AN EVENTFUL TRIP

Hokitika Guardian, 25 June 1929, Page 2

AN EVENTFUL TRIP

TO THE WEST COAST. ;• 'I JANUARY—FEBRUARY, 192!). Many times J have crossed the Haast Pass into Westland under various conditions, .in flood time, and snowstorms, in daylight ,and dark, 1 yet 1 cannot recall a more eventful trip than that made by a geological <• party in January 1929. The party, six in number, of' which three preferred to tramp, left Makarova (Lake Wanaka) in the face of la northerly 'Storm which spells floods’ and often “floods.” Five heavily laden pack horses, two riders and myself, formed the vanguard. I was in charge of ' , transport arrangements having contracted to land the provisions and equipment’ for the expedition in the Cascade Valley at the foot of the lied mountains in Southern (West-

{ land. ’ .., One rider quite inexperienced and handicapped with a withered arm and slightly crippled leg had to he assisted on and off his horse. Unfortunately however he met with a misfortune when only a few miles up the valley. How it happened nobody knows but I suddenly missed him at the rear of the pack train, and what appeared to' be a dismounted person in the distance, proved to be our companion. My other riding companion, Mr S., went back at n gallop to ascertain the delay, and found Mr R. had had a fall but was : not hurt. In the delay one pack horse which was not secured to the train took advantage of the situation and left me at a sharp determined trot homeward bound. My mounted .companion previously mentioned v.as next to be seen galloping to and fro attempting to stop the big grey s homeward march. It, proved too much for him and I found it necessary' to tie up the team and gallop . after him and he was only cangbt after the load was scattered and fjorne harness broken. A conference was ■■held and the decisionjyas arrived at that our unfortunate companion return and abandon, the trip, it being

.considered too long and strenuous to

ibne not accustomed and hadicapped as i •' hfe was. It proved a wise plan as ! reader will later judge. The big grey was reloaded and/ the convoy )■! on its long journey. The 1; 'tramping members of the party had . iijt early start and reached the day’s ( 'destination before us.. 1 ■}!.'Upon reaching the first stretch of bush track I decided to drive the team on account of-,the rough sur- - , race. This was done but a small "iiand-bag I was given to leave at a '/ Roadman’s camp iworked loose from its position on top of the load and a bobbing performance started on the horse’s rUtnp- to which he strongly objected. He commenced to gallop and kick, contaminating the rest of the team, all of which were fresh and in good condition and soon the whole outfit'- was soon out of Bight galloping as hard as they could go no one able to get ahead to flikheck them. The big grey, not so as the lighter horses, prevented jßkkeepiug up to the mad team and prophesying they would break back <lown the river-bod as soon as they reached the end of the track, I dismounted and dropped down the sidling to cut them off, but I was just a fraction too late. I splashed through the river on foot but again too, late and I had to watch them (tearing homeward, their loads in danger of coming off and becoming lost in the river,- My companion, Mr S. came up. I mounted ami made down the valley as hard as my hack knew how. Over the river fords, rabbit holes and prickly shrub as 'f they were not there, but nothing could I see of our pack team. ‘-First making certain they had not gone further down the valley than a certain point, I commenced to find their track and which when found led me into the bush where they were tied up in vines, some loads off and some loads on, and of course much harness broken. The reloading and replacing of broken straps occupied some time and the day was well advanced when we once more started off with thirty miles ahead of as. The next attempts were more successful and the . horses settled down and the Pass v/as reached in good time. The weather cleared while descending beyond the Pass and my clothes got a chance of getting dry from the hurried crossings of the Makarora, a few hours before. We passed the Burke Huts and saw Mt. Hooker (8,64.4 ft) at jts best, facing the evening sun. The Clarke Hut was reached just before sundown, thus closing the first day. ' During the night it rained heavily and at daybreak the river wife already high. It continued to rain and rain and the river rose and roared,' carrying with it large trees and timber of all descriptions. The mountain sides were nearly all waterfalls. All through the following night it rained incessantly and only on the second morning did it show signs of abating. We examined the river which was in waves feet 1 igh and many hundreds of acies veie under water. It was plain much damage must necessarily have been caused, the flood being no ordinary one, yet little knowing the great damage on the track which we had onlv a matter of hours before passed over and which we had good reason to remember before wo returned to Wanaka. • Next morning, after our forced stay in, the Clarke Hut of two days ?nd two nights, we commenced the sec-

ond stage of our journey to the Coast, in fine weather but with rivers and creeks dangerously high. I found many changes in the course of the river and all the side streams were high and it was only with aifficulty fords were found enabling the pack horses to cross with their loads out of the water. The tramping members of the party had even more ‘difficulty and had many times to rake to the bush and avoid the river bed altogether. One short stretch we all had to swim and one horse was momentarily entangled in hidden snags. The cases, fortunately, were made especially for the trip and no water entered. Every now and again we had to dismount to remove some obstacle, while getting temporarily bogged in deep silt and mud was r.o rare occurrence. We called a halt after mid-day when the hilly was boil cd, while two of us found and cut a new track to avoid crossing a deep stream which was accomplished after some delay.

