It was a warm sunny day on the banks of the Slaughterburn
Creek and as I turned I caught a movement in the waters of the stream. I peered
closely as a black wriggling, back broke the surface of the water near my feet
… a shortfin eel about 35 cm long had been attracted by my body odour from my
bath. It swam closer and I marveled at this iconic denizen of our remote
rivers. Then, I looked at the olive green forest and the blue sky and felt a
deep satisfaction of sharing this environment with a native creature, silently
gliding in the pure waters of this faraway stream.
I’d planned this trip months ago and my main reason was to
help Belinda paddle some remote lakes. She has a passion for paddling lakes in
the South Island and has probably paddled more than anyone else. Then Alastair
formed “Permolat Southland” and I remembered my epic trip to Lake Poteriteri
with Simon Marwick way back in 2005 when we set off on our journey to Deep Cove
via the southwestern fjords. Here was a
possible project for Permolat Southland … to cut a track across from Lake
Hauroko, maybe!
The trip got underway on 26th of October when
Bruce Farmer, Gavin Sinclair and Belinda and I met at Johan and Joyce’s place
at Clifden. I had done an epic crossing with Bruce and Penny last January from
Mt Cook to Haast over Scissors and down the Landsborough Valley. Bruce had been
a manager for Rio Tinto smelters all over the world, deputy leader of two Mt
Everest Expeditions and on the first ascent of Molamenqing in Tibet. Gavin is a
retired veterinary surgeon from Arrowtown and relatively new to packrafting and
has been many places on solo trips. After introductions Joyce and Johan drove
us over to the boat ramp on Hauroko, put their jet boat in the lake and off we
went, heading south. At the outlet of the lake to the right of the start of the
Wairaurahiri, they dropped us off on a small beach. Our packs were massively
heavy with 8 days food, camping gear, and our packrafts.
With a wave, Joyce and Johan left us as we loaded up and
crashed off into the crown ferns and fallen logs for a short walk down to the
Rastus Burn. Here we picked up orange track markers on the track leading off to
the southwest towards the range separating the Wairaurahiri from Poteriteri
Lake. This was easy to follow apart from some indistinct areas around ferny
gully and creek crossings. We found a good track up the range to 450m level and
then sidled right to a spur that dropped steeply to the plain behind Poteriteri
Lake. Here we found many trapping tracks marked in different colours and a
warning sign not to follow these. After 8.5 hours we reached the nice 6-bunk
Poteriteri Hut. It was fairly windy out on the lake so we were glad we did not
have to paddle that first day.
The hut was empty and we settled in for a pleasant meal and
early night. We were up early even Belinda who seemed eager to get on the
water. We decided to launch from the beach so blew up the packrafts and set off
down a very still, mirror calm lake heading south. The others had newish
packrafts and I used my 8-year old boat that was no match for the new ones,
hence I was much slower. It was a 9-kilometer paddle to the start of the
Waitutu River. We pulled in for a breather about 2 kilometres from the river
onto a nice sandy beach. It was here that Belinda saw a fern bird. This is a
rare “At Risk-Declining” species.
The start of the Waitutu River is wide and slow moving
between forested banks and swamps. It was surreal paddling along under blue
skies and un-touched natural wilderness. After 2 kilometers, we came to the
junction of the Waitutu and Slaughterburn Creeks and here we got out, left our
packrafts and walked 20 minutes up the track to the Slaughterburn Hut, nestled
in a nice clearing beside the creek. The hut is only a few years old and very
comfortable.
In the afternoon, I went down to the creek for a wash and
after my bath, noticed a small black eel wafting into where I'd been standing.
It was flawlessly beautiful and sinuous and at home in this wild place. I felt
very privileged to be here. There was a curious bush robin flitting around the
hut and peering in the windows at us. It was unafraid and looked like the hut
guardian. We had a comfortable night there.
Next morning, we walked back to the junction with the
Waitutu River and decided to walk down the true right bank for aways as the
river was flowing very fast. After several hundred meters we found a small
beach and launched our packrafts. Once out in the current, we were swept along
very fast around a bend where there was a drop-off. We beached and walked over
to inspect the next section of the river, which swept into a corner, then left
into a left-hand bend under some low trees. It did not look at all safe so we
packed up the rafts and found the trappers track on the true right bank. We
followed this up and down hills all the way to Waitutu Hut through a lovely
open forest and amazing birdsong with the sun shafting through the canopy and
spotlighting glades in the forest.
It was muddy and scrubby once we dropped off the ridges onto
the littoral plain. We arrived at the Waitutu Hut to find it commandeered by a
big group of divers-fishermen who were away at the time. The place was a mess
and numerous cartons of beer were piled up around and in the hut. I think we
counted something like 36 cartons of beer … it did not bode well staying there.
Clearly, these people intended to use the hut for their holiday and had
moved in for a prolonged stay looking at all the gear they brought along in
their jet boat. I wondered why DOC does not have a limit on stays like say 3
nights and this would make it fairer to other hut users.
