Panatawaewae

The lack of daylight at this time of year makes ambitious day trips somewhat fraught - with a high likelihood of finishing in a thrash down a strange spur or stream in the pitch black. So the trick is to find something where this is possible - but avoidable with a bit of application.

The weather forecast indicates tops and rivers are not a great prospect this weekend so the options rapidly dwindle to the area around Panatewaewae which, although not high on my bucket list, is one of the larger areas of real-estate in the Tararua's I haven't blundered around at some point.

The idea is to try to get around the edge of the Panatewaewae and Waikawa catchments in a day and pick up a couple of bits of business left unfinished the last (and first) time I was in that neck of the woods - namely, find the plane crash site I didn't find and not find the wrong spur off Waitewaewae I did find.

I reluctantly give up the idea of traveling anticlockwise which, although a more interesting proposition, would be just a little rash given available daylight and ability. 

What:    Circumnavigation of Panatewaewae and Waikawa catchments

Where:  Tararuas behind Manakau (north of Otaki)

Why:     See if it's doable - new ridgeline and hopefully find plane crash site

Who:     Solo

When:   24 June 2017

Map:     Map

The Mighty Red Gallant by dint of still being within its warrant period has survived to see another road end. This time I hang a right across the railway line just north of Manakau and follow a narrowing road south east into the Tararua foothills. It's raining and so claggy that it is still dark at 7.30am.

The road turns to a potholed track with a grassy mid-strip after the first gate. The car handles it ok but after the second gate it gets a bit hairy - at one point a wee uphill rocky patch sees the tyres spinning and scrapes the mudflaps - I hope there's somewhere to turn around on the other side. About 1.5km after the second gate there's a small slip over the road and no way through - after reversing half a K or so there's a spot wide enough to do a multi point turn and park the car off the track.  Lesson - park at the second gate.

At 7.50am and wrapped up against the rain I head along the road and past the first slip (missing the bottom end of the ridge track on the way as I find out later). The road drops down a bit and very shortly comes to a massive slip that has taken the entire road and chunk of hillside with it - DOC won't be repairing this one anytime soon (ever).

A sort of track scrambles up across and back down to the road on the other side for a short walk to the original road end. The toilet is still there and both ends of a loop track.  My map is a bit vague on the details so I follow the loop up the hill figuring that there will be a way to get on to the Panatawaewae ridge track. There is, but it isn't that pleasant.

The loop track veers left, climbs, veers right and flattens - shortly after flattening a pink ribbon promises access upwards. What it delivers is a scramble up a crumbling slope through rotten vegetation and supplejack.  Still, after a bit I'm standing on an old logging track which wends upwards in a most civilised fashion.

The rain rains and the cloud obscures everything at the occasional open spots. The track is wide and solid though so it's quick work to get to the ridgeline and some open areas under old pines. Someone has been up here on a quad a good wee while ago and there's a few foot prints showing the way.

There's one junction where the track continues downwards to the right but otherwise the route is obvious and the logging track continues well after it is marked on the map - in fact it's a bit below Pt 635 (around 550m and 09.30am) that plastic tape indicates a foot track on the right leaving the logging track to keep heading left to goodness knows where.

The markers disappear as far as I can see apart from some old spray paint on Panatewaewae (10.10am). The slope up to Pt 635 would be easy to get lost on on the way down and there are a couple of moments dropping into the saddle past Panatewaewae where the trail is not so obvious. The 'peak' itself is thoroughly unremarkable.

I have had no success finding where the name comes from - waewae is foot or leg, pana could be to evict ... but the most likely association seems to be with Te Waewae Kapiti o Tara rāua ko Rangitāne - the boundary between Ngai Tara and Rangitāne to which the name 'Kapiti' refers.  The nearby Waitewaewae hill and river system are surely related to the same roots.

Progress is satisfactory despite another bit of uncertainty finding the way off Pt 775 - I'm guessing that most people turn back at Panatewaewae.

After Pt 890 the ridge flattens and I start looking to follow around to my right - a single white plastic marker on a tree below the ridgeline indicates I'm in the right place (12.00). In theory this is familiar territory as I have been through once before. More to the point I am close to Pt 955 and the location of the plane crash - this time I am armed with a better idea of where to find it.

There are regular white plastic markers now and, on the way up to Pt 955 (at about 915m) I note a yellow one, and then a white one off the ridge to the north west. I follow these into a dip where a trickle forms and starts heading steeply down - sure enough there are a few more markers and pretty soon bits of plane start turning up.

