Kaipororo North-East

Several things have conspired to keep me from tramping.  The odd ski trip (Turoa, a splendid sortie to Treble Cone, and almost Whakapapa), cycling (leisurely selections from Nelson's great taste trail and the West Coast wilderness trail) and mid-winter ennui. The upshot - completely unfit and needing a bit of an enthusiasm boost to get back into the bush.

Brother number one has suggested picking up a Mountain film festival event in Masterton followed by some local fine dining - being a Saturday night this fits in perfectly with a gentle day trip or two to ease back in. Also a chance to test my new scrub pants.

The area in mind is a little peninsula of Tararua forest park in the east surrounded on three sides by farmland. There seems to be little to draw anyone there, but there are a number of random spot-heights - these promise to be navigationly challenging with the possibility of some hidden gems.

What:    Spot-heighting daytrip
Where:  North East of kaipororo (near Mt  Bruce)
When:   18 August 2018
Who:     Solo
Map:



Mt Bruce Wildlife Centre is off screen to the bottom right somewhere

The Kaipororo road end is easy to get to, but there's little to indicate you're there. First left after the Mt Bruce Wildlife Centre then head to the end of the road. There's a small turn-around area just before the road either dives into the river or heads up through a single bar gate.

It has changed though. A large road has been cut through the river and the other side is churned up with piles of smashed logs and branches. The usual route to the trig (and the plane crash site) heads left - about 8.10am I head right, to climb rapidly (and muddily) up a logging trail cut in to massive ruts by log haulers.

It starts ...

Logging carnage

Although vegetation will quickly recolonize, the area is a typical forestry mess- it doesn't take much imagination to see how much sediment and tree debris will get into the waterways.

Towards the top of the spur the loggers have left piles of untrimmed logs across the trail. These are a bit tricky to climb through but soon I'm in uncut pines on the ridge; a little before 9am.  The going gets easy again.

It's cool and trying to drizzle so the undergrowth is wet once I get out of the pines. There are signs of trails though and some old 4WD tracks in places, so progress is straightforward. At one point as I climb towards 724 I find a head torch on the ground - it still goes but looks like it has been there for a while. I pocket it as rubbish.

It looks like trails have come up many of the major spurs at some time, and from time to time there are venetian markers.  In general, any trail tends to hang off to the east of the ridge with more scrub in the west.

When there are views, there's not much to see as it's cloudy with patches of rain. However, it's sufficient to keep a good idea of the local lie of the land. This area is bordered on three sides by farmland so any glimpse out gives a good positional fix.

From near 763

From 763 the ridge drops away and an area of scrub gives a view north down the stream I intend to cross a little later. The first business though is spot height 660. The map shows it hovering right on the edge of the forest park boundary and is probably outside, depending on your screen resolution. I've decided to count it in just in case, but it adds a big loop to the day.

660 turns out to be one of two knobs on the farm side of the boundary fence - wasted effort! However, there's a cute wee hut perched on the farmland at the edge of the park. It's tucked behind a knob and is pretty much invisible from all angles except from my ridge. There's no stock about so I follow the fence down for a nosy.

Someone's hunting hideaway by the looks of it. At 11.30am I'm less than half way through the plan so I stick to the farmland to get down to the stream. Part way down the steepish spur a medium size black pig charges across my path and shows a surprising turn of speed across the open ground as it disappears towards the distant scrub.

Across the stream a farm track gives access onto my spur up. Cattle have trampled a trail well up into the bush so the going is again easy. A deer trots up the trail ahead before deciding I'm too close and melting off the side of the spur.

At the top there is again signs of an old trail - I follow north to pick up 695 then return towards 763. Before reaching the top and the trail from this morning, I take a bearing across the face of the 'peak' for a wee knob and a spur down into the headwaters of the Makotukutuku Stream. This is entertaining navigation with plenty of chance for error.

View to main range from wee knob WNW of 763

At the bottom (2.45pm) I'm not 100% sure which stream junction I've hit, but a bit of casting about and I'm comfortable to make the call when I think I've reached the bottom of the spur to 540.

This is not the only Makotukutuku stream in the Wairarapa. The other is on the south coast and is where the original for the replica wharepuni (sleeping house) at Te Papa Tongarewa was located (proper spelling: Mākōtukutuku). My best guess for the meaning of the name is white (or pale) tree fuchisia (kotukutuku). I can't say as I noticed much in the way of fuchsia, pale or otherwise.