As we were eating lunch, a jet boat arrived and presently
some men each carrying a beer came up the bank. One of them approached us and
said: "And what are you old geezers up to?” “Probably a lot more than
you’ve been doing” I replied. It turns out they are not the blokes staying in
the hut but locals visiting. I noticed 2 pig hunting dogs with radio collars on
them accompanied these men. I thought it was time to leave.
The track carried on to the west and had recently been cut,
though much of the brush was left on the track. It followed the old telegraph
route to Puysegur Point lighthouse. There was still some wire and the odd
insulator attached to old timber posts along the route. We walked for some
hours crossing Grant Burn and the AArn Burn on swing bridges. Gavin had his GPS
and noted we were not far from Westies Hut in Prices Harbour. Further on he
told us we were now past it and getting further away. This was quite confusing
so we dropped our packs and I went back for a kilometer as I thought we'd
missed the turnoff. But there was none so I reasoned it must be further west
than shown on the map. As we were now quite tired I suggested we camp which
seemed a good choice. Just off the track was a nice camping place among the
trees so we set up camp there and had a pleasant evening. After dusk, we heard
a morepork nearby.
Next morning we woke to much birdsong, which seemed to be
the norm in the Waitutu. We set off and dropped into a creek, then climbed out
up a steep slope into more forest. After an hour we came to a junction where
Westies Hut was marked off to the left. The location is further west than shown
on the topo map and quite confusing if you’re using a GPS. This led to a
platform overlooking a bay and a rope protected ledge that sloped downhill to
the right. We left our packs and descended this to stony beach between tall sea
cliffs. Off to the right under one of these were 2 huts - Westies. The
hut was initially built by a fisherman as a land base for his craypots.
Following the end of this era, a hermit named 'Westy', lived there for 5-6
years before returning to civilization, whereupon the hut fell into disrepair.
Another Southland local decided to restore the hut and reached an agreement
with the Department of Conservation whereby the hut was to be suitably
maintained and made a public hut that travelers can stay in and experience.
As it was too early to stop we carried
on to Big River, climbing a big hill further on. The track sidled left and then
dropped steeply to Big River. On the far side on some flat we could see some
tents but no sign of anyone. Reaching the river we inflated our packrafts and
set off towards Lake Hakapoua. There was a section near a rapid that we walked
around and then set off up the 8-kilometer lake with an onshore wind assisting
us. We made good time and reached a nice beach at the top by lunchtime. Here we
decided to camp. Bruce got a fire going and we had a pleasant time enjoying the
ambiance of the place. All around us forested hills dropped steeply to the
tannin-stained waters … an Arcadian scene. We discussed leaving the packrafts
next day about 2 kilometers down on lake below a saddle marked 153m and tramping
over to Lake Marshall and Innes that Belinda was keen to circumnavigate. We’d
carry her packraft over.
Another stunning day as we set off down
the true left of the lake. We landed on rocks below the pass and left our gear
here and set off up easy slopes through the forest floor, covered in crown
ferns. I flagged our route up as it was quite convoluted through and around a
series of gullies. It was fairly open and easy going up to point 153m. From
here we could see a valley falling off to the SE and into this, we descended this
following our GPS. Lower down it was very swampy and eventually, we arrived at
tiny Lake Marshall. It was low lying and surrounded by swamp so we built a
causeway of fallen branches to get to the lake edge where Belinda launched her
packraft. It only took 5-10 minutes to paddle around this. Then we climbed up a
hill and down another small valley to Lake Innes, which was much larger, maybe
3 kilometers around. Belinda launched her PR here and it took more like an hour
to circumnavigate it.
Our return trip went well and we
managed to pick up the flagging tape. Near the saddle we found an enormous dead
tree standing upright and surrounded by a huge cone of wood chips and we
assumed this was caused by kakas shredding it for grubs. It was a pleasant
paddle down Hakapoua to a batch called “Trev’s Inn” set in the bush on the east
side of the lake. No one was around and we camped on a lawn outside as yet another
glorious day came to an end.
On Tuesday we paddled down to the little
rapid out of Hakapoua to Big River and landed on a beach. Once we'd packed up,
we set off up the hill and back along our outward track to camp about an hour
from Waitutu Hut. We did not want to stay at Waitutu knowing there were
alcohol-fuelled jet boaters there. Our camp was idyllic and a flock of 7 kakas
kept us amused. Bruce had another go at our Toaks wood-burning stove but apart
from lots of smoke, there was not much hot water to show for his efforts.
On Wednesday we carried on to Waitutu
Lodge on the Wairaurahiri Lodge where the caretakers, Pete and Rose, warmly
welcomed us. Hot showers seemed luxurious, as was the comfortable lounge. Next
day Johan and Joyce arrived to take us up the Wairaurahiri River on their jet
boat.
Acknowledgments: First to our team
Belinda, Bruce and Gavin: to Joyce and Johan of the Wairaurahiri Jet, to DOC
for the wonderful birdsong in the Waitutu and to Pete and Rose for your
hospitality at Waitutu Lodge.
