canyon that met the eye and maybe, just maybe, it had the potential to be a classic. A couple local friends and a few visiting French canyoners were also keen so we had ourselves a six strong party that could split into two groups if needed.

The first order of business was crossing the Haast River, so we took off our shoes so that we did not spread the invasive algae didymo into the canyon. The effect of this morning crossing was akin to an instant dose of coffee. Then we headed straight up the steep hillside to gain a good ridge. Travel was better than expected, with occasionally good deer trails and relatively open bush. We had great views down the Haast River through the trees on the ridge. We then sidled into the canyon. The French team began their way down the canyon while we crossed it, and continued higher through horrible bush to where there was a very convincing start to the canyon. By staggering the start we would hopefully be more efficient through the canyon.

After three nice (but low volume) waterfalls to 30m, we reached the confluence and continued on down. We had walkie-talkies so we could communicate with the other team. Unfortunately the canyon was more open with more boulders and less bedrock than I hoped. There was still a decent variety of downclimbs and abseils to break up the scrambling. One 31m abseil took off from an incredible freehanging tree on the edge of a large cliff.

We caught up with the French team again at the top of the 100m high upper falls. They had just finished rigging it so our timing was perfect. The falls had an impressive horizon line and a great atmosphere to it. We had two rebelay stations to get down this monster. I particularly enjoyed the view from the top rebelay station (frontispiece): the water poured past in pulsing side-lit streams toward the tiny figures below. At the base of the falls was an enormous bedrock bowl where the force of the waterfall at high flow had stripped all the loose rocks. Several more large falls followed.

Unfortunately the lower part of the canyon I thought I spied on aerial images was non-existent. One waterfall led to a small pool and the last horizon line- the lower falls. We spent considerable time debating the best anchor for the falls (and wondering how high it was...) but in the end I think we made a good choice. This waterfall was another stunner- a clean 75m drop. We all were down the last waterfall by 5p. I was maybe a little disappointed there wasn't a bit more to the canyon, but at the same time I am glad it didn't turn into an epic first descent where we were still in the canyon as darkness was approaching. 14 abseils, about 500m vertical drop in the canyon. The two big waterfalls were certainly the highlight, but it still made a great day out. It is good to have this one ticked off!

        Thanks to the team for a great day out.

Kawhia Feb 10

This would be my second visit to the amazing drowned karst landscape of Kawhia Harbour (see previous post in the winter of 2012). This time I went at low tide with the plan of checking out as many of the headlands as possible. Within five minutes of crossing the desert-like mudflats to reach the first limestone headland, Travis' eyes lit up when he realized the potential this place had as a bouldering mecca. He quickly eyed up some of the more obvious routes up overhangs and aretes, while I decided to spare the skin on my hands and happily photographed instead. We visited about a half dozen different headlands, each one a little different. With the endless variety of natural sculptures, we were like kids in a candy shop, or perhaps a maze.

Crossing one of the tidal inlets we found deep gooey mud. I slipped in to my knee and when I finally freed my leg my sandal remained at the bottom of the hole. It took quite a bit of effort to retrieve it. When the tide finally came in, it came in fast and we could literally watch it flood the mudflats. We headed back for the car, excited at the day's discoveries and contemplating all the ways this coast could be enjoyed. It would be a completely different place to visit at high tide. It's a magical place. All the more that hardly anyone knows it exists! Thanks to Travis.

Unfortunately PhD commitments cut my North Island trip short and I made the mad dash to Dunedin in two days. I still was very thankful that the few places I did visit were all at the top of my list and none of them disappointed.

Whenuakura Island Feb 9

Whenuakura Island. I heard about it from keen sea kayaking friends years ago and it's been on my list ever since. Unfortunately the secret has been out on this little place just in the last year or so. What a few years ago many locals would not have known of, now has its image plastered all over NZ and AA tourism advertisements.

The island is one in a chain of islands about a 15 minute paddle offshore the beach town of Whangamata on the lower east of the Coromandel. From the outside it appears exactly like its neighbors - a small island ringed by steep 20 m volcanic cliffs with rocky shores and tree coated interiors. But Whenuakura's secret is that it has a sea cave. As you enter this sea cave you may see a curious blue and green light beyond.

A few more paddle strokes and you'll realize it is a great daylight-lit void you are approaching. The locals call the island Donut Island and you now realize why. The island had an enormous sea cave chamber which collapsed to leave a cliff-lined private beach right in the middle of the island. The only way to or from this beach is from the guardian sea cave. I thought logic would place the cave on the windward and seaward side of the island when in fact it was on the relatively calm side. Needless to say I circumnavigated nearly the entire island (including some very rough seas which tossed me around and tried to get my kayak to surf them) before I found the cave entrance I was looking for and paddled out of the swell.

