The first example of bias is wishful thinking - in this case looking at the map and hopelessly overestimating how much distance I will cover in a day. I had been thinking to get into the Otaki headwaters before dark, but in the end sundown catches me at Lake Hollow on Oriwa.
As a result of this and the weather, the intended spot-height bagging returns a net score of nil. I do however visit Spion Kop (which sounds far more intriguing than it actually is) and circumnavigate the catchment of the Makaretu Stream.
According to Wikipedia, Spion Kop was the site of a battle in the second Boer War which was won by the Boers. It took place from 23-24 January 1900. Wikipedia is not so forth coming as to why the name has been attached to an obscure knob on the edge of marginal farmland in the Horowhenua.
What: Navigation trip
Where: Spion Kop and Makaretu Stream
When: 12-13 May 2018
Who: Solo
Maps:
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| Large scale view |
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| Start and end bits |
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| Middle bits |
The trip up the coast is punctuated by a successful foray off the express way to the Olde Beach Bakery - highly recommended purveyors of delicious baked products.
I had been intending to head out to Tangimoana Road to take a farm track up to Spion Kop (marked on the topo map), unfortunately the land owner there is less than obliging so that's off the cards. Instead, I follow Poads Road to the end and bump into the leaseholder in those parts as he is heading out with a boot full of chainsaws. He indicates that the land by the mouth of Makaretu stream has a new leasee but it should be ok to follow the stream bed.
I park by the bridge (next to the sign that says there is no Queen's chain) and at 0750 leave the car with a little bit of trepidation. This spot is a bit more visible and I wonder if it will still be in one piece on my return.
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| Car park |
There's space between the fence and the river to walk to reach the stream - which is quite a good size (and a little up). The paddocks soon give way to bushy banks and a gorge, however the bottom is generally wide enough that there is only a couple of scrambles to avoid deep bits. There's a few terraces and flats with lots of lovely punga.
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| In the gorge |
A little over 2 hours later I reach the flats. There's an initial false alarm (a small open area before diving back into a narrow section) before reaching a long series of flats with lots of cutty grass. It's generally pretty good going although you can get mired in the grass if you pick the wrong line. I discover that it is fairly easy to miss the side streams which is a little bit tricky when you are trying to navigate by them.
About 25 minutes up from the start of the flats there's a(nother bloody) hunters' camp on the true left. It looks like it got a lot of use once but is now just a pile of litter, like most of these structures. I think this one might be near an old route to the ridge above Spion Kop, but I have my eye on a spur further up.
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| Hunters' rubbish |
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| The flats - Panatewaewae to right of centre (probably) |
There's another camp about 15 minutes later in a similar state and 10 minutes after that (about 1050) I just about miss my stream as it flows out between clumps of cutty grass.
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| Another camp |
It's a bit of scramble onto the base of the spur with no signs of tracks. It's relatively young forest - lots of slippery black humus and healthy fungus but open enough. A little over an hour later (1100) I emerge on the ridge top to find a good ground trail with old orange spray blazes. I follow this down to the edge of the farm land where it pops out onto a grassy knoll with a survey pipe by an old farm track. The track leads down to a series of little knobs - one of which is Spion Kop (about 12.30).
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| Not Spion Kop but it does have feet |
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| Magnificent vista from Spion Kop (I think) |
The cloud ceiling is about 1500m so it's a bit of a gloomy view to look at while I have a bite. The farm here consists of a narrow strip of land around the tops of the spurs - there's a few cattle beasts about.
Back in the bush it's getting cool and the wind is coming up. The track leads nicely up to Panatawaewae where the markings finish and the trail becomes far less distinct. There are only two spots though where the compass is needed - both where the ridge drops into a saddle. The bush up here is reasonably mature with some windfall to contend with. I assume it is largely regrowth following logging and the 1936 storm.
For some reason I'm feeling a bit tired so stop for a breather - after which I set off purposefully in the direction from whence I had come. This could possibly be characterised as some sort of bias, but I think it is more an example of some sort of stupid. Fortunately I twig before I've gone too far.
It's taken a lot longer than I had thought to get this far so, by the time I reach the ridge junction south of 890 I've decided I won't be dropping into the Otaki headwaters tonight. Depending on progress from here I will either stay near the top of Oriwa (Lake Hollow where this is a roof with a water tank and plenty of camping spots) or maybe pop through to Waiopehu hut.
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| Look, a marker - this must be a track ... |
I have been along this part of the ridge twice before - both times finding it easy to get mislaid in the flattish, swampy bit just south of the junction point. It's 1530 and fairly cool but not raining. There's a few old plastic markers but little ground trail until the ridge top sharpens on the stretch towards 918.
