Helmet Hill April 13-14

 

I had been wanting to return to Helmet Hill since my first visit with Travis back in 2006. It is one of the largest unexplored limestone areas of the South Island. Our brief look turned up some promising karst features but no caves so far.

I met Lara at 4am on Saturday, car loaded with an assortment of caving, mountaineering, climbing and tramping gear. It was not until we left town and headed south that we decided on a destination: Helmet Hill. We drove through pre-dawn Southland, headed for the southwestern-most road in New Zealand. After seeking permission, we drove down forestry roads trying to find the one that would get us closest to the hill. The forestry was bigger since my last visit and the road was a bit overgrown with gorse. Eventually we found the right spot and began packing. We skirted around the swamp and traversed through crown fern-floored bush. In places the crown ferns were head-high, probably the highest I have seen. It took us about an hour to reach the base of the hill, but the forest was otherwise really pleasant and healthy looking.

We continued to climb the ridge of Helmet Hill. The hill is a large east-dipping sheet of limestone which creates an 80m-high cliff on its western side. We would be looking on the dipping surface for cave entrances. We past through several nice bits of bush and limestone rock outcroppings to reach the spectacular campsite Travis and I had stayed at last time (frontispiece). A clearing just big enough for a tent, 1.5 m from the edge of an 80m-cliff, with commanding views over Lake Hauroko, southeastern Fiordland, Point Craig, and Stewart Island. We had lunch, set up the tent and then looked for caves.

We came to a complicated area of large jumbled limestone blocks and looked for caves. I eventually realized it was a giant landslide and that our chances for caves here was poor. We did find a few notable talus caves though. We continued on finding interesting holes and karst features along the way but everything was either choked with debris or would become too tight. It was discouraging but a nice enough landscape anyway.

The wind picked up overnight and was in full force the next day. We spent a couple more hours looking around, again finding bits and pieces but nothing promising. I amused myself by entertaining native birds with the survey laser I brought...its only use on the trip. Then we packed up. Although the caves remained elusive, we still enjoyed the great camp spot, untouched bush, and fantastic bird song. We made better time back to the car. Thanks to Lara.

West Coast Rambling April 1-6

This would be my farewell tour of the West Coast, land that I love. My last opportunity to say goodbye to dear friends and sneak in a few caving trips while I am at it. For the first couple days I was joined by Carolyn who said I "owed her a caving adventure"- she was probably right! After passing a stormy night at Mary's place we carried on up the coast in fine weather. The sort of sunny weather where you feel justified in putting off going caving as long as possible. With this philosophy in mind we stopped to look at the sea caves at Razorback Point, drove up Bullock Creek and explored the hidden beachlet past the Truman Track beach. Light rays filtered through the tops of nikau palms and the heavy air. Through the second sea cave, we emerged at a beautiful beach within a sea cave overhang.

  

        Sea cave gateway to the secret beach

        Truman's secret

We had lunch at the Fox River mouth before I admitted to myself that we should probably go caving. We drove onto the Four Mile Road near Charleston, packed up, and set off for Winchhead Cave. Fortunately the cave was easy to find. While the cave was relatively straightforward, due to the quality of the survey it took me quite some time to be able to locate ourselves on the cave map. We killed a few hours exploring just about every nook and cranny in the cave, including a couple decent stream passages.

With still a bit of day left, I proposed a walk along the sea cliffs near Charleston. The sea was raging in full force at the headland between Constant and Joyce bays. We climbed out to a spot just beyond the reach of the waves and enjoyed the show. We continued on down the coast to where the climbing cliffs are and watched the sun set from atop the cliffs. After my failed attempt to find the Charleston cave base, we pulled into the Charleston motor camp where we happened to run into Neil Thorpe.

The next day we walked up the Fox River to visit Babylon Cave, one of my favorites on the coast. We had a great trip lasting much of the day and saw many wonderful sights. I think Carolyn had a good cave trip, which was my goal. We then popped into Paul's place at 12 Mile to catch up with Paul and Karen. Some great stories and great hospitality. After a great feed, I had a good sleep in a sleepout cantilevered over the ocean.

After dropping Carolyn off at Greymouth I spent the rest of the day weathering the poor weather at Mary's place. I then drove on to Paul's place and ended up going for a paddle up the Porari River with Paul's friend Leon. The river was running high from the recent rain which meant a hearty workout paddling upstream. We had to portage a few of the riffles, but most we could paddle through by catching eddies and then powering through the flow. The scenery was fantastic- the Porari is probably the most intimate of the limestone valleys of the Punakaiki syncline. Once we were satisfied with our workout we headed back downstream. What probably took us an hour or more now only took about 10 minutes! Later we went to town for a meal and a rock climb in Greymouth's very nice rock gym.

The following day Paul, Leon and I went caving in Abyssinia Cave up Bullock Creek. It was my first visit to the cave so I enjoyed seeing the geology and figuring out what the cave is doing. Embarrassingly I mixed up my scallop flow direction indications, but came right in the end. I found the way into the pretty formation area and also through a rockfall which led to the rest of the cave. It was a short but satisfying trip. Later eight of us had a grand family style feast at 12 Mile, followed by a slideshow and tango and salsa dancing.

The next day was beautiful and sunny. I did not want to leave the coast, and had an open invitation to stay, but knew I needed to head back. I lounged around in the sun before eventually calling it a day and driving back over Arthur's Pass and back to Dunedin via the backroads of Canterbury. Farewell West Coast.

        12 Mile

Thanks to Carolyn, Mary, Paul, Leon, Karen and the rest of the West Coast Bohemians.