You don’t have to be an expert mountaineer to explore exhilarating alpine environments. The Manawatu has a great option for first-time alpine adventurers.
Continue Reading...Archives For 30/11/1999
DOC manages a network of over 950 huts of all shapes and sizes.
By Chrissy Wickes, Biodiversity Ranger, Te Anau
My partner, son and I recently went for a walk up to Fern Burn Hut along Motatapu Track which is out the back of Glendu Bay just twenty minutes drive from Wanaka.
The start of the track follows a river through farm land
The track starts in farm land and follows a lovely river all the way through beech forest and up to the tussock lands around the hut.
Stopping for a quick play in the mud
It is a fantastic short walk and a great hut to stay in overnight. The track to the hut is the beginning of a longer walk. It took us three hours with my son Shannon walking the easier sections. The section through the bush is like a small goat track and perhaps not so suitable for a child to walk alone due to the drops into the stream below. But the track is relatively straight forward for big people.
There were heaps of fish in the stream and we came across a group fishing and they caught a lovely trout as we approached which was neat to see.
Fishing for trout
It is a hot area in the summer so I recommend hats and sunblock and avoiding the heat of the day.
We were lucky it was over cast but we still felt the heat and it is not even summer yet. The stream that the track follows is lovely with small waterfalls and pools which would be great to cool off in on those really hot days. We had a great time on this beautiful overnight walk in a stunning part of the country.
Nearing Fern Burn Hut
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By Angeline Barnes, Community Outreach Coordinator
In today’s busy world, it is too easy for me to make excuses as to why I don’t get out into the great outdoors as often as I would like to.
Getting ready to take on the Sunrise Track
A few weeks ago, a group of us took the plunge. Leaving behind our flat whites, we made our way up to Sunrise Hut—a fabulous modern hut perched high on the hills of the Ruahine Forest Park. This hut was no draughty tin shack; it was warm (insulation really works) had triple bunks, a fire, great cooking facilities and was the perfect place to hit the ‘reset’ button.
The track was an easy gradual climb and well maintained
Our route up was an easy gradual climb on a wide and well maintained track—a perfect width for chatting as we walked. Surrounded by trees, the warmth of the autumn sun and the chirp of our native birds, we seemed to reach the top quickly. As we approached the hut, the vegetation changed (sub-alpine) and my imagination went into overdrive, I was walking in the enchanted forest, just like the fairy tales I read as a child.
Learning about native plants along the way
And if ever there was a hut that’s name was appropriate, it is Sunrise Hut. Usually I struggle with early mornings, but the temptation to watch the sunrise over Hawke’s Bay was enough to force me out of bed—a decision I don’t regret. The view was spectacular and I felt like I was on top of the world.
This hut was no drafty tin shack
Was my night away enjoyable? Yes. But a better word would be AMAZING. The questions is, why don’t I do this more often?
The sunrise over the Hawke’s Bay was amazing!
Watch this video of Angeline’s trip to Sunrise Hut:
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By Moana Smith-Dunlop, Community Relations Ranger, Whakatane
Te Urewera, centre of the universe, now has the most beautiful hut in the universe too, thanks to the DOC-Dulux partnership.
Makomako hut after a DOC/Dulux makeover
Not to be outdone by our Tauranga cohorts, our DOC/Dulux ‘paint a hut’ party also had a film crew — DOC’s talented Community Outreach Coordinator from Otago, Claudia Babirat. Makomako Hut was sooo stunning she just had to come and enjoy the atmosphere and film the astonishing efficiency of our Visitor Assets and Community Relations teams!
Our team was made up of Jade Connelly (Visitor Assets power ranger and team leader), three volunteers (Gavin Muir, Waitangi Tait and Hikurangi Rurehe), and DOCies Moana Smith-Dunlop (Community Relations Ranger) and Earl Rewi (Programme Manager Visitor and Historic Assets).
Left: Hiks and Wai painting the deck. Right: Gavin and Wai starting the inside.
Makomako Hut lives below Maungapohatu in the Te Urewera National Park, and along the famous six foot track. While we were there, there was obvious sign of deer in the area, and the hut clearing looked almost good enough to be a golfing green. With a forecast of three days of sun we launched into the painting with a ferocity that stunned our intrepid film maker.
Makomako Hut before painting
Our colour scheme, the winning entry designed on the Dulux ‘paint a hut’ website, was:
Roof and front door: Porari
Outside walls: Tinkertown
Deck, windows and chimney: a beautiful shade of Masterton
By the end of day one, all our supplies and people had arrived at the hut and we’d completed the outside preparation and the first coat on the outside walls and roof. With the sun setting it was time to down tools, light the fire and get dinner going.