The drop to the saddle is a little tricky - it's the sort of place you would expect to see a useful marker because people must come through here. I don't notice anything and overshoot slightly, following what turns out to be another one of those ubiquitous disappearing game trails (another example of bias?).
A bit of a scramble brings me back onto a better formed spur with occasional wee windows down Makaretu Stream, it's about 1610. I suspect the trick through this saddle is to keep close to the north face and follow the spur NE into the saddle then grab one of the two sketchy spurs that head SE up to Oriwa and Lake Hollow (I think I follow the later and can't say there is a significant ground trail).
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| Makaretu Stream |
The bush is quite mixed through the saddle but ends up with a climb through reasonably open trunks chasing shafts of burnt orange sunset up the hill. At 1710 I'm at the ridge top seeing the last of the sun dip below the horizon beneath a lowering sky.
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| Lake Hollow in the last of the light |
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| A roof without a hut (second time my only photo here has been rubbish) |
Lake hollow is as soggy as usual, I pause to clear the guttering on the roof then get a move on to make the most of the rapidly fading light - sights firmly set on a dry hut for the expected overnight southerly rain.
There are a few tape markers and a reasonable ground trail but both rapidly become invisible in the gloom. The ridge is well formed and, following the compass, I manage to keep to a line, although frequently wander off and end up clambering through more tree falls than you would in daylight.
The wind rises and it starts getting quite cold - the odd piece of orange tape is a welcome confirmation of progress.
Finally, the ridge starts climbing steeply and the trees give way to leatherwood before the canopy disappears completely. The open sky swallows the headlight and this lone tramper suddenly feels a lot more exposed and vulnerable. Shortly afterwards I lose the trail in the tussock and thrash around the slope expecting to drop onto the track at any moment.
Here the dreaded bias comes back into play - when I eventually reach the track it is running at an unexpected angle - my brain runs a convincing argument that the only way it would be running in this direction is that I crossed it at some point and have circled back. Full of confidence I turn in the wrong direction and head off thinking that the lights on my left (probably Palmerston North) are Levin. Ironically, this direction is taking me to Twin Peaks - the site of a memorial to some trampers that died in that storm of 1936.
The track drops and then starts climbing - finally my brain accumulates enough dissonant feedback to suggest that we stop and regroup. The compass seems to be pointing in the wrong direction and I can see a light behind me. I think the light must be the hut but taking a bearing on it makes no sense whatsoever (it was probably around Lake Hollow but I didn't see anyone there when I came through). Finally - trusting the compass and the line of the track, and applying some logic (the muddy track has such high use it can only be the main thoroughfare) I turn around and trudge back into the saddle and up to Waiopehu to finally drop down to the hut.
At 1930 I came in from the cold to be met by candlelight and a growling dog. A party of three (plus dog) are retiree friends who came in Wednesday aiming for a northern crossing but wisely turning back with poor weather on the tops. The two women have turned in but the chap obligingly heats water while I slough off wet and muddy kit.
Things are decidedly more cheerful in dry clothes and with a full stomach. My hut companions are reasonably quiet (once the dog settles down).
For the record - although the dog was reasonably well behaved I am still of the view that dogs don't belong in huts. I'm not about to start an argument though so keep my thoughts to myself.
The rain starts in the early hours of the morning and keeps a steady blatter against the windows - in the morning it transpires that it is driving straight into the porch so some of the things left to dry are not as dry as hoped. The dog takes one look outside and decides it can hold on a bit longer.
As usual, my brain has come to some conclusions during the night - in this case, that we won't drop down a spur to what might be a swollen Makaretu Stream so the most practical exit is straight down the track.
I'm first out at about 0800 - it's raining but not windy and the cloud ceiling is a good 100m higher than the ridge. The track itself is alternately a bog and a stream stream, but once under the canopy I warm up and soon shed gloves and balaclava and start regretting the merino layer.
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| Morning |
It gets quite dim under the canopy but the rain stops and it's nice to potter down through the wet bush.
The rest of the trip? Not much to report really - the intersection with 6 discs track at 0930; the bottom of the spur about 1010. The paradise ducks set up their habitual racket as I wander across the farm flats to arrive at the usual road end at 1020. 10 minutes later I'm reunited with the car, which I'm delighted to find in one piece.
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| 6 discs intersection |
Postscript
Not all boxes ticked but some new countryside and a satisfying wee explore. Makaretu is worth a look but watch for hunters and be careful about access. The Otaki headwaters are still very much unfinished business - unfortunately there is now one less unexplored route to get there.Nil spot-heights for the weekend? Oh yeah - the rules (more like guidelines really) are that only spot-heights in the forest park count - most of this trip was actually outside the park boundaries or covered points I've already been.
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