         The sea cave access to the secluded beach at the heart of the island

Inside the water is an alluring milky blue green. Great twisted tree roots and branches spiral down to the water's edge. The volcanic rocks themselves and the various pinks and purples of the algae contrast spectacularly. The secret may be out, but between the high-ish tide and the rough wind chop outside, I had the island all to myself. I photographed to heart's content, watched a crab catch a wasp, and even relaxed for a couple minutes.

        This crab caught a wasp minutes before

It was getting late in the day though, the tide was rising and the beach was shrinking so I paddled back out into the wind and headed for the crowded shore with boats, water skiers, sea-doos and the rest of the beach-goers. Still, a very special place. I'm very glad I got to see it. I had a lovely night staying with the Bruce's - thanks to them!

        Sea cave entrance beyond

Hahei-Hot Water Feb 9

Nestled between the Coromandel's two biggest tourist attractions (Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach) is a stunning bit of coastline that few apart from locals know about. I had drooled over it on Google Earth as it looked to be one of NZ's great bits of coasts, one I had particular interest in doing a coast traverse of. Islands, sea caves, spires, cliffs, crystal clear water. I got an early start from Auckland on a beautiful morning and put my kayak in the water at Hahei. Conditions were generally good, but there was complex wave interference at the headlands which demanded my attention. As I paddled along I took careful note of how I would traverse the coast in a wetsuit, counting up all the major and minor obstacles.

After rounding the first headland I crossed an open bay and passed between 50 m high spires. I continued along the coast to Te Pupuha Point where there was a very narrow gap between the rocks and a very large island. Rather than go around I waited patiently to time the waves and ride over the rocks on a rising swell without beaching myself on the rocks. Here the coastline got even more spectacular with several large cave entrances. The first one I paddled into had a boulder beach and a fantastic tree tree-lined skylight (frontispiece). I spent quite a bit of time here.

Further on was another impressive sea cave in which the landowner above had gone through considerable trouble to build stairs from the collapse entrance to the sea. Different shades of light permeated from the two entrances.

The weather was sunny and warm and I spent a very enjoyable couple hours cruising along the coast and exploring everything I wanted to. I saw lots of sea life and visited all the more impressive caves.

        The view looking towards Hot Water Beach

After many sights I reached the north end of Hot Water Beach. I had originally planned to end at the hot springs on the south end of the beach but could see from miles away that there were literally hundreds of people crowding the hot springs. I turned around and paddled back for the last point. Despite the wind and the swell I made it back to Hahei in less than an hour. Of particular amusement was a man driving a large tractor to the beach carrying a sofa with two small kids on it. A classic Kiwi beach day or the Coromandel!

In the end I decided it was perfectly reasonable to traverse the coast of foot on a calm day over low tide. There was a good mixture of rock climbing traverses, boulder hopping and the occasional swim and I could tell the coast would be a totally classic traverse. About 30 noteworthy obstacles and chances to take two shortcuts through headlands via sea caves. Wish I had someone I could talk into doing it with me. Maybe someday.

Lake Waikaremoana Feb 6

I spent a rainy night on the shores of Lake Waikaremoana, the North Island's deepest lake and one of the world's largest landslide dammed lakes. Fortunately the student camper fared well, repelling both wind and rain effectively. In the morning I hiked up to the top of the 600 m-high Panekiri Bluff, to get a view of the incredible landslide that dammed the lake only 2200 short years ago, supposedly by a subduction zone earthquake. While the bottom of the landslide broke up into large blocks and traveled several kilometers, the top of the landslide slid about 1.5 kilometers and stopped more or less as one large mass. The landslide dammed the valley upstream to a depth of 250 m to create a 54 km2 lake that has remained stable to date.

Everything to the right of the bay at left and the skyline ridge above is part of the enormous Waikaremoana Landslide.

I then went on the short Onepoto Caves walk, a short track through a fascinating area of talus caves, slots, and tomos on the landslide. Although none of the caves were too long, there was about a dozen that made nice throughtrips up to about 80 m in length beneath the track and a few with multi-levels to explore. I still think New Zealand has huge unrecognized talus cave potential. There were also some nice overhangs beneath enormous boulders with great views of the lake looking back towards Panekiri Bluffs (frontispiece).

Carrying on I then drove around the lake to take the back way to Rotorua, stopping for the occasional waterfall or view of the lake. The sub-horizontal mudstone layers have a tendency to create nice wide fanning waterfalls. I went for a quick paddle at the north end of the lake but the wind was strong so the conditions were not really that great. The backroads north of the lake passed through some lush rainforest, occasionally broken by a few Maori settlements. I was impressed at the number of horses set loose to graze on the road- presumably they know better than to wander off through the bush! It was an enjoyable drive on to Rotorua, then less so on the main highways to Auckland.

