A HOLIDAY TRIP.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20292, 28 December 1927, Page 15

A HOLIDAY TRIP.

LAKE WAKATiPU TO LAKE WANAKA. Written for the Otago Daily Times i By H. W. B. ‘ The thoughts of many lovers of the “ wide open spaces ’ will now turning to the mountains and lakes of )\estein Otago. An account of an enjoyable trip spent in these regions by a party of four Dunedinites. may therefore be timely. In order to get into the mountain regions as soon as possible to connect with the boat up Lake V akatipu our par y decided to forego the undoubted plcasuie of a motor trip through Central in daylight, and left Dunedin late in the evening on which the members of it “ downed tools ” at their respective journey through Otago Central by ui<dit was uneventful, thanks to the unremitting watchfulness of our driver, a : Dunedin taxi proprietor, and we were deposited safely in Queenstown at / : o’clock in the morning. During the night ! wo stopped and boiled the billy, but I nevertheless we enjoyed a good breakfast the next morning, and after obtaining some loaves from the baker, wre boarded the boat which was to take us to Glenorchy. On this occasion the weather was unpropitions for the trip up the lake and greatly to our regret we missed the beautiful glimpses to be obtained in cloarei I weather of Mount and the peaks j at the head of the lake j At Glenorchv we wore met by Mr I Adams, of Mount Earns!aw Station, witn ! his motor lorry, and were quickly taiven j to his homestead, where we were Hospitably entertained. _ Our plan was to proceed up the Rees River to its source, and from there find a route into the Matukituki \ alley, and thence on to Pembroke. Our host was much interested in our project, and very kindly assisted us by himself showing the track up the Pees River and lending ns a packhorse. As our packs weighed between 501 b and 601 b, this was a great hC The Rees Valley for the first few miles is an open tussocky valley, in which the flocks of Earnslaw, judged by their condition, find luxurious feed. The dommatinf' feature in the lower portion of the valley is, of course, Mount Earnslaw, but while we were rewarded with some splendid distant views of'it, with its turretlike peaks; we were, owing to the mistiness that prevailed, not favoured with a near view. About 20 miles up the river we came to the Lennox Falls, named after Lord Lennox, the first tourist to visit them They leap from a height of about 300 ft off the precipitous slopes of Mount Earnslaw, and are well worth a visit. The valley here is over a mile_ wide, out it soon begins to narrow, until the tussocky flats are replaced by bush. Our packhorse, which had nobly performed its duties, was taken by us to the bush, where we turned it loose, leaving it to find its way homo. It was now necessary to carry our packs, and we found it fairly heavy going in the bush, but as night began to fall we arrived, two and a-half days after leaving Dunedin, at a huge overhanging i-oJc known as Shelter Rock, just on the bush line. Though it rained all night, rye were perfectly sheltered in this hanoy camp, and we were able to make an early start for the Snowy Creek Saddle, which we reached after about four hours walking on the track through Koromiko scrub. Snowy Creek Saddle is an ideal spot for a camp, for there is a fair amount of mountain scrub available for firewood, and an ample supply of water can be obtained from patches of melting snow The view in every direction from the Saddle is magnificent. Southwards down the Rees River, Mount Clarke can be seen towering . above the other peaks on the Forbes Range a nd blocking the view further south. Northward, Snowy Creek is visible some 500 ft below, winding its turbulent way westwards through rugged gorges, while on the other side of it Mount Cunningham gradually slopes to its snow-clad summit of 7846 ft. Westwards from our camp, the glacier-covered peaks above the Dart River Valley could bo seen, and we spent many silent moments gazing in this direction and admiring the sun setting behind these magnificent peaks. As we were at an altitude of. some 5000 ft darkness came slowly, and we were able to watch the warm red and pinkish hues at sunset gradually change to a dull white, while the purple shadows from the valley below crept slowly upwards. These inspiring views wo felt, were splendid reward obtainable by those who are fit and able to stand the exertions of making a temporary abode in these regions. From our camp we managed to climb Mount Cunningham which, wo understood, had not previously been climbed, but as it was very misty we were unfortunately unable to reap the benefit of the view from the summit. One particularly noticeable feature was a 5000 ft or 6000 ft precipice from the top of the mountain on the westward side right down to the Dart River. Mount Cunningham is not a difficult climb to a properly equipped party, but it requires some care and knowledge of snow craft in the last 200 ft. On the way up, Mount Edward a symmetrical cone-shaped peak, from which the head waters of the Dart rise, can be clearly distinguished. Another trip from our camp was to the junction of Snowy Creek and the Dart River, whore we found the remains of an' old camp—probably that of Captain Head and party, the conquerors of Mount Aspiring, who, travelling by way of the Cascade Saddle, crossed from the Matukituki Valley into the Upper Dart. The Dart R.vor and Snowy Creek have about the same volume of water where they join, and though they flow very swiftly they can be crossed without difficulty. To reach the junction it is necessary either to clamber down the precipitous northern slopes of the Forbes Range or to climb about 2000 ft up Mount Cunningham, thus avoiding some deep canyons. Though wc took the former route on our way there, wo decided upon the latter route on our return, and |ound the going much easier. The unpleasantness of the descent was accentuated by the numerous plants of “ Wild Spaniards,” which, notwithstanding our best efforts to avoid them, penetrated, with their needle-like points, the tenderest portions of onr anatomy and caused the blood to flow. It will no doubt interest botanists to know that, besides this unpleasant plant, there was a profusion of lilies and other mountain flowers. The next excursion, some five miles distant from our camp, was to the source of Snowy Creek, which originates in the melting snow and ice off the Tyndall Glacier. The grandeur of the scenery greatly impressed us. Huge cliffs towered above on our left over which frequent avalanches tfiundercd, and the Tyndall Glacier itself is a magnificent spectacle. Our study of the maps having shown that the source of Snowy Creek could not ho far distant from that of the Shotover River, we climbed the ridge to the east of the Tyndall Glacier, which is about IOCOft high, and found that it was a narow dividing range between the two streams. From the ton of the ridge, a continuation of which leads to the top of Mount Tyndall, wo could sec tho Shotover Saddle the Matukituki Valley, tho Rob Roy Glacier, Mount Avalanche and, towering above all its neighbours, Otago’s highest peak. Mount Aspiring. Mount Earnslaw could alsq be seen in the south, and it was only in an easterly direction in the Shotover ■-e-don, that tho summits were not snow-clad. With the knowledge which we had now obtained we decided to break camp the following day, rcelimb this ridge, traverse tho snow-fields on top. and clamber down the 6000 odd feet to tho Shotover River. To augment our fond supply and provide a change of diet from the usual bully beef stew and rice, we cooked a kea. This wa.9 not done on the recognised principles of cookery, for, after being skinned, the bird was placed in water in a billy, and left in the fireplace to cook each time a fire was lit. On breaking camp we decided that it must not be wasted, and ns it had been in tho billy three days, it should have been well done. Unfortunately. however, it was not a tender morsel, but mountainous appetites enabled us to dispose of it. Early next morning wc said good-live 1 to our le-antil.d Snowy Jrcek Saddle I ramp, and started on our way for the I Shotover.* The top of the ridge was gained in about three hours’ time, ami, after traversing l 1m- snowfieMs. com-* menced the difficult decent, which wc -hall Idig remember. N’otwith.-landiiig lightened packs, we found it heavy wo; k, for we were on a face with a northern aspect. This prevented u« from obtaining shelter front the sun which heat down for most of the eight hours that wer« oeeuomd in t’-e descent. An the rope won in