Day two saw the outside walls and roof finished, the first swathes of Masterton on the deck, the windows and chimney done, and the start and finish of the inside. By the end of day two all we had to do was a few touch ups on the outside.
Day three dawned clear, cold and full of promise that the end was near. So with that in mind, eating all the leftover food from the previous night’s dinner became our first task, as did teaching our southern friend the finer points of the northern lingo ‘chuurrr’. That done, we finished off the painting, cleaned up, packed up, kicked back and waited for the chopper to arrive to take us home.
Left: Moana, Jade, Gavin, Claudia, Waitangi, Hikurangi and
Earl at the conclusion of the painting. Right: Makomako Hut sign.
A mammoth effort by the team! Go team Te Urewera! We could not have got through all the work without the efforts of our hard working vollies.
By Robbie Reid, Hut Ranger
Hut ranger Robbie
My wife Sarah and I live beside State Highway One on the edge of Balclutha in South Otago. My alter ego, Ranger Robbie, resides at the Iris Burn Hut on the Kepler Track in Fiordland.
Working an eight day on, six day off, shift on the Kepler, means I lead two very different lives. One is surrounded by people whose lives revolve around smart phones and computers, and the other is surrounded by people discovering the beauty of Fiordland, and that there is life away from electronics, even if it’s only for a day or two.
Dinner on the Kepler Track
This year was my fourth season on the Kepler Track and it was the best one yet—plenty of fine weather interspersed with several big storms.
My German friends tell me that “there is no such thing as bad weather only bad preparation and clothing” and they are right. Fiordland comes alive in the rain and wind and all of my most memorable days are the wet and windy ones.
Enjoying a calm day at Iris Burn Hut
One such memorable experience was over New Year. I started my shift on New Year’s Eve, walking the usual 24 kilometers to Iris Burn Hut. Shortly after I had arrived, two wet trampers turned up on the porch to inform me that several others from their group had taken refuge from the stormy weather in an alpine shelter two hours up the hill, and one young lady had hypothermia.
After getting the details, I got some gear together, called Te Anau Base and also informed Fay and Kay, the two other rangers on the Kepler. They both have nursing backgrounds and are invaluable assistance at times like this. Martin, a young English tramper from the hut volunteered to come up the hill with me and so, once I had informed the visitors in the hut of the situation, we set off.
It was raining steadily as we climbed. Just before the bush line we stopped to ‘rug-up’. In addition to the rain, the wind was blowing over 100 kilometers an hour and the wind-chill meant that it was very cold.
It’s times like this that prove the worth of these alpine shelters as by the time we arrived, Martin had become very cold and needed to get out of the weather.
We found the group sheltering inside, including the patient who had been wrapped in a thermal blanket and was in a sleeping bag. Fortunately, they were campers and had bedrolls and a cooker to heat food with.
After giving the group some extra clothing, and calling Fay on the radio for some advice, we decided that the safest course was for them to stay put overnight. I left my handheld radio with them and after Martin had warmed up a bit, we headed back down to the hut. It was dark by the time we got back and most of the trampers had gone to bed—a very quiet New Year’s Eve.
Benching the apline section of track making it safer for trampers
The shelter dwellers made a run for the hut the next morning—the young lady had revived a little overnight but back out in the rain her condition deteriorated.
A doctor, staying a second night with her husband at Iris Burn Hut, helped me when they arrived—she got the patient out of her wet gear and into a sleeping bag and organised a roster of warm trampers to be in with the patient while I got on the radio.
Even though it was still pouring with rain, there was just enough visibility for a helicopter to be able to fly in with a couple of paramedics on board. It was a welcome sight to see them arrive.
By the time they checked her out and flew back to Te Anau, it was nearly 22 hours after the two trampers had arrived on my porch—a very long time to be cold and wet!
Air guitar on the Kepler alpine ridgeline
Despite the drama I feel lucky to be stationed at Iris Burn and have learnt so much about the native flora and fauna of New Zealand over the last four years.
I was involved in the farming industry for 30 years until I hit my ‘mid-life crisis’—when they say you should either buy a Harley Davidson, change your job, or change your wife. I’m not interested in motorcycles, and I still like my wife, so here I am, working on the Kepler.
I get to see whio on the river; I’ve seen long-tailed bats leaving their roost tree; and we often hear kiwi calling around the hut at night. There is a wide variety of other native bird life and plants too and it is my privilege and pleasure to introduce these to the many travelers who come my way.
The Kepler Track is one of New Zealand’s nine Great Walks. It’s a 60 km, 3-4 day loop track, within walking distance from Te Anau (50 minutes).
