Turere stream daytrip

This is a trip from a couple of years back - in the times before I got sucked into working in the great COVID machine.  There are a few others on the drawing board from around that time that I haven't quite got around to tidying up .... 

Another weekend with just time for a day trip.  This time Mike is too slow to find an excuse and is roped in alongside Angela.  

Using the same old map as last time, the plan is to visit a waterfall on the Turere stream in the hills between Wainuiomata and the Orongorongo Valley.

The waterfall came to my attention by accident some time ago when trawling through TTC trip reports. Someone had identified that the waterfall was marked in the wrong place on the map (downstream) and had taken a trip to visit its correct location - it has been subsequently moved (on the map that is).

Our starting point is a track up a spur by Nikau Stream.  It's shown on the old map and I vaguely recall coming down it in the dark so have absolutely zero confidence of finding it again. 

What:    Navigation day trip
Where:  Turere Stream 
When:   30 August 2020
Who:     Mike, Angela and me

About 8.15 we leave the car at the end of Hine street and head across the field to Nikau Stream.  A pause at the map board where the team estimates how far up Nikau stream before we look for the old track hiving up the side of the gully - about 12 minutes is the consensus assuming a leisurely 2 km/hr.

The regen bush in the gully is cool, manuka is being topped out with the exception of some big old specimens.  

After (fairly close to) 12 minutes a faint path looks like it heads left, closer inspection reveals an old mossy cairn and piece of faded tape.  We follow to where it ducks across the stream and starts scrambling upwards.  It looks familiar - but when I came through here in the opposite direction it was pitch black after a long day.

The track takes us up to the spur where a good foot trail with markers heads on up. About 400m past pt 492, just before the spur steepens, the old map shows a sidle track heading south around the hill side.  We can see a foot trail so follow it.

It's rough but a good wee bench for a short stretch - until we hit the first tree fall. After that it's pretty variable - in and out of gullies, quite a few large treefalls and our time estimates blow out. The odd marker and section of benching confirms we are in the right vicinity. Eventually we reach a spot where we can duck a short way up to the crest of the ridge and the modern track.  Not a recommended diversion. 

Angela notices a sticky damp spot on her trousers which, on closer inspection proves to be blood not sap. A closer look reveals blood on hands and other places but no obvious source. A quick down trou determines that the blood is from a tidy hole in her leg, probably from bush lawyer.  

We should be near an intersection with one of the routes to our ridge so head in the most obvious direction to find it (right).  It doesn't turn up so we return and continue up to where we know our ridge track starts (looking at Angela's Strava log later we must have stopped metres from the intersection).

At the top we join the Whakanui track (west) and head south along a long flat topped ridge through pretty goblin forest. 

After a while the newer sidle track joins from our right - and our first and only other tramper for the day potters into sight from down ridge.  He's spent the night by the river and is heading out again.  

This section of ridge is flat and long so we are keeping an eye on the clock to estimate when we will need to start looking for a point to drop west to the stream valley below.  We're close when the track breaks into an area of dead trees and regrowth - it allows the sun in and gives us views across to the opposite ridge.  It also allows a stiff cool breeze in but it is the perfect spot for lunch.

After lunch, and Mike stepping up to the Jelly bean challenge (in a blind taste he guessed the colour of most correctly), we take bearings off a couple of bumps on the opposite ridge.  Much to everyone's surprise the bearings meet at one point on our ridge, giving us an accurate fix.  

It's surprising how seldom this technique is useful as it relies on: a break in the canopy, no clag, identifiable point(s) roughly parallel to the feature you're on, those points being not so far away that they're on a different map or you can't draw an accurate line from them on the map.

Happy that we know where we are, we potter down trail, and back into forest. The ridge top broadens for a bit before we reach a junction of sorts where markings indicate a route down an obvious spur above our target waterfall - we want to arrive below the falls so continue on the track.

The map shows the track going over some knobs on the ridge but these are not really apparent.  We know we're about in the right place so strike west and scramble down a steep face through messy bush. It gets a bit hairy at the bottom navigating a bit of a loose face but we get to the stream edge in the end.

Angela negotiates the last few meters ...

... with moral support

Regrouping, we head up the respectably sized Turere Stream.  A few bends later we reach the base of the falls - it's not the most picturesque spot but the water cascades over a bit of a drop into a greenish pool.

Men with sticks

We want to continue up valley but there's no climbing the water fall or up the sides near it - we retreat to the first side stream (true left) and find a cairn opposite it.  Sure enough there is a steep scramble up the true right onto a spur which we follow up to drop over the other side, just upstream of the waterfall. 

Waterfalls are nowhere near as interesting from the top so there's not much point hanging around here.  Shortly upstream there's an impressive and recent erosion scar on the true right - the different ages of surrounding bush indicating it's not the first in this spot. 

The stream is a good size and wide enough that it's a pretty straight forward ramble most of the time, barring the odd log jamb.  There's also a few cascades - I climb around these in the interests of dry feet while Mike and Angela elect for the safer but wetter direct approach (mid-rift for Mike and chest high for Angela) .

About 3.30 we figure we could head up stream for a little longer but note that the spurs on the true right for the next kilometre all reach the ridge at the same point - i.e. we may as well head up now.

We clamber onto the chosen spur.  There's little sign of a trail for a start but after a while we start seeing the odd piece of old old tape then a faint foot trail.  This gets stronger as we climb with marking at strong side spurs. Towards the top there are traps, tunnels and we're obvious in an actively managed area.

Soon enough we pop out on to the McKerrow track.  Wainuiomata is already losing the late afternoon sun - hills fade to the horizon and although we can pick out the South Island, the air is so hazy we can't even see any details on the Hutt hills.

Mike pauses to check face book and we potter along the wide albeit a bit muddy track.  

Ignoring the route down to the Boys Brigade camp (and possibly access to Sunny Grove) we follow the main, and very large, benched track that drops us all the way back to the car right on the edge of dark.

Another good day in the local hills.  From subsequent visits I've found that Turere Stream changes noticeably as logs move and shingle backs up behind the jambs.  And the TTC website notes that there are lots more wee waterfalls in the surrounding creeks - so there's plenty more scope for exploring.