Return to Marlborough

 That top eastern section of the South Island tends to sit in a bit of a rain shadow, which is probably why it's such a premium wine growing region. But this time I wasn't heading to visit my friends in Renwick, but exploring more of the Marlborough Sounds.

This year I had again purchased a DOC campsite pass, so I booked a site at Momorangi Bay campsite on Queen Charlotte Sound. And again, because of the time of year, I procured a beachfront site, with all amenities nearby. Serviced campsites in NZ almost always have a camp kitchen with sinks, cookers and refrigerators to store your food. Back in the day the kitchens were usually fully stocked with cooking utensils too, but that's no longer the case due to pilfering. Places like Top 10 motor camps often will hire them out for an extra fee.

Momorangi is a high spec DOC campsite, with modern facilities and even powered sites, for which you pay an extra $3 per night as it isn't included in the pass. If you stay at the more expensive DOC campsites it doesn't take long to recoup the value in the pass. You can only stay for 7 nights at any individual campground within a 30 day period (you can stay longer, but you have to pay, not use the pass), which seems perfectly reasonable since the pass is meant for people travelling around, not for long term residents. By the end of this trip I had paid off the price of a yearly ticket in 14 nights.

I stayed at Momorangi Bay for 3 nights. The beachfront real estate was pretty popular, so I had friendly neighbours to chat to. Most were retired folks with all the toys, travelling around with bikes and kayaks, and usually self contained motorhomes. I spent some time resting and just enjoying the view, but one morning there was no wind so I took the packraft for a paddle. Another couple with kayaks had got caught out in a headwind the previous day, something I didn't wish to encounter in my packraft.

I paddled east around the point and in to the next bay, where a few nice yachts were berthed. Then I paddled across to the other side of the Sound, because the northern side didn't have houses on it and was just native bush overhanging the water. There were lots of big jellyfish floating around, which were pretty cool.

I stopped in at Davies Bay Campsite, which is on the Queen Charlotte Track. I'd not walked this final section of the track, since I finished at Mistletoe Bay. That was the trip where I'd encountered that nasty headwind trying to get in to Endeavour Inlet. I never want to have to repeat that again...

Davies Bay

As I began my return paddle a few ripples began to appear, but no real wind, so the crossing back to the campsite was no problem. But overall it wasn't anywhere near as nice as Kenepuru Sound.

After my couple of days at Momorangi, I began the long drive up to French Pass. It's long and windy, with the occasional view down to picturesque bays. I stopped at Elaine Bay, because it had a bike trail nearby, and the campsite looked like it might be a bit more sheltered than the one up at French Pass. As it turned out I made the right decision....

I set up camp where some flax sheltered me from wind coming up the bay, but it wasn't great for views. Posh looking camper vans parked up in the best spots for that. Down at the jetty a chap was fishing, but mostly he was feeding scraps to the resident rays.

I woke to a spectacular sunrise, which I had all to myself.

I didn't end up taking the bike for a spin, but I did drive up to French Pass for the day. More winding roads, sidling along ridges that have been cleared of all trees and are eroded by sheep. Not pretty countryside, but the coastline is spectacular.

At French Pass I went down to the lookout where you can watch the tidal surge between the mainland and D'urville Island. It's massive, and sounds like a proper whitewater rapid. Of course it's super dangerous too...

The little village at French Pass is nothing special, but it has a lovely jetty with a number of resident stingrays.

The DOC campsite is at the northern end of the beach, and has a few  big pines for shade. But a sign on the toilet block tells you there is no water. Apparently some campers let their children leave the taps on and run the tanks dry. Some people....

After another sunrise, not quite as spectacular, I headed back down the windy road, and headed to Blenheim, to buy a new mattress for sleeping in the car. My dodgy Warehouse airbed had sprung a leak, and rather than fix it I decided to upgrade to a proper foam mattress that I could custom fit to the space in the car. I then drove up to Picton to stay with my friend Julie and do the necessary mattress modifications.

After catching up with Julie and her daughter, I continued south, to Marfels Beach. Again a beachfront site, and pleasant sunny days. The nights were cold, but sleeping in the car I was snug and warm.

From Marfels I headed down the coast to Kaikoura, detouring to a few beaches and inland a little to wander through a small patch of podocarp forest.

In Kaikoura I went whale watching. There's a 2km deep trench in the bay known as the Kaikoura Canyon that attracts Sperm Whales for feeding all year round. The cruise was interesting and informative, but we only saw one whale....luckily I'd only paid half price on BookMe!

Then I drove back to Wanaka.

It was time for the ski season...

