Thousands opt for track

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34046, 9 January 1976, Page 7

Thousands opt for track

'Bu KEN COATES> Three women in their ' sixties walked the 44 miles of the Heaphy Track recently. “sleeping the nights in Forest Service hunts in their nighties, and each { varying along a little | toilet bag.“ The bearded ' forest ranger describing ' their tramp grinned — ■ “they had a marvellous j time, except when they • temporarily lost their ! bottle of brandy and could i not have their usual good- ; night nip.“ Youngsters, families. ! couples old and young,: church groups, school parties, ‘ Australians and North. American- — all are striding, limping, and tramping the Heaphy Track. They, are packing into the excellent huts provided free by; the New Zealand taxpayer• via the Forest Service. It is enough to make a: long-time trampers mouth i water — foam-rubber mat-j tresses, free gas for cooking, | running water . . . “I suppose a joker's got to sleep in his trousers.” said a leathers' man in his sixties! with a faded, well-travelledi pack, as he surveyed the pre-* dominantly young and mixed group on the first night in! the spacious Brown Hut at I the Collingwood end of the! track. All places had been quickly i taken on New Zealand’s 1 largest bed — a giant mattressed shelf across the entire; width of the building, taking: up to 20 sleeping bags. Xn problem "You don’t have to — I’m I sure the girls won’t mind,”, nonchalantly replied a strapping young tramper from: Australia, who was setting! out on the track with a> huskv girl companion. Other attitudes have! changed. At this eastern end.! 22 miles from Collingwood.; there are two woman rangers — students with the neces-i sarv experience. New Zealand-wide publicity on the reading controversy has made the Heaphy : Track enormously popular. But it is not an easy Sun-, day family stroll. It is a ’ three, four, or five-day’ tramp, over fairly rugged country t — depending on weather, fit-! ness. and how fast one wants! to walk. Haste can mean missing much of the beauty.: Families can and do enjoy'* the tramp, but they’ should: be prepared by carrying! adequate food, equipment, and suitable clothing and footwear. Young children can be a handicap, particularly in bad weather. Sturdy boots are a must to cope with swamps,! quickly-rising streams, i swamps, and mud. Snow fell at the PerrySaddle on Christmas Day. ; and a marquee was blown down and its poles snapped. Weather can change dramatically from sunshine to torrential rain. 1 The Forest Service has] already spent thousands off dollars catering for trampers; — between 3500 and 4000 i people last year. . [ Strong metal suspension; bridges span most rivers and: streams. There are five rela- 1

| lively new huts, two of which I are equipped with gas for ' cooking, as well as two older huts and several shelters. At the Heaphy’. Mackay, and Perry Saddle huts, tents provide for the overflow. (Rangers keep a count of trampers, and communicate {by two-way radio. i Supplying the rangers with (food is taken care of by airIdrops. “I just clear the area I of trampers and whoosh, the {pilot drops me meat — I frozen chops, sausages, steak, something like that,” says the Perry Saddle ranger. “He 'is usually’ spot on — the • parcel would go clean ■ through the roof of the hut •if he was astray.” I First is first It is a first-come first-j 'served rule for sleeping bag! (space, but all huts have a; notice saying that they are ifor over-night stops only. > Any self-consciousness (about bedding down in al I bunkroom of strangers soon disappears. It is a dawn-to-| dark experience, walking the{ ; Heaphy. By the time night; I falls, most trampers are fast! iasleep from walking all day.! Popularity brings problems. Mud — thick, cloying, and I porridge — follows heavy! {rain, particularly between] •the Perry Saddle Hut, at 2840 ft. and the MacKay’ Hutj and bey’ond. Two of our party' of five] squelched and slithered theiri way through mud ponds,: knee-deep in places, wearing: only road-running shoes.! Once a shoe was suckedj right off, and recovered from; the mud with difficulty. To the north-east of the] •Mac Kay Hut. the track has! (been built up and widened,! for a short distance. : "It’s hardly like a bush, track at all,” said a hard :Otago tramping couple. *Tt is; ’ more like a two-lane high;way in the bush.” The challenge Here lies a challenge: the (charm of the heaphy is the (unspoiled beauty of bush, uplands. rivers, and coastline •still virtually untouched by • man. There are no ugly, scar-; ring roads or roar of traffic! i — yet. But with hundreds of j trampers flocking into the area, the track, formed last century, becomes a quagmire jin parts. In places, it becomes merely a stream bed ’and is scoured deeper and deeper. But in other places, it is as good as a riverside pathway in Hagley Park. On thelovely 10-mile coastal section,, between the Kohaihai River and the Heaphy’ River, is a! : track-making machine. There t is evidence of widening, smoothing, digging, and rock-i blasting to make the track; wider and easier to negotiate. One can only hope that in; its efforts to improve the; ‘route, the Forest Service is’ sensitive to the environment: las well as to the needs of! • trampers. But the same trampers: ishould be more sensitive to; ;the environment, themselves.; All along the way, beside! ‘ clear-flowing streams, amid: ferns; - virgin bush and nikau;

palms, lies the revolting pollution of litter — carelessly thrown aside by’ the continuous stream of trampers. How consistent are people who in one breath condemn reading proposals which would destroy- the unique environment, yet think nothing of throwing down empty beer cans, packets, plastic wrapping, sticking plaster, cigarette packets and. worst of all, aluminium foil that will stay in the bush for all time? And huts, provided so thoughtfully by a beneficient Government, are often left filthy by trampers. At the Karamea end of the • track was Mr Colin Fussell, • of Christchurch, the secretary of the Organisation to Preserve the Heaphy Track. • He was seeking opinions from trampers on roading proposals, which, he said, would mean losing 14 miles of the track, including the delightful coastal section, without which the track would lose much of its quality. Trampers opposed Trampers from all over New Zealand were 100 per cent opposed to a road going through, he said. According to Mr Fussell, the proposed road linking Karamea and Collingwood is not a dead issue. He say’s pressure for a road north • from the western end of the track is coming mainly from; powerful timber companies. • One of these is Baigent and Sons, Ltd. of Nelson, which is clear-felling native bush in north-west Nelson. Mr Fussell says that estimates for a road link today run as high as s2sm. Apart from the short-term benefit to timber interests, con-1

cerned only with logging stands of fast-diminishing native bush, there seems little to commend such expenditure, especially at this time. Mr Fussell and others who want to preserve the track argue that at each end of the proposed road there is a dairy factory, cement works, and sawmilling industry. Inter-regional trade is seen as most unlikely, and so is industrial development, as results of the road. Only the motorist j Only the motorised tourist, (with time to spare in “doing” the West Coast, would benefit with a choice of driving through the Buller Gorge or making a round trip over a Heaphv highway. A few motel owners and developers would stand to gain, and along what now the Heaphy- Track’s coastal section would spring up petrol stations and tea-rooms, complete with milkshake machines, ice-creams, and hot pies. Mr Fussell talks of a helicopter-supported roading survey team already having been through the area, and warns against a fait accompli through apathy. It has been proved that thousands of New Zealander# enjoy walking the track, a highlight of which is the wild sub-tropical section along the western coastline. Manv thousands of dollars: are being spent maintaining the track and catering for the; growing number who travel; long distances for what it: offers. The case for preserving the Heaphv Track, in terms of the priceless environmental and recreational values it represents, is overwhelming.