The stream is well shaded in the bush so has that grey mossy look that signals the need for care (and sporadic log jams). Running shoes are not the best suited so I leave the stream bed as soon as possible. At 540 I angle north around the slope and drop towards the stream again.

The downside of this sort of navigation is that I don't know where I hit the stream, and it's really hard to judge progress. Stream travel is slow and it's difficult to judge the average bearing, and which side streams are big enough to be marked on the map. The map suggests some terraces near the bottom of the spur to 645 but these aren't really apparent - the side stream however is obvious and the line of the main stream indicative so, again, I'm pretty confident to head up for the final climb of the day.

About now the lack of fitness starts to show. There's animal trails and easy going under the canopy but around 645 there are some clearings with wind-thrown trees. These type of clearings are a little too common in this neck of the woods. Piles of beech trees form a deep tangle covered in scrub and bushlawyer with pitfalls and rotten branches. In this country it pays to avoid heading towards the light when you're under the canopy as it probably signals another painful scramble.

The slope becomes flatter so I start drifting left to take advantage of the more open travel under the canopy and avoid hitting the clearing on the ridge too early. From previous experience parts of it are scrubby with deep tussock and can be swampy.

Eventually (5.25pm) I emerge into the light to see snow on the main range and the long gradual uphill. It's one of those interminable trudges with the trig stubbornly always just beyond the horizon. The snow is definitely apparent in the air temperature.

A bit chilly on the main range

As scrub goes, it's not so bad really. If you pick your line you can avoid the worst - it's just that it takes a bit of energy to keep pushing through the high tussock.

Around 6pm at the trig it's getting dim and it's well dark in the bush.  Some thoughtful soul has put reflective spots on the track markers so it's easy to follow down with the headtorch picking out three markers ahead. After a wee knob the track emerges onto an overgrown logging track.  This takes me down through a tunnel of trees before hitting the open skies where the loggers have been. The track is carved up but drops quickly and easily to the morass at the bottom.

The one downside of this trip is that you start and finish with wet legs - the river is just above knee height as I wade across to the car to quickly stash wet gear and head out. Just under an hour late for dinner.

Post script

It's not a spectacular part of the range but a good spot to practice navigation. The scrub wasn't as bad as expected and there was plenty of relatively easy travel under regen forest. Old markers indicate that people have wandered all over the place, and with the surrounding farm land I suspect there is quite a bit of hunting (two deer, one pig and one goat noted for the day).

My Moa scrub trousers performed well - a shell with a microfiber lining, they stayed warm when wet and weren't to restrictive. I ended up with way less holes in my legs than usual. They weren't sold as scrub pants and at $100 (sale) are slightly expensive as they will get wrecked fairly quickly. The upside was that being black nobody noticed them in the restaurant despite still shedding water from the last river crossing.

Marquee and Te Araroa

I keep finding reasons to flirt with the most scrubby corners of the Tararuas.  This trip will approach the heart of the beast, venturing into countryside that has previously left me bloody and bruised.

What:    Navigation and  spot heighting 
Where:  behind Levin somewhere
When:   7 July 2018
Who:     Solo
Map:




Large view - Levin off to the left somewhere




Close up of the interesting bits

It's a wet, grey day and, due to a late start it's well light as I pull up at the end of the public road in the hills behind Levin.  I haven't been here before - further up valley from the Poads Road end, this is where Te Araroa emerges from Mangahao Reservoir 2.

A car drives past then returns -  a chap and his missus are looking for Poads Road end to drop him off for a 7 day tramp to Upper Hutt. Good fun but missing the road end may not be the most auspicious start. I point them in the right direction before turning my back on the road.

The park boundary is somewhere up the hill above (SE) with two spot heights lurking on the spur climbing to the Camelbacks. There's no stock so at 8.10 I quietly head up the farm land, crossing a few wee streams before eventually popping over the fence into the damp bush.

About 400m there are some old markers which come and go as I climb. The going is ok although I'm not looking forward to the scrub. At one point there is a tree with a lot of pink ribbons on it - I think it might have been at about spot 632 as it looks like a spur comes up from Waiti stream.

As I break out of the bush into scrub there's a rusted saw hanging off a branch confirming that the route has been used before.

Well marked tree

An old saw

At the ridge (just below Pyramid Knob) I can't find any track leading north east - although there seems to be something heading southeast and possibly even something dropping into Johnstone Creek. This tallies with my memories from last time.

