TWAIN RIVER BECAME THE DOUGLAS

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28158, 22 December 1956, Page 13

TWAIN RIVER BECAME THE DOUGLAS

Exploration of karangarua Valley

ADMIRATION FOR EARLY EXPLORERS

[Specially written for “The Press” by JOHN PASCOE]

AXTELL over 60 years ago, Arthur P. Harper and Bill-the-Maori ’ ’ explored the Karangarua valley. Charles Douglas was to have been with them, but his illness with rheumatism knocked him out of that particular trip. Harper varied his surveying with a long walk down the Landsborough to the Haast Pass and back. He also inspected the gorge of the Twain river and labelled it on his map “Impassable.” The Twain river was renamed the Douglas several years ago by the Geographic Board. It is the main branch of the Karangarua, and in fact carries far more water than that river. The Westland slopes of Mount Sefton are the Douglas ne've whose ice avalanches fall ceaselessly over cliffs to reform as the great Douglas Glacier. From this glacier and its calm terminal lake there flows the Douglas river.

I first saw this place in January, 1956. in the course of a long transalpine walk over the ranges from Lake Ohau to Karangarua on South Westland trek. Now I try to recapture the memories of the Douglas valley, which gave our party, led by Stan Conway, experiences characteristic of Westland. We had breakfast one day near Lake Fettes in the Landsborough at 3 a.m. Some sixteen hours later we had polished off the evening meal. In that time we had travelled over many boulders in the Upper Landsborough, up the moraine and trunk of the McKerrow Glacier, over the Douglas Pass and down to bluffs and flats, where the large Bivouac rock named after Harper looked unenticing, despite its grand history. So we had continued the swagging down the turmoil of the Douglas moraine, and at the lake had marvelled at the sheer face of The Pommel. A short wander down the Douglas riverbank to flats had finished an exacting day at lush grass flats.

Our route out to the Karangarua was to try a traverse of the impassable gorge of the Douglas. Early the following morning we set out. For a while the going was very agreeable. At the Horace Walker glacier stream there were muddy quicksands covered with glint of new-chums’ gold, but we forded without losing boots or making fortunes. Then came a struggle through scrub aided by a restless deer track. Lunch was in the most salubrious of grass terraces at the side of a clear and cheerful little tributary creek. Ahead loomed the walls of the gorge .

Memories Dismay Personally my memories were tinged with dismay at the accounts given by Harper of his attempt to force the gorge from below and from above. I also remembered a description given in 1949 by Tararua Tramping Club men who had attempted the gorge from below, and who had been blocked by the combination of unscalable bluff and unfordable cataract. My three companions were fit from several months in the Karakoram Himalaya and were anxious to give the gorge a go. So I tagged along. Our real problem was that recent floods had so raised the river level that beach travel was out of the question. We slunk across sloping boulders and mossy patches, with cliffs rising above, and driver swirl falling below. The whole was dominated by the matriarchal roar of an impulsive and powerful river. It was impossible to hear conversation. We nosed up and down and finally decided to take a high level route as a solution to our selfimposed difficulties. This gave a steep climb of three thousand feet with the swags. Tiring as it was I was relieved that we had left the terrors of the gorge. It took another two days and some eventful moments to reach the Karangarua by the top of Conical Hill, as landslides had broken a normal ridge, and on the descent to the Douglas-Karangarua confluence we missed the only good spur and were

fouled up with a lot of rock slab work and swearing. Impassable Gorge? I have heard it said that a deer-killer has been through the impassable gorge. The truth is that no place is impassable to a man without a heavy swag and with a low river. But under average conditions and with average loads the label given by Harper is accurate. The cliffs of Liberty Cap and Conical Hill that fall to the Douglas gorge are not far apart. Between those ramparts and flanked with giant boulders and tangled scrub is concentrated all the force of a river cataract.

Such a gorge is an impressive place, more dangerous than an alpine slope, wet with spray, and noisier than a Test Match crowd. The sketch by Harper, here reproduced, shows Liberty Cap on the left and Conical Hillon the right. Beyond the Douglas gorge rises the rugged grandeur of Mount McGloin.

For inaccessibility, the Douglas gorge compares with the Lambert gorge of the Big Wanganui and the Omatane Canyon of the Hokitika; all three incomparably more difficult than bad going in rivers such as the Whitcombe or the Arawata. The Douglas valley is distinguished by its primeval state. It is unblemished by huts or tracks. Its flats could be used as sites for air-drops, and perhaps deer-killers will infest it with huts. I believe that it would be a good thing to leave the Douglas free from such facilities. Wilderness area? 1 , where young New Zealanders could learn to overcome the natural hazards of tough mountain country, would be desirable. The National Paks Act provides for the creation of these reserves. The pioneers Harper and Douglas themselves cherished the thought of wild places where orthodox travellers could not oenetrate. If the deer-killers co-operated by using these areas as training grounds for new men. they would advance their own skill and self-reliance. Great Humility In wrestling with the obstacles met by the early explorers I have experienced great humility and some understanding of their trials. I hope that future generations will be allowed to share this knowledge. Time is an enemy to my generation, for we have to accomplish our trips in three weeks. But we are helped by modern equipment such as pressure-cookers, plastic bags for packing provisions and nylon ropes. Time was a friend to the first explorers, because for them there was no hurry, and bird life abounded for a good dog to catch. Douglas and Harper could stay in the wilds for months at a time, eking out their flour with a diet of wekas and pigeons. Though New Zealand is now fully explored, there remain adventures for men eager to meet them. South Westland is the ideal country for the excitements of broken glaciers and rocky gorges, bird life and rain forest, scrub and oases of river flats.