Valley trek provides history lesson

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 614, 28 November 1995, Page 10

Valley trek provides history lesson

By

Amiria

Teki

Senior pupils of Orautoha School recently set off on a history hike into the Mangapurua Valley with some of their parents. Seven pupils, Sara Tod, Nicholas McNie, Sean Hammond, George Williams, John Matoe, Tom Kavanagh and David Brown were joined by parents Philippa Kavanagh, Stuart McNie, Catherine Brown and Allan (Pinky) Tod as well as the school' s principal Andrea Nola. Brendon Kavanagh, Tom Mowat (whose father, aunt and grandparents lived in the valley), Tom's son Patrick and his friend Dean Tasker, Staker Johnson from Hastings and Ian McCoubrie, from the Waipuna also went in for the first day, to help with carrying gear. Tagging along to "soak up a bit of the atmosphere" of the valley was also this writer. A two-day trip was planned and it was decided to go in by motor bike as far as Slippery Creek which is as far as the bikes could go. The group made camp just a little further on, near to Johnson' s farm site. Mangapurua Valley was an area divided up into farm blocks of various sizes after the First World War, for balloting to returned servicemen. It was the luck of the draw as to which block a person drew. Some blocks were around 1700 acres and some only about 250. Some people were able to get hold of more as time went by. A tad head start I thought I might be a tad slower than most of the others, so I got myself organised and headed off the day before. It was a perfectly clear, warm, sunny day when I started the walk around lunch time. I reached the top of the first peak a couple of hours later. I was walking up to Aislabies and was almost there when thunder and lightning brought rain, and a lot of it. I saw a couple of blokes going out after a pig hunt and I think they were pretty amazed to see a woman hiking in the bush on her own, one small back pack, a bed roll and a camera. I found out later, from Robbie Manson of Ruatiti station that "yep", they really did wonder! I made it to the trig rain and all and found a "hotel" to beat all hotels — the Trig Hotel- top of the Mangapurua. It has everything you could want, dining room, bedroom, ensuite — all in one, a Department of Conservation loo! The next day I walked down to MacDonald's, another valley farm.

The school group turned up around 4pm and after they got themselves sorted out and had a meal, they wandered down to our camp to have a yarn and some of the kids walked onto Betjemen's farm site where all that's left is a chimney in the heart of the valley in the middle of nowhere, where once stood a most grand colonial homestead. The next day the group needed to be at the Bridge To Nowhere by about 2.30pm to meet up with parents and children from the junior school who had gone up to the Mangapurua Landing by jet boat, then walked in from there. No ordinary stroll Patrick, Dean and I walked with them as far as Mowat' s farm site, some nine kilometres from camp. It was no ordinary stroll. There were a number of bluffs to climb or scramble over or around. Up hill, down dale, across creeks passing several old farm sites along the way. Whenever the kids came across a decent sized bridge, they would stop for a five minute rest to break their journey. It was really hot in the valley and quite tiring at times, but the kids did really well. They made it to Mowat' s where they had lunch, yarned about this and that and rested up a little. I pointed out where Mowat' s house site was and suggested that the children might like to have a look in the budlea bushes, at some of the relics left behind — an old coal range, a radiator, bottles, and other bits and pieces. Patrick, Dean and I said our farewells to the group and headed back to the camp. The rest were about an hour and a half from the bridge, having to get around Battleship Bluff, pass through Bennetts, then down to the bridge, some 30-40 minutes further on. The seniors met up with the rest of the school on the bridge as planned. The young ones and their parents walked to the bridge with Baldie Haitana, who would have pointed out some interesting landmarks along the way as well as telling them of some of the history. The school was welcomed at Tieke Marae, where they stayed the night, before travelling back to Pipiriki where they were farewelled before returning to Orautoha.