It's cold and wet pushing through the scrub, the trick is to make the most of higher canopy off the side of the ridge as much as possible. There's no avoiding the scrub for the last scramble up to Marquee though.

At the top (866) the clag is close and cold. The scrub has yet to reclaim the tops here so it's open albeit with no view today. The bush starts again pretty soon as I follow my nose and compass west then curve north. People have been through but it is a little tricky route finding to drop to 711.

The next bit could be a nightmare - the contours indicate it's pretty flat so potentially swampy and little help from the landform as to direction of travel. A well travelled and marked track puts paid to any concerns - lots of someones have been through. I think there is an outdoor school around here and suspect that they have a fairly extensive, if informal track network. (Afterwards I discover that Makahika Outdoor pursuits and Civil Defence Centre is just down the road - also that a TTC member has marked tracks in this area in the past).

Makahika has little to distinguish it (maybe a survey stake?). An internet search leaves me none the wiser about where the name comes from. Some of the possible definitions of maka and hika raise interesting possibilities.

Another well marked tree - possibly at Makahika

The informal track takes me comfortably to join Te Araroa trail which is well trod. The weather continues to be grey and drizzly and the official view spot is just a chance to get rained on more heavily. 

I head along the ridge track with the sole purpose of picking up the spot heights through to 510 before returning along the track to the road end.  The bush is nice enough and the track good but it's clear I will not be picking up all the spot heights for the day and will be getting out in the dark.

510 is on a large flat area with tall forest - it's hard to tell which way is up but easy to get about. The light is waning by the time I've bagged 510 and turn to find the track again.  The rain leans in harder.

It gets dark quickly and early under the cloud - as usual I put off using the headlight as long as possible. At the bottom of the climb down from 671 I give up as I can't find where the track leaves the stream.

From there it is a bit of an adventure - the track is broad and solid, but water levels are rising and the track is not always easy to find as it crosses and re-crosses the main stream and tributaries.

When the way breaks out of the bush there is a vehicle track and I slosh along in the rain. It's a long walk across the farmland and the only notable event is a ford where the depth and speed leaves me less than happy to attempt a crossing. The car is about 10 minutes away so it is tempting to find a stick, but I cast upstream instead and find a cable with wooden shutters hanging into the water. This provides a solid support to cross with the current trying to sweep my legs away.

It's 7 pm but has been pitch black for almost 2 hours by the time I get to the car, I'm shivering as I change in the rain and keen to get on the way and into cell phone contact. The support crew will call SAR if I haven't checked in by 10pm and I try not to run it too close.

Postscript

Mission almost accomplished. I cleaned out 10 awkwardly placed spotheights which is great, but had to leave three or four which will require another sortie into the area.

The tops around the Camelbacks are challenging but there are lots of informal trails in the area north through Makahika. Te Araroa trail would make a nice day trip albeit with transport challenges.

All-up, I was pleasantly surprised - it's nice bush with plenty of opportunities for exploring off the beaten track.

Peak

There's still a few spot-heights I need to see to around the Mangahao dams. One of these is the somewhat tersely named 'Peak.'  I had to abort a previous attempt and the idea is to polish it, plus a few other randoms off on a weekend that is promising to be a bit miserable.

The Olde Beach Bakery in Waikanae supplies an excellent scone and pain au raisin that keeps me happy for the rest of the drive to Shannon.  Leaving the plains, the gravel road over the ridge rapidly disappears into thick cloud requiring cautious driving. 

The first three spot-heights for the day are close to the road between reservoirs two and three. After that I'll be heading for Peak and, if all goes well, may find a camp site and have a nosy around Te Araroa trail tomorrow.


What:     Navigation day trip bush bash
Where:   Mangahao - Peak
When:    16 June 2018
Who:      Solo
Map:

A few random spots to get things started

The forest park boundary is a bit of a weird shape and it takes in a few spot-heights that are pretty pointless really. However, I park the car and wander along a 4WD track to pt 409 (about 8am). There's a survey point with recent tyre prints indicating it's still used for something. No view today but on a clear day you might be looking over reservoir 3 and could follow the track down to the water.

Pt 409

The next spot is off the side off a nondescript bend on a windy section of road in unremarkable bush. It takes a bit to find the right bend and there's no track but it's pretty straight forward.

