Te Rerepahupahu Falls, Easy Trip
Weekend Trip
Saturday 12 July 2008 to Sunday 13 July 2008 (2 days)
The Easy Trip
Petrol price rises, car vandalism, track misinformation, and difficulties locating the start of tramps, led to Miva and me trying the ATC. We got to the truck depot early, ready for our ride towards Taranaki. With such a poor weather forecast I was worried my cell phone would go off and I would be told the trip had been cancelled. However, everyone seemed to arrive at once at about 6.30 and it was all on. My cancellation worries were groundless as everyone was keen and dauntless. We met our leaders, Chris and Noel Ashton, and all signs were positive for a good outing in the wild.
The trip down in the truck was not super comfortable; it would be almost unpleasant with twenty or so on the truck. We got to the start of the medium walk about 1.30am on Saturday, and around 7.45 in rain and gloomy conditions the brave few started off for about an 8-hour-plus tramp. The nine of us who chose the easier option headed on for about an hour to our start point. Landslides put boulders in our path, fallen trees blocked the road, and there was a flood, but we got through them all, breaking a cable while towing a tree out of the way.
Big Blue to the rescue.
We walked in a fair amount of rain on Saturday. We passed through farmland for about 25 minutes until the farmland ended, and we came to a rain-formed lake that was at the border of the forest we were to enter. From here we walked 3 hours of flooded track. It was waist high in places. There was a precarious log bridge under water at one point, with about a 2.5 metre deep drop on the side. Miva floated her pack across and swam the crossing, which looked quite amazing. Packs float well. We dumped our packs at the little 4-bed - DOC-use only - DOC hut, and walked the extra hour to the falls. We passed the ‘medium-difficult’ party heading to the DOC hut. The falls were amazingly spectacular due to all the rain - the spume flying up from the bottom was like a rocket launch. The campsite there was ridiculously small and sad and it was not impossible to imagine being wiped out by a wave from the crashing falls while in a tent. We headed back and set up our tents on the lumpyish ground surrounding the DOC hut. The rain stopped and it was an enchanting spot.
The next day back was straightforward. We got back quite early, the sun came out and it was a beautiful drive back, reaching Auckland at 6:30pm.
We had a great time away. The thing I marked most was how good all the people in the ATC were to be with. Good people to be in tune with the wilds with.
We were: Chris Ashton (artist), Kevin Reid (scribe) Miva Spalwinski, Alison Jepson, Bruce Calvert, Athol Berry, Erica Gilchrist, Brian Alexander, Anthony Hayes.