Tramping the Polglaze Trail

Day 1. Flora carpark to Salisbury Lodge.

sunrise at Totaranui

I'd been camped up at Totaranui in Abel Tasman National Park, so it was a bit of a drive from Golden Bay to the start of the track at the end of Graham Valley Road. I was actually tracing some of the route up the Motueka Valley that I'd recently ridden, but the turnoff and road up to the carpark was quite a new experience. There's one section that is very narrow and steep, and you drive on two strips of concrete. Meeting a car coming in the other direction would be quite a headache. Luckily, no such thing happened, and I got to the track start incident free.

There were quite a few cars parked at the roadend and more cars arrived whilst I was gearing up, but they all seemed to be day trippers. Given it was after 11, I thought summitting Mt Arthur and returning back to the car in daylight seemed a pretty ambitious goal.

I had an early lunch and headed off at 11:30. Just up from the carpark is Flora Saddle, where the track to Mt Arthur splits off to the left, so you get a lot of elevation for free. Today I was following the valley, mostly following the picturesque Flora Stream. The track is initially a well manicured 4wd track, and after about an hour I arrived at Flora Hut. 

After checking out the hut and chatting to some other trampers coming out from 3 nights at Salisbury Lodge, I continued on. About 10 minutes later I ran into more people, possibly from the same tramping club, and later I passed some more walkers with day packs. I was no longer feeling anxious about crowded huts. For this trip I'd packed my mattress but not my tent.

The track continued, passing by the two Gridiron shelters, ingeniously built against rock shelters.  These, and many other huts and tracks in Kahurangi National Park, are the brainchild of a visionary park ranger called Max Polglaze. This article about Max's legacy is really worth a read. He's also responsible for restoring the only remaining tent camp in NZ in the Cobb Valley.

It was too cold for me to consider staying in one of these unique shelters at this time of year. Nearby, a really clear running stream with some nice waterfalls required crossing on some swing bridges and then the road petered out to just a walking track. 

The next shelter was Growlers, really just a shelter, no mattresses, but still a loo. 

The track began to climb more and then broke out into tussock. A side track took you to Dry Rock Shelter, probably my favourite of the lot, with epiphytes growing from the roof and views out over the tussock. A place I would definitely stay at in warmer weather.

I returned to the main track and the final walk up to Salisbury Lodge, passing the site of the old Salisbury Hut. Up on the plateau there are gob smacking views of Mt Arthur, including from the well appointed hut itself.

There was no-one else at the hut, but I'd arrived fairly early, so went for a little recce to look for a staff hut I knew to be nearby. Hutbagging really is addictive...

No luck finding a track to the staff hut, but I was well impressed by the high spec composting toilets, not a common occurrence in NZ. I chopped some wood and got the fire going, but it was slow to heat up as the wood in the shed was all a bit green. 

No-one else arrived so I had the hut to myself for the night.

Day 2 Salisbury Lodge to Spludgeons Rock Shelter return.

It rained overnight and the wind and rain continued into the morning. I prevaricated a bit about whether I would head out into it but in the end set off at 9:30. I headed out along the Tablelands Track following Starvation Ridge towards Balloon Hut. I met a group from Motueka High School tramping from Balloon Hut who were planning a long loop via Lower Junction and Bullock track, camping overnight. I'm no longer that tough...

moody weather. also cold, wet and windy....

It was drizzling and quite exposed once above the tree line so I decided to tramp to Spludgeons Shelter because it was in the forest. Into the forest I went, much warmer in there. There were wonderful big trees and lots of ferns and mosses, really beautiful. The track was a gradual downhill, sidling along down the Leslie. The track was only close to the river at the start, because the river descended much quicker than the track did, so you very soon lost sight of it.

I arrived at the shelter at 11:30. The shelter was ingeniously closed off on one side by plastic blinds, that could be rolled up in good weather. Despite a dirt floor, it had a fireplace, bunks and table and was actually very tidy. It was weatherproof and cosily warm inside so I had lunch there. 

The skies were clearing so there were now views of the mountains across the steep valley. Apparently there's a nice viewpoint above the hut but I couldn't be bothered. 

I took off a layer for the walk back up the hill, which was steady but I made good time to be back at the top in less than 2 hours. I then headed back towards Salisbury Lodge. It was just too windy and cold up on the tops to be enjoyable, and I would have liked to visit Lake Peel and that just wasn't possible in the time I had left.

I decided to try and find the staff hut, this time taking the top track that bypasses Salisbury Lodge and I did spy a faint track off to the right. I followed that down to the creek and there was the hut. I looked for another track to cut through to Salisbury Lodge, but wasn't successful, however on backtracking to the main trails I reckon I did find it after all, but there was no point following it as I'd already bagged the hut.

I got back to Salisbury Lodge and first job was to chop some wood and get the fire going. A couple of fellas from Nelson arrived and then later a German girl. All three were planning the Gordon's Pyramid route tomorrow. With considerable effort and time we at last got the fire going but it was very slow to heat up the hut. My fingers were so cold I couldn't light my stove. Jeremy helped by turning the knob whilst I lit a match, and then I was able to warm up. 