Mangatainoka Hot Springs Feb 4

A long drive from Dunedin to Wellington the previous day was broken up slightly by taking the scenic Port Underwood Road to Picton which passes through some nice Marlborough Sound bays and beaches, and by staying at a friend's in Wellington. I set off from Wellington at 9am after getting a rock chip in my windscreen fixed. Having already had a pretty thorough look at the things that interest me in the Waiarapa on previous trips, I drove on to Napier and inflated a innertube at one of the petrol stations. From Napier I navigated a maze of backroads to the end of the long dirt road past Puketitiri. Here there is a pleasant camping area above the Mohaka River, one of the North Island's few remaining wild rivers (no dams or diversions).

There is an immaculately maintained hot spring (Mangatutu) right next to the camping area and an even better one about 4 hrs walk up the Mohaka River (Mangatainoka). I had particularly wanted to visit Mangatainoka as it sounded like a very appealing hike and I had heard it was possible to raft or tube from the hot spring down the river back to the car park. Unfortunately it was 4:30p by the time I reached the road end. The weather looked stable (light drizzle) but I knew it would be raining heavily through the night and the following day. I weighed my options. Hiking to Mangatainoka would take more time than I had but I knew conditions would be lousy the following day. After a bit of personal deliberation, I decided to go for it. I packed a light pack with wetsuit, snack, water, headlamp, etc., strapped my innertube put on my running shoes, and set off on a brisk pace down the track. I felt confident that although I would be hard pressed to make it back to my car before dark, there should be ample places to ditch the river and regain the trail if needed, so I considered there to be a relatively low chance of disaster or benighting myself.

The scenery on my trail run was surprisingly good. The way I rigged my inflated tube to my pack worked amazingly well, apart from a annoying rubber squeaking noise with every step I took. I did my best to try to tune it out. The trail generally follows the true right bank but in places climbs high above to skirt above bluffs. Some of the stretches of river looked like they had fun (and potentially challenging) rapids for tubing. At least one of the stretches went through a vertical walled gorge that the track steered clear of. The best view came probably about 1 km before Te Puia Lodge, a 20 bunk DOC hut. I stopped at the hut just long enough for a drink before continuing on.

        Mohaka River from a high point on the trail

I made it to the hot springs in just under 1.5 hours- not bad! What an idyllic place. Two well maintained hot tubs surrounded by decking with great camp spots nearby. On a rock wall near the hot springs were tens of faces and figurines people had carved out of soft pumice blocks. I enjoyed the solitude of the place long enough for my heart rate to return to a study calm. The waters felt great to the hard working muscles in my legs and back. After a half hour of enjoyment I again became conscious of the time- I was a long way away from my car and it would be dark in under 2 hours!

        Mangatainoka Hot Springs at the end of a long trail run

        Pumice sculptures.

I put on my wetsuit, carefully stowed everything else away in my dry bag, and hopped into my innertube. Almost immediately I experienced my first rapid - the flow was moving pretty good and there were trains of waves greater than 0.5 m high - this was going to be fun. I worked hard paddling across the calm water sections, trying my best to mind the eddy lines and make the most efficient use of the time, while still enjoying the very remote and wild surroundings. The rapids were fantastic. Some of them required careful planning on the approach, but there were no major obstacles I couldn't push through. I could help but smile with delight by the end of some of the rapids. One of them had about 3m of drop over a short interval. Often to my surprise, I remained on my tube through all the rapids.

It began raining heavily as I passed through the gorge section. It was also getting very dark...I was losing time and realizing that my pace on the river was definitely slower than my pace of the trail. Regardless, I was still making progress and my eyes were constantly adjusting to the ever dimming light. Eventually I pulled out my torch and some of the rapids were getting a bit hard to scout. I also checked my GPS. I was getting hungry and tired, but not worried or unenthused to be there. I carried on to a river flat where I knew the trail came close to the river, which seemed like a very logical place to bail on the river and get to my car in the most timely fashion.

Back to the car in the rain. I made an emergency freeze dried meal while I set up the car. I then went for a soak in the Mangatutu hot springs, which got me good and ready for bed. It was just before midnight by the time I finally crashed. It rained heavily in the night and I awoke to standing water everywhere. The river was in flood and I felt very satisfied I made the decision to run to the hot spring the previous evening. It was a fantastic trip and probably my only chance to make it to that special place. Another mid-morning soak in the Mangatutu hot springs, then I hit the road.

        Mangatutu Hot Springs