You can read about the crash here. The short version is that an Air Oxford crashed in 1941 and was found by hunters in 1980 (the same type of plane crashed at Kaiparoro). Bits were removed and are in the Wigram museum but there's still a fair amount here, including the pilot; Selwyn Sinclair, aged 20. A bronze plaque was apparently set up but I couldn't find it.

The first substantive thing I find is a yellow aileron and a wooden cross - this must be where the pilot is buried. The cross was painted white once but the stainless steel plaque, once wiped clean is still neatly etched and easily read.  Nearby is a wheel assembly and northwards around the slope is a wee gully with a trickle and more bits of plane, including the remains of a radial engine. Other bits are scattered about, moldering into the landscape.

After 20 or so minutes I've seen enough and leave the wreckage to continue its slow dissolution into the headwaters of the Panatewaewae stream.

Pt 955

Back on the ridge I follow up to Pt 955 and the marker for the plane crash that I had briefly searched near to no avail last time (now 12.45pm). The route from here is reasonably easy to follow east along the ridge line with a brief moment of confusion near Pt 969 when I misread the compass and head off in the opposite to correct direction. This is quickly identified and rectified but is a reminder to be wary of confirmation bias and to check twice.

Waitewaewae

Waitewaewae is a welcome sight (2.05pm) with some canopy openings where the cloud can be viewed and an opportunity to take the correct route this time.

There are plenty of white plastic markers - one set looks to indicate a route south down a spur (I assume to Island Forks - noted for future reference).  Another indicates the 'Road End' can be reached by heading straight ahead and northish via Pt 708 (another candidate for exploration), whilst another indicates my route dropping down the ridge to Pt 739.

My direction is a bit overgrown with little in the way of markers until a section with splendid reflectors  adorning every second tree - the last marker from both directions announcing that fact in a very useful fashion (I think these mark a route from the spur up from Pt 490 along the ridge to the saddle either before or after Pt 673 - before, I think - but I wasn't really paying attention).

With the markers drying up again and the ridge being fairly broad there is a bit more casting about but it's fairly open so travel is good. The light however is starting to wane.

At Pt 730 I stumble suddenly onto a wide and solid 4WD track. Hopefully the going now will be open and quick. I turn right and trot the down hills.

4WD track and getting a bit dim

A bit dim?

Judging by the puddles and tracks the area is infested with 4WDs. There are also more roads than marked on the map but there's only one point (before the right turn near Pt 595) where I follow a dead end briefly - a gorse patch convinces me that my turn off is a little further along. Sure enough the correct turn has old signs in the bush pointing towards the road end.

There are more clearings and less canopy so I am treated to the sun setting fire to the clag in the west. The vehicle tracks are left behind and my route follows large grassy clearings down the spur (with the occasional side excursion before finding the correct route again). In the open, the track is largely grassed over and can be missed - it has had some traffic though.

Last of the light

Near the bottom the track enters the bush again and sidles down hill and up valley to drop into the stream. Standing knee deep I'm relieved that it is not too high despite all the rain but I can't see any indication of whether to turn left or right. For various reasons which seem sensible at the time I head down river looking for an opportunity to climb the opposite bank.

This doesn't eventuate until I reach what I suspect is the bottom of the big slip crossed in the morning. Getting out of the river and through the shattered trees to the toe of the slip then scrambling up the steep loose surface is tricky in the gloom but not being able to see the drop below helps. Eventually I grovel on my belly over a lip and roll onto the road.

At 5.40pm the car is still where I left it and it even starts. There's a bit of a graunch from underneath navigating the rocky bit but otherwise the trip out is uneventful. The speedo says 0.9km from where I parked to the second gate so it's really not worth the hassle driving in.

Just about time for the head torch

Postscript

The trip was an interesting challenge and it is somehow satisfying to have skirted the entire circumference of the headwaters of the Waikawa Stream with (in theory at least) dry feet. There is a fair amount of old logging tracks and a lot of ridge travel so navigation is not overly taxing. Just a few spots where you can wander off but I would think somewhat trickier in the opposite direction. I would pick a day with a few more hours of light though.

The roads and the age of the tree's provide evidence of the logging history, and I suspect for those with the eye, there will be signs of the impact of the 1936 storm. I can't say much about the views given the weather, but the highest you get is Pt 969 so there is no open tops. On a good day though I suspect you will get some vistas across the coast and of the surrounding hills.

The main problem with the day is that the area suggests plenty more interesting trips to be had.

Some links

TTC trip 
Start of ridge track
MTB ride down ridge track
TTC Footprints - Waikawa Valley