Untouched Splendour of Wilderness Areas

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 35, 17 February 1987, Page 10

Untouched Splendour of Wilderness Areas

Readers of Noel Shepherd's account of his 'Man Alone'trek will have noticed a little confusion in the story. We can assure you that Noel didn't go bush loco when he was writing his report, nor did he have a hidden helicopter to whizz him back and forth. The truth is, we got our paragraphs a little muddled. The correct sequence is: Noel travels through predominantly beech forest to Waipakahi Hut; He makes an early start on his forth day and has a hard day's tramp on the tops; He describes the cardinal rule of tramping; Noel enters the Ngaruroro river system; He

reaches Boyd Lodge and meets the Americans. Noel continues his story: The enthusiasm of the American 1 met at Boyd Lodge, in the Kaimanawa's, for this wild Central North Island country confirmed my belief that it must be preserved at all costs. Tourism will surely become more important to the New Zealand economy, and tourists come to New Zealand for the untouched splendour of its parks and wilderness areas. They don't want casinos and nightclubs, they need what they can't get at home. As it seems time for personal appeals, let me make

one to the air charter 'bush pilots' who fly people into these isolated airstrips. Please make sure that your charges are prepared for what they are getting into. Easy access can cushion tourists from the harsh realities of the New Zealand bush. My American friends had no idea even of such 'hut etiquette' as leaving dry firewood for the next visitor to the lodge. From Boyd's my route led me into the track system of the Kaweka Forest Park. The Kawekas are a hunting Mecca for New Zealand's deer stalkers. In the tussock-covered Harkness

Valley 1 met two hunters, one of whom had bagged himself a tidy eight-point sika head. We shared a trailside lunch of cold venison, chocolate biscuits and stream water. 1 spent two nights in sixman huts, which were built for Forest Service personnel, but which the public are allowed to use. The Forest Service still employs deer cullers in this area, and allows commercial helicopter hunting, a surprising situation considering that 1 talked to fourteen recreational hunters in the parks, but saw only one deer. In the evenings I re-read my copy of 'Man Alone'. Johnson was in trouble. "To go forward at all was an effort, exhausting at any time, but now that he was foodless, doubly so ... the continual sightless darkness of the bush was like a nightmare."

Much of the Kaweka Forest Park is scrub and tussock, with open rocky tops, the result of burning late last century when the area was stocked with merino sheep. Johnson's journey was near its end. "... hidden in trees miles below on the far side of the valley, the tin roof of a hut." I came out of the bush at Makahu Saddle Hut, near

Puketitiri. In 1935, another two days walk over Black Birch Range would have been required to get on to farmland. However, ten days walk cannot compare to Johnson's many weeks, even without the help of tracks, huts, map and compass, and ample rations. Mulgan mentions the settlements of Waiapapa and Wakanui, but they don't appear on modern maps.