The final starter (590) is on the ridge above reservoir 2. A 4WD track leads up from the corner to a power line then it's a question of following your nose to the high point. It's all in tall forest and despite one piece of pink tape there is no real sign of people. Tick the box and head back to the car.

The main event sees me parking at reservoir 2 again a bit before 10am. The reservoir is spilling over one half of the top of the dam - even higher than last time and the Mangahao is looking definitely river like.

A couple and dog come out of the bush as I wander across the dam. They've just been in a short way and must be local as it's a long way to go to take Rover for a walk.

I duck into the bush, crossing an old terrace and bricks before bashing up the steep side of the spur. I'm hopeful that as this is a strong spur and an obvious way to head up to Peak it might have a good trail.

Peak - blue line is a previous trip

It's a slippery climb during which I come across plastic cups tacked to trees - they probably once held possum lure as there are one or two old leg hold traps left behind.

On the spur there is indeed a nice wee trail and white and pink tape markers. The canopy is high and life is good.

I lose the trail before the scrub starts below 797 - no idea where it wandered off to as there is no sign of it from there on up. There's an initial scrubby knob and then another one and very little visibility. I follow the compass and try to find an easy way through. No sign of human tracks but animal sign aplenty.

There's a bit of bush but soon after the climb up to 866 it's pretty much scrub. It's slow and the cloud holds in tight. As I get higher it gets steadily colder. It seems to take a very long time to get from 866 to Peak at 890 at 12.50 - about 2 hours from the bottom.

It's very nice to get there but I can't see much sign that anyone comes up from any direction and the view leaves a little to be desired. 

Peak

or 890

It's wet with a cold wind rising so I don't hang about. Hopes that the spur down is well traveled are soon dashed. It's mixed scrub and still clagged in. At one point I manage to describe a circle trying to find where the spur branches. The canopy starts lifting after this so at least the going is easier.

It's quite complex navigation with the face of the spur often weakly defined. I'm planning to duck off the side of the spur to drop west to a stream - in the event I just miss the top of the steep side spur but there is a patch of rock in a gully that provides enough view to get back on line. From there it is steep but straightforward.

A brief view

Joining the stream I slip my way down valley to join the track by the Mangahao River (it really is past time to get boots with some tread). It's easy travel with few scrambles. Towards the bottom there are some old red tape markers, I assume marking some old possum line or other pest control activities.

By the time I get back to the dam (3.45pm) and thawed out somewhat, I'm saturated and my appetite for heading for Te Araroa trail and mopping up a few more spot-heights before finding a soggy campsite is strangely lacking.

Wet gear stashed in rubbish bags in the boot, I head for home - a warm bath, cold beer, undehydrated dinner, and a dry bed.  Seven spot heights knocked off for the day which is not so bad - and the day pretty much confirms that the scrub in this neck of the woods is often best avoided.

My advice is that if you must climb Peak - pick a nice day and don't come through the saddle in the southeast.  You could follow the spur I took, but expect a bit of work to get through the scrub - I think one of the two branches of the spur from the north is probably better though. Hopefully you'll get better views than I did.

Ngamaia

The Inuit probably don't have 50 different words for snow but there is a case to be made for more words describing scrub. The northern Tararuas are teaching me that the word is sadly inadequate to encapsulate the world of painful variety that hides behind those five letters.

This weekend I am tackling the area south and east of the Mangahao dams from the Wairarapa side. There's an unusually long ridge that runs north east from above the Putara road end - it is flanked on the east by the farmland behind Eketehuna and on the west by Ngapuketurua Stream. The long finger points to the spot where the Mangahao River leaves the hills. Someone has scattered spot heights all over it and I suspect it has 270 different varieties of scrub.

I'm planning to explore the southern end of the ridge and to drop over in the Ngapuketurua catchment.

What:      Navigation and spot-heighting trip

When:     9-10 June 2018

Where:    Behind Eketahuna

Who:       Solo

Map:

The whole trip

Start and finish

Middle bits

Despite getting up at 5am it's already daylight when I park at the Putara road end and head out a little before 0800. My route today is not along the track towards Roaring Stag but a circuitous path to an old track, part of which I've explored previously.

The old 4WD track into the bush passes a couple of shipping containers converted for a sleep out. The track follows the map but continues further than marked. At one point a deer trots away ahead.

The road runs out and I follow game trails up through high scrub into forest then into a clearing on a spur at about 600m. This gives views across farmland and up to tops that are flirting with low cloud.