use practically all this time, it was a great relief when the river was, reached. The difficult} - of this portion of the trip prevents the route from being made into an ordinary tourist route, but as the desire for seeing more of the wonderful scenery of New Zealand grows, and more money becomes available, a track may be formed across the steep slopes of Mount Tyndall to the Shotover Saddle, thus avoiding the descent to the river. As roads are already formed up both the Rees Valley and the Matukituki Valley for a considerable distance, this route, joining the two lakes, may be quite feasible in the future. The head waters of the Shotover, which are in two branches, join about five miles from their respective sources. Following up the eastern branch, we reached the ridge overlooking the Matukituki Valley at a point about five miles west of Niger Hut, which is about 29'miles from Pembroke, and can be reached by motor car. As we could not descend from here, we travelled westwards along the ridge to the Shotover Saddle, from which an easy descent was made. On reaching the valley we surprised a member of another Dunedin party, who was returning to camp in the cool of the evening. He prepared the way for us, and on reaching the camp next day we were warmly welcomed in spite of our unprepossessing looks, and the recital of our experiences was listened to with great interest. Crossing the Matukituki River the next day we proceeded to Mount Aspiring Station, where our friends, Mr and Mrs Aspinall, royally entertained us. They treated us to a wireless concert, and after being away for 10 days without seeing other people, it was a novel experience to “ listen-in ” to Christchurch, Dunedin, and Melbourne. The final stage of our journey was made easy for us as Mr Aspinall supplied us with horses, and travelled with us to Cattle Flat Station, where we caught the White Star Motor Service bus to Pembroke, and there joined many other holiday makers “beside the lake beneath the trees.”