Friday night
We began with the long bus ride to the Putara road-end in the north-eastern Tararuas. Allen kindly offered to drive the club bus which we also shared with Ray's Easy trip who were planning to walk to Herepai Hut and then do some exploration onto the tops on Saturday. We stopped at the kebab shop in Carterton – this is the best tramping stopover on a Friday night, the food is really good, and the service is prompt.
We were soon off on our walk up the hill towards Herepai Hut – it is a reasonable climb in the dark. Despite some punters running out of battery in their torches, we didn't take too long to reach the hut - and we arrived at the hut before midnight.
Saturday
We awoke to brilliant sunshine on Saturday morning at the civilised hour of 6.30 ready for the 8am start – the punters seemed enthusiastic about the off-track route planned for the day – little did they know what was in-store (this would even take the leaders by surprise). After assisting Spencer fit his "kiwi bloke" gaiters, we carefully studied the map, had the group hug and we were off. Our plan for the day was to continue on from Herepai Hut and make our way onto Haukura Ridge – past Herepai (1125), Ruapae (1279). We were then going to follow the ridge close to East Peak, head in south-east direction towards point 1127, then south-east down ridge towards Ruapae Stream and then on to Roaring Stag Hut – all of this a grand total of only 9 kilometres.
The views from the tops were spectacular – we could see both Taranaki and Ruapehu and many of the prominent Tararua peaks. After reaching East Peak just after 11, we thought we were setting a reasonably smart time. After lunch, we headed into more unknown territory – off the tops, and towards point 1127.
With less defined routes, we started to rely more on our compass bearings and some good route spotting. Progress was slow going. Leatherwood became more and more prolific, and our exposed body parts more scratched by the minute as we bashed through the "light-green" stuff that we were warned to avoid prior to the trip. Despite one's patience inevitably being tested, we knew that we were part of the mighty tongue and meats, and we were determined to accomplish our plan of making to Roaring Stag. After all – we could see glimpses of the hut in the fading light and it didn't look that far away. We started to feel like monkeys, as we swang through the leatherwood, hanging on like grim death to avoid slipping down some rather slippery steep drops – this was turning out to be a real adventure.
After a compulsory stop to put our torches on, we continued on. Thankfully, by this time we were below the bushline, and the route seemed more comfortable – other than using a combination of our backside and pack to slide down the stepper drops. We calculated that we had about 200 metres to drop until we reached the river. Continuing on and trying to keep the party together in the dark, route finding became more challenging, as did seeing the contour lines on the map. We wanted to avoid the bluffs to the south, so tried to stay on a more eastern bearing. Simon* and Amanda did a great job in front tracking our route. After ending up in a gully system, we decided to climb up onto what we thought was a spur leading down towards the river. It turns out that we were probably were going a bit too far to the east. It started to get really interesting, and I'm sure that if we had daylight we would have been even more freaked out. Craig shocked us when he took a 5 metre tumble down a steep bank, taking with him a tree. Goodness knows how he came out of the fall ok – we stumbled on. After continuing to climb higher to get out the gully, we ended up near the top of a catchment. Being some distance from the stream and Roaring Stag Hut it was about time to find a suitable spot to retire for the night. It felt better to at least have water. I wondered if we would find a flat enough area to camp out for the night - it would definately have to be compromised. Coming across the stream was bliss – a lack of water during the day meant that we were very thirsty. We filled up all our water vessels, and decided to seek a spot to camp for the night. Thankfully, within a few minutes, we came across a slightly less steep bank where we could carefully craft some sleeping platforms. We were glad to have been carrying some shelter. Despite the compromised conditions, all the punters seem to be in reasonably high spirits. We set about preparing dinner – it was a great team effort, and we managed to enjoy the same meal as planned including entrée of crackers with brie, hummus and antipasto olives, followed by asian noodle vegetable stir-fry with chicken and cashews for the main and homemade cookies and billy tea for dessert.
It's amazing how you can really compromise in the bush – it felt like an advanced bushcraft course. As 1mm of rain was forecast we pitched the flys – however, most found a spot for their groundsheet and sleeping bag where they wouldn't roll down the bank.
Sunday
After breakfast and with some daylight, it made it much easier to see we were going – it quickly became apparent that we were at the top of a gully. We ascended to the top of the spur, and then headed straight down towards Ruapae Stream. We hadn't finished with the steep and slippery banks. In fact, much to the amusement of the rest of the group, in one spot Craig yelled out "I'm not a gymnast" when Victoria gave him instructions on how to climb over a tree hanging over a bank. There was a moment of celebration when we reached the bottom of the hill and the stream in just over an hour– what a relief. Craig double-checked his GPS, and we headed up towards to the main track leading to Roaring Stag. It was comforting to see some track markers again. From here, it was all but a "stroll" out with a brief interlude for lunch at the junction, and then all down-hill, the way we came up on Friday night. We even made it out with about an hour to spare.
Despite the adversarial and somewhat compromising conditions, everyone seemed to have a really good time. We were lucky that it was a mild evening, with only a light shower of rain. We were also pleased to have been carrying shelter, plenty of hearty food, and of course good spirits amongst the punters. On reflection, this is the stuff that adventures are made of - and of course we can't forget that we were part of the mighty tongue and meats.
Footnote
This was a great trip, without all that leatherwood the experience would not have been the same. After the trip an investigation of historical maps showed there previously was a track in this area - but it led south towards the bluffs that we chose to avoid. Finding the old track would probably lead to a route that does not require an epic struggle through the leatherwood (or "light green" as indicated on the map).