From here there's pretty good forest, a strong ground trail and eventually an old marker - this seems to be the route of the old track. Around 740m the spur flattens and there is a couple of old ribbons that mark a turn off to the spurs I followed last time (eventually to the flats below Ruapae Falls). Although I cast about a bit when I came through it should really be easy to spot on the way down - the track goes past a puddle (to your right) then the turn is on the right just before the track rises up a wee knob. If you go past, the track soon starts dropping.

There's a turn on the right here (facing down spur)

But first, pass a puddle on your right

I potter on up through mixed bush with plenty of cedar. I've already figured that I am now repeating effort that I could have avoided (i.e. a complicated scramble up from Ruapae Falls to pick up spot-height 820, which I now wander past).

The track is pretty good - someone has been through trimming branches with a handsaw. Months ago rather than years by the look of it. The occasional break in the canopy gives a view to sunlight on the eroding north face of the Herepai ridge to the south - and the clag that is now hiding the tops.

Ridge to Herepai

I have half an eye out for the site of the old PUtara hut that burnt down (1977). The accounts all mention tensions with the land owner and in the next breath that the hut mysteriously burnt down - the implication being: 'we know the toe rag did it but there's no proof.'

Some cut branches off to the right of the track catch my eye and I follow to a small clearing off the side of the spur. Some blackened stumps, an old fire place and a sign indicate that this was the spot (0950).

Putara hut site 

'Trees are shelter, do not cut this side of the hut'

980m altitude

By the time I break out of the bush the clag is thick around the spur and visibility is about 50m. The temperature has decreased, in contrast to the wind which is increasing.

At the ridge (1025) there's a reflective marker on a cairn making the top of the spur easy to find.

For the next few hours I battle the wind along the top pausing every few minutes to wipe the mist off my glasses. The wind increases from firm, to boisterous and then to down right obstreperous. There's a bit of moisture in the wind although not rain as such. It's slow going what with the buffeting wind pushing me about and the need for frequent pauses for navigation.

The ridge wanders north past Massey Knob, 1030 and 970. Nothing dramatic but in the clag navigation is challenging. There's a ground trail but it is easy to wander off into low scrub. It gets colder and windier.

I know I've gone past Ngamaia but in the clag can find no indication of the top of the spur I aim to take to drop east. The ridge top is broad and shelves gently - I can see nothing that indicates a route. A false start doesn't flatten where it should and I have to struggle back up through scrub to the top - demoralising. The clag resolutely refuses to thin for even the briefest moment.

It's hard to keep your chin up - cold and wet, no view, scrub, hard to keep your feet ... I'm starting to get really fed up. However, on your own in these conditions there is no choice but to find the way forward or a safe bail route. I'm not quite ready to pull the plug yet I head back for a known point in order to follow the compass and watch.

The clag thins for a second and I find a knob with a cairn to the east of the ridge (not what I want but noted for later). It gives me a fix and I time myself north again for 15 minutes before striking east off the ridge. This time a wide spur top gradually appears from the mist.

There's still a bit of a ground trail but easier to lose. I have another bit of a moment finding the next branch off the spur - eventually breaking through a band of scrub and once again finding the way down.

This time as I drop, the cloud starts breaking ahead to show sunlight on farmland. It's a bit surreal to be in scrubland looking down at a scene of such green pastoral order. It's after 1500 now so I've wasted a fair amount of time staggering about looking for spurs. The plans for the rest of the day are amended accordingly.

At last a view east

There's a bit of choice on the way down so I stick to the open areas (not always the best policy) then drop into forest to a small stream and a short climb to where the ridge north continues. Here there are briefly markers along a definite (but not strong) track - it looks like there may have been a route down to 509 (...maybe).

I most definitely do not recommend popping up to pt 708. The scrub is low and tight - too tight to push through but not firm enough to climb over. Daylight wanes as I inch painfully upwards. Long story short - near the top I can hang off the east of the ridge under a higher canopy - at pt 708 I mentally put a tick in the box and bash over the top and down through scrub to reach the forest on the west slope. I drop rapidly looking for somewhere flat to camp.

Home sweet ...

By the time the fly is up it's pitch black. The wind is whipping through the tree tops but it's pretty calm on the forest floor - still, I find a completely sheltered nook by a wee creek to boil the billy. Dinner is eaten in pit before lights out by 7. The wind keeps it up most of the night but it's a good sleep and no rain.

