Kaipaitangata

This weekend I have my eye on another stream in the eastern Tararuas - Kaipaitangata.  It's a pretty nondescript looking corner between the Waiohine ridge (above Totara flats) to the west, Mangaterere and Holdsworth to the north, Mt Dick to the south and the scrappy farm and forested foot hills of the Wairarapa. It also happens to be the source of Carterton's water supply. I swear I am not going out of my way to paddle in people's drinking water but when you think about it, it's somewhat inevitable.




Large scale

Many communities in the Wellington region rely on drinking water supply catchments in (or bordering) forest parks. Indeed, the four cities in greater Wellington would be somewhat screwed if they couldn't - the Hutt, Wainuiomata and Orongorongo catchments providing the bulk of their water.

In the not so distant old days, water supplies from bush catchments were often not treated. Initially, public health risks may not have been as well recognised or understood, but affordable treatment technology continued to be a barrier for smaller communities until relatively recently. Some still being untreated late in the 20th century due to cost (and probably a degree of denial).

During the first half of the 20th century the tendency was to manage risk by excluding the public from the catchment, but as treatment technology became more affordable restrictions tended to be relaxed. The recognition, however, remains enshrined in the public health drinking water grading system that catchment use restrictions provide another barrier to contamination. As a result, the upper Wainuiomata and Orongorongo rivers are still fiercely sign posted and, in places fenced - and recreational users are firmly requested not to over-night in the Hutt River catchments in the southern Tararuas.

Catchment land was often owned by the Forestry Service or a local authority (remember Water Boards before the CIA got hold of the term?). Catchments were also often significant access points into forest parks and introducing restrictions could create tensions between recreational users and health and water authorities.

Kaipaitangata Stream, where water is drawn for Carterton, is a case in point. In the 1950s the Health Department was apparently insistent that where the community could not afford treatment the public should be excluded from the catchment. For Kaipaitangata it meant re-routing the track to Sayers Hut (near Totara Flats). I discover afterwards that Tararua Footprints refers to the old route and some of my trip coincides with it.

If you want to read more about similar issues around developing tramping tracks there's a book by Pete McDonald. But for now, it should be sufficient to explain why there are a couple of gates and a sign suggesting this is not a place you should be.

Incidentally, the other things Google throws up about Kaipaitangata is that the Council is looking at establishing a manuka plantation for honey instead of pines - not surprising given they lost money on the harvest from the pine block.  I can't find any explanation for the name.

What:    One day nvigation trip and spot-heighting
Where:  Kaipaitangata Stream catchment
When:   18 November 2017
Who:     Solo
Map:   

Close up

It's a little after 7am under gloomy skies as I park the car near the first gate at the bottom of the access road to Mt Dick. There's a ute there already and dog prints in the gravel indicating someone has got up earlier than me. Hopefully they're not trigger happy.

Although it is supposed to be a day trip I have packed for an over-nighter as I have suspicions that it could be quite scrubby and slow going.

And there's a big gate around the corner that backs it up

The track - a bit mixed

Past the second gate the stream curves around the foot of a spur running north to pt 605 where an old map shows a logging track. Although it has dropped off the recent editions, it's still there albeit a bit overgrown in places. A large mob of goats (10+) scatter up the track ahead of me.

Across the gully to the west another spur leads up - in retrospect, I suspect it is the route of the old Sayers track.  I hear some gun shots from that direction at one point.

The vegetation isn't pretty: pines and scrub although some sprays of white flowers do their best to provide interest. The periodic views are equally uninspiring - the back of Mt Dick's head, cut over pine blocks and scrubby ridges.

It takes about 1 hr 15 to get to pt 605 where there is nothing to see but an old tape marker and more scrub. A light drizzle starts.









The intended route is somewhat convoluted, dropping into wee saddles and zig zagging to follow the ridge top. At 605 I take a bearing to find my way to the next saddle but as I go a ground trail becomes firmer. It becomes easy to lose in the frequent scrubby sections but in many places it looks like at some point in the past it has had a lot of foot traffic (this is probably after I join the old Sayers route).

Clag has gathered around the hills making the navigation trickier.

Down the spur toward the Wairarapa,
the back of Mt Dick's head on the right

Someone has been here before

As the morning progresses the vegetation gets better - from marginal regrowth around pines to scrub. There's an old fence at 605 perhaps indicating regenerating farm land. After 517 it's pretty much forest. I'm intending to pick up spot height 667 so drop through a slope of rotting logs and moss to a tiny stream. There's a steep climb out to reach a long flat ridge top and point 667. Here there is a good ground trail indicating that hunters may come up from the Mangatarere Valley road end. An old but sharp hunting arrow caught in a tree confirms the hypothesis.

Pt 667 - another one down

Back on route, it's a steady climb through increasingly cold and wet clag to pt 810 on the ridge above Totara Flats. The last time I was here was the inaugural midwinter waiohine steeple chase. 

The view from Pt 810

It's midday and cold in the clag so with rain coat on I keep going - picking up the old trail along the ridge which has periodic markers and is reasonably well traveled. Towards Waiohine (pt 818) there's a bit of a clearing in the weather and I come across the pest control lines I saw last time. The stoat traps don't seem to be baited or set and I don't have a posidrive so am unable to rectify the situation. 

This time there is a bit of casting about required to find the top of the spur that runs down to 690 - there's no trails to speak of but I manage to find my way to the wee saddle and the knob. No views and unremarkable but you could probably drop into the upper Kaipaitangata if you were of a mind.

Looking NW from Waiohine - Cone ridge in the middle distance drops 
to the location of Totara Flats Hut. Sayers Creek runs away in foreground

The weather clears as I potter south along the ridge, the odd deer, rifleman and once a kaka wheeling overhead provide some distraction. The weather clears and there are a couple spots with views westward.

A bit of concentration is required to find a route to 445 and it doesn't look like anyone has bothered to follow the last steep scramble to the stream. It's not very big and as I turn to follow it out I wonder if it gets a bit of a stretch during a dry summer. In deference to the good Cartertonites I do my best to keep my feet out of what is destined to become their drinking water.

Carterton's watersupply

It's a pleasant wander down valley and the stream is pretty enough.  Prints indicate the hunter and dog from this morning have been up this way. About forty minutes later the headworks for the supply come into view and from there on it is an amble out on a gravel road. 

Upper water intake

Water works

It's 4.30 so I have plenty of light left when I reach the car and the afternoon is decidedly hot. I'm pleased to have got around without any significant navigation problems.  As expected the foothills have a lot of scrub but further up the forest is pleasant and appears to be fairly lightly frequented. It's an interesting alternative for getting to Totara Flats or even to follow the Waiohine ridge through to Holdsworth.  

Six new spot heights and some countryside that I would not otherwise have thought to visit.  A successful day.