The boys were good value. Greg hadn't done much tramping and was a little sore. He has no idea what Jeremy has in store for him tomorrow!! The boys lit a few candles and it was a pleasant evening chatting with all three. The hut eventually warmed up!

Day 3 Salisbury Lodge to Mt Arthur Hut via Gordon's Pyramid and Mt Arthur.

We were all up early, witnessing a pretty sunrise. The weather was clear with high cloud and quite warm, as in no frost. After chopping some wood to replace the stuff we had burned we all headed off within 3/4 hour of each other. Jana left at 8, me at 8:30 and the boys at 8:45. 

We all went via the potholes route which was a bit boggy at first and then passed by a big cave and numerous sink holes. 

Once it rejoined the main track it was a steep uphill climb through magnificent forest, with more sinkholes on each side. It reminded me a lot of Gouland Downs. 

note: 2.5  to 5 hours!!

Once above the trees you could see the hut, in fact you could see it at regular intervals all day. The climb up to Gordon's Pyramid was moderately steep straight up the ridge line. The boys caught me up at the tree line, and for the rest of the day we walked pretty close together. We could see Jana way ahead of us, as the track followed ridges down and up, some of it very steep including some rock scrambling. 

At Balloon Basin we stopped to have lunch as it looked more sheltered than the ridge line above. Some low clouds and wind had come in, making it a little cold and drizzly, but not enough for me to put my rain pants or jacket back on. I'd purchased a lightweight jacket from Montbell in Japan and I've been really impressed with its performance. It cuts the wind but vents heat well. I wasn't cold but I wasn't too hot either. 

The rain and clouds lifted, so after lunch, and putting on my rain jacket and trousers, I headed up to the junction with the Mt Arthur Track. There were glimpses of blue sky and even some sun, so I ditched the big pack and headed up Mt Arthur Summit with just my water and a few snacks in a small daypack. Greg had had enough, so decided not to do the summit walk, but Jeremy was keen so we headed off. I suggested Greg could get the fire going at Mt Arthur Hut for me!!

The climb was flat at first and then got quite brutal, with lots of climbing involved and a small amount of rock scrambling. I was glad to just have the daypack. We met Jana at the junction with the Ellis Basin Hut track on her way back down from the summit. Even though she had a super light pack she wasn't really much quicker than us, or she took longer breaks!! 

The final climb to the summit was just as tough but at last we made it, sharing our victory with a group of school kids and their teachers. The teachers were having a cuppa and said they'd been watching our progress from Gordon's Pyramid across and congratulated us on our effort. I shook hands with Jeremy, it was a tough day! We both agreed Greg had made the right decision not to summit.

I didn't stay long up there, just long enough for some photos and then headed back. It was windy and cold on the summit, and yes you could still see Salisbury Lodge!! Once off the ridge you were sheltered from the cold wind, so it was a pleasant, if steep, descent, with an occasional uphill bit, back to the junction where I had left my pack. Jeremy descended quicker, and hadn't shed his big pack, so he was soon well off down the ridge track towards the road end. 

can you see Salisbury Lodge?

It didn't take me long to stow the water and the daypack and head down myself. Of course the descent was brutally steep and my knees were feeling it by the time I got to Mt Arthur Hut. Jeremy was there, concerned about a notice saying that the tank water wasn't drinkable due to some aerial spraying, but the hut was warm, with hot coals, so I think Greg did indeed start the fire for me. Thanks Greg!

I decided to risk the water, using my filter as a precaution and started the fire going again. It took a little patience but soon it was roaring. Jeremy headed off to the car park without getting water. The school groups arrived, on their way back down to their campsite near Flora Hut and also filled up their water bottles. I chatted to them, and one of the teachers helped me chop some more wood which was very kind of him, as I was pretty exhausted.

a hack to deal with delaminated soles on a multiday school trip

full moon

Since the school group were the last ones off the summit I wasn't expecting any company, though I still hung my food bags anticipating possible mice. I was a little dehydrated from the tough walk so I tried to catch up with a few cups of tea, soup and hot chocolate, as well as my rehydrated dinner. It can be tough to remember to keep fluids up when working hard, especially when it's a bit cold and windy.

Day 4 Mt Arthur Hut to carpark

I slept well overnight, but was up at 7, off by 8:30, and back at the car by 9:30. Because I have an annual hut pass it made more sense to spend the night in the hut and then have a full day to head off wherever my next adventure would take me.

The car was still there, as was the bike on the back, and the drive back down the dodgy road was again uneventful. The weather forecast was looking a little rainy to the west, so I decided to go where the sun always shines.

That's next...