In the morning I can't be bothered firing up the stove so munch on some fruit bread. It takes a while for light to filter through the trees so it's 0745 before I get away.

Morning light

The first order of business is to work out where I am. It turns out it's not quite where I thought but it's reasonably quickly sorted. I start working may way onto the spur I want and along to spot-height 625. The day is looking not too bad and I get some views across to the ridge I aim to be climbing soon.

Spur running from 597 (on right) to 815

There's a bit of ground trail and even the odd bit of old tape. On the way down, rather than follow the steep spur through forest I see a break and drop into an erosion chute high above a stream, with a water fall in a slot. The sound drifts up as I scramble down. It's tricky footing but nice to be in the open (0830).

The stream sides are too steep to bother contemplating so I work along the slope and find a way down near where the streams join at the base of the spur.

From here it's pleasant stream travel for half an hour to the junction with Ngapuketurua Stream. There's a couple of points requiring a mid thigh wade.

Junction between my unnamed stream and Puketurua Stream

Ngapuketurua Stream turns out to be quite sizable in a nice open valley. I'm quite looking forward to exploring it further at some point, but today I'll be leaving it straight away to head up to the tops again. For now though it's a pleasant spot to regroup, study the map, and enjoy the absence of wind and a slice of sun.

The spur looks like an obvious route up so I'm hoping for a ground trail. A terrace at the base has some hunters' rubbish but once on the spur there is no real sign of human traffic. It's a steep climb.

At 0945 I reach pt 597 and the going starts to get mixed. Wind has cut the odd swathe across the ridge and, as usual in this part of the Tararuas patches of scrub start turning up at quite a low altitude.

Scrub - for a change

A bit higher and I can imagine there is a path of less resistance in places, but judging by the way it comes and goes it's mostly animal I think. After yesterday I'm really appreciating the absence of clag - the wind is boisterous and I've got a balaclava on though.

Looking east - pt 708 is in there somewhere if you know where to look 

Up spur - probably from pt 815 or thereabouts

On the way up I rejoin my route from yesterday, without clag it's a completely different experience -  I'm not surprised at the navigational difficulties. The wrong spur from yesterday is clearly a ridiculous proposition.

Just short of the main ridge - looking south at the wrong spur from yesterday

The spur snaking down and to the left

There's a band of low scrub to navigate to get onto the ridge. Once there, its broad featureless top gives no indications for someone in clag to find the spur. On closer inspection though there's a few lichen covered rocks that could once have been a wee cairn, but more usefully, a small tarn (1155).

Subtle signs of the spur top

South west towards the real tops

There's a few options for getting back to the road end. I opt for what looks the most direct. Yesterday whilst stumbling around in the clag I thought I saw a cairn on a knob near Ngamaia and figure it probably marks a way down.

The start is very promising (1210) - the spur points directly at the wee patch of farmland by the road end far below. There seems to be a bit of a trail down through the tussock but as soon as the scrub starts it disappears and the going gets tough.

Putara road end's down there

Southish towards Herepai Ridge - spur up from yesterday in between

Eventually the scrub is behind and game trails provide quick progress down. However, the scrub has taken it's toll - somewhere in the struggle my map has fallen from my pocket. This is the second time this has happened - first time I was trialing wearing a bike top and it fell out of the back pocket, this time it was in the breast pocket I always keep it in.

I rely heavily on printed maps so it's weird to be on an unfamiliar and untracked spur without one, however, there's no way I'm going back for it. Plan A is to keep going down and aim to drop right into streams that I know will lead to Ngamaia Stream. Then I remember my cell phone - it takes a few seconds to load a topo map page and everything is sorted.

I drop south and angle down the east side of a stream. At the bottom there's some beautiful punga forest and a terrace above Ngamaia Stream. This is the edge of the farm land.

The going is easy now, across pasture and through open scrub. A deer heads for deep cover when it sees me but otherwise there's nothing about. I follow the stream and the odd farm track until joining and crossing the Mangatainoka river for a short scramble up to the road. A brief trudge along the dusty road later I'm back at the car (2.30).

Postscript

Nine spot-heights down for the weekend but it looks like I might have missed one in the clag (curses). My Underarmour tights are doing service as scrub trousers and as a result are starting to show significant amounts of skin - an expensive (but light and warm) option. After this trip, legs from gators to groin ended up covered in bruises and scratches - time to get some proper trousers I think. I also managed to swipe a totara branch across one eye which is still blurry over a week later. Travel can be tough in these parts.