TARARUA STREAMS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 47, 24 February 1945, Page 6

TARARUA STREAMS

LAYOUT TESTED

A WEEKEND TRAMP

(Contributed.)

During a recent weekend (February 10-11) a useful piece of Tararua exploration was carried out in order to test an assertion that the layout of the Makahika and Mangaore head- : waters as shown on official and trampers' maps was incorrect. Several years ago an article appeared in the •'New Zealand. Journal of Science -and Technology" (volume 18, 1936), dealing with the Mangahao hydro-electric area and attempting to describe and explain the origin of the topography of the local hills. and valleys. The statement was made that the series of stream-valleys shown on current maps as the headwaters of the Mangaore (which flows out at Shannon) were in reality connected with the upper course of the .Makahika (a tributary of the Ohau River). More recently, the author of the article referred to repeated his opinion to a prominent member of the Tararua d£?w pi?S Clvb > and suggested that in view of the proposed issue of a new edition of the Land and Survey Department's "Trampers' Map of the Tararua Mountain System," a correction should be. made. As a result of the foregoing a letter was received by G. L. Adkin, of Levin requesting that the matter be investigated. Ultimately, the two Levin trampers who had agreed to undertake the job—G. L. Adkin and Phil. Gardnf 7 rw ci£ ec! uthe welc °me company of J. W. Butcher and Miss V. Hitchmough, members of the Tararua Tramping Club, Wellington. The old sawmill at the terminus of Gladstone Road, nine miles from Levin, was left for°Vf ter 8" 3? ai n -' and a spur taken I?L^ascent of Makahika trig, station. The spur proved a lengthy one and progress was impeded, especially on its upper slopes, by a very extensive area of windfalls caused by the n? e n™Stf 0n? ° + f 1936- Taneled masses of prostrate trees, now in a semidecayed condition and overgrown by lawyer vines, made for slow and painful travelling, and about three hours Scent °ThfV he estim.ated time of ™EL *c Tararua main divide was SSb n*ai? FT" 1 about 30 chains south of Makahika trig., and a very pleasant walk through low, open, undamaged bush on the nearly-level EiSKSE bW ht-i he party to the F^eopen glade with iron pipe, mark--255 M^ kahika triS- Nation" 2160 ft at MANY RIDGES. . Northward from the trig., two leading ridges run out, one north-east lead!3(LJ 0«? t0 the Mangahao River, the a»5 +k maiu dlvide ' trending north and then north-east in a wide sweep to the next bush-clad knob nearly a mile distant; a third ridge-the Maka-hika-Mangaore divide of official maps —runs north-north-west to a high knob on the eastern side of the eleqnmo £ asm-flat known as The Heights. K.^ was spent working out the lie of these ridges before the route via the main divide was resumed. The f« It j now x arrived for the test to be made as to the true layout of the nearby stream systems. The contention was that if the party followed down a westward-flowing stream from ?vS oll\ ell *•? the north of Makahika trig, station, it would be found to do one or other of two things: (1) Lead them back to the Makahika River if lhe_ official maps proved incorrect: (2) !nf,L hem dmn, to the well-known lower course of the Mangaore Stream if the assertion that the Mangaore S lI a, ters were in real»ty those of the Makahika proved to be wrong WORKING DOWNSTREAM. The party then continued the traverse of the main divide for half a mile north of Makahika trig., and dropped into the gully of the second lateral stream flowing west First down a very steep declivity where considerable care was necessary to safely negotiate rocky faces carrying only a very sparse vegetation, and then a defined stream-bed, an hour and a quarters travel brought the party to the terminus of the old bush tramline which crosses the low, broad saddle from the Makahika River. There camp -was made, and next morning me ramble downstream was continued Twenty-five minutes from the camp the junction of the main stream coming in from the north was passed. The going then became excellent and some pleasing vistas of enclosed stream scenery were encountered. Gradually the course of the stream swung round to nearly due north (instead of west or south-west if connection with the Makahika had been its destination), and at 10.15 a.m. the party reached the well-known lower course of the Mangaore Stream, in open country, with the Mangahao pipe-line in the ! distance on their right.' This definitely [Vindicated the accuracy in this instance of official maps—the respective (headwaters of Makahika and Mangaore are correctly shown. The Mangaore was left a Jittle over a mile above the power-house and the homeward journey commenced by a climb to The Heights Basin, a hillenclosed flat of several hundred acres, standing at an elevation of approximately 1000 feet above sea-level and remarkable for the unusually diverse changes in stream-drainage that have taken place within a limited area. The crest of the Arapaepae Ridge was then followed for about four miles, and connection made with a road leading back to the town of Levin.