It was dark before our destination (Okuru) was readied where we were met an the north side of the Okuru river by the ferryman by ail arrangement made on the telephone at Haast the only dwelling on the journey, situated nine miles along the coast near the mouth of the Hasst river. The unloading and crossing all the loads across the river in a small boat was no small undertaking and some of the liorsese objected to swim behind the boat and so were left to graze there. We were made very comfortable at Mrs Cowan’s and sat down and made short work of an enormous meal. It was near midnight before the remainder of the party arrived, sore-footed and weary having completed a long strenerous day of about 37 miles, which is a big day even without jpacks. The day proved another strenerous day though not so in milage. All the gear fynd to be ferried over the Turnbull river just above its junction with the Okuru which we ferried the 'previous evening. All the horses were ••Jrhon over, swimming bcliipd the boat, caught and loaded up on the opposite /bnnk and we proceeded southwards qlong the sea coast for nine miles, qnfiil the Waitoto river was reached.

rj’hjsj is a large snpw water riverand ’the crossing being near the mouth,; the river is ’tidal. Many trips had to be made before all the gear and outfit were crossed. This is a wide sheet of water and proved a long swim for the horses. The sorting out of saddles and loads and the loading occupied jover itwo hours, while all the 'tipie we were being annoyed by sandflies. After partaking lunch in the ferryman’s hut we continued our journey, ' still along the sea. shore, to the Arawata river, an even larger stream than the last. It was too high to ford so again the boats had to be used and owing to the nature of the crossing this occupied hours in heavy rain which continued to fall as soon as we reached the river Bush overhung the river edge on the north side and the width of the landing was about six,feet. It required our united efforts to get the horses to take the river and more efforts to catch them in the wide river-bed beyond. The boat was a shallow structure about 14ft. in length and fitted with toy rollics with the result the oars jumped out at each pull. I took the first load over and what with the tugging horses behind, the wobbling craft, low sides of the boat and powerful current, I landed many chains down the fiver on the opposite side, which necessitated towing the boat nearly half mile up before commencing return journey to allow for the current as there was such a tiny landing to make for. Missing it meant going over the same process again. It was well after dark when the horses were at last reloaded. A deep sluggish backwater had yet to be crossed before we caught sight of the old house in which we camped for the night thoroughly tired out and arriving wet to the skin. It rained throughout the night and the mosquitoes buzzed and “bit.” At daybreak it was still raining and it was decided to make a dash for It before the flood waters blocked our further progress this being the last stage of ’the journey. There .werfe three bushmen with a pack horse who readied the Arawata hut a few hours before us the previous evening, also making for the Cascade Through our convoy left first still in heavy rain, the others soon caught up and proved useful travelling companions having a more recent knowledge of the ever changing fords.

The first crossing of the Jackson was crosed without mishap but as we pushed onwards we could notice the river rising all the time, and several of the larger tracks were high enough having a powerful current and nearly over the horses backs in places. 1 was travelling in the leading party till the top ford of the Jackson river was reached and which when reached proved too high and rough to cross and was stilling rising. The members of the party who were tramping “double banked” on the bushmeu’s hacks, which were luckily fresh and of the heavy type and made no hard work of their double loads. The organiser of the expedition Mr T—however walked most of the way and covered the rough nature of the track under the worst possible conditions in splendid style. He of course needed assistance in crossing several swollen creeks. The whole party was held up at the top ford for an hour. But one of the bushmen on a large draught horse tried the ford and although washed down on to some boulders, succeeded in reaching the far side. Tt proved too rough for the remainder and it was decided to wait a while and unload the horses. A dump was made of the loads an covered. The rain

was now a deluge and it was decided to make a bid for it. Some “double banking” (two on one horse) other on the now empty pack horses Meal bobbed across, some landing wel down on the other side, and one horse which had got a ibad shaking up by falling over the side of the sidliiq track just before crossing the lord, was wasjied down into large boulder? and lost much skin on his legs in consequence. In the confusion this was the i nly horse with a pack saddle on and as the other horses were already anea-d on the narrow track, on him had t be placed certain swags which it was found necessary to carry.

The trail now followed over the Martyr Saddle, over the Martyr bridge and down the .Monkey Puzzle Gorge of the Martyr River in i.eiir its junction with Clio Cascade River This track passed over the bare red rock spurs of the Red Hills, trom where on u fine clay a splendid panorama view of the whole of the Cascade valley, Cascade plateau, and l>od Hills could he seen.