SEVEN DAYS’ HARD

Southland Times, Issue 19772, 21 February 1923, Page 7

SEVEN DAYS’ HARD

ON THE ELECTRIC RIVER. A HOLIDAY VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. (By G.J.) II On Monday morning we awoke to find it still raining, and the river about a foot above normal. Looking at the rain from a 6 x 8 tent is not very exhilarating, so. donning our wet garments, we struck and moved down river with the intention of l pitching opposite the big branch valley. Fortune smiled and the rain gradually ceased. We pitched in a fine level patch opposite the valley; good wood being in abundance, but bedding was scarce. The mountain north of this camp is very high, and is a striking object from Lake Monowai; it must be over 5000 feet high. Those looking up the valley naturally thought it was the end, but it is only the point dividing the main valley from the main lateral valley. We started for a preliminary survey. Having to cross the main stream first we had to look for a convenient tree bridge, the river being rather high to ford. This was duly found, and after some minutes of simian-like activity we arrived on the further bank not very wet. The valley rose abruptly, and we did not strike the main deer track at first, but finally getting on the level above the high step we found the going very fine. A Sabbath-like calm prevailed, the straight grey lichen and moss covered boles of the beeches went upwards without a break like pillars in a cathedral, a dim light prevailed, and a plush-like carpet of filmy fem covered the floor of the forest. The deep diapason of the falls in the distance, echoing through the aisles, completed the wonderful churchlike effect. But alas for my poetical fancies! A sudden plunge into an icy stream brought me gasping to earth, and I am afraid I said some unpoetical things about the deer which led me into the trap. Undergrowth was almost absent, in this part of the forest, and I have never seen such a wealth of filmy ferns—acres and acres of them. Even the rocks were completely covered with their soft green fronds. Yet to grow these ferns n a greenhouse it requires double covered rfass cases and more care than would be.

lavished on a baby. We went on to the mouth of valley No. 2 down which we had a view. It joined this valley almost at right angles. We then returned to camp determined to do the main lateral valley on the morrow*.

i On Tuesday we left at 7.15, and after traversing the ground of the previous day ■ found the valley took a sudden trend to the westward. We lunched at a little Island I in a bog and two keas enlivened the proI ceedings. These fine birds are very curious. i After having a bit of fun with them—they I sat within a few feet of us—we tried to drive them away as we feared for our billies and food. We poked them off the tree with sticks, but they refused to go, so in desperation we took our dunnage with us and planted it in the bush. Another high step in the valley about 400 feet with some fine falls and we were again on a moderate slope. Pressing on to the head we came across a very fair area of good sheep country. At the head the valley turned right round to the east. We climbed to the west to a height of 3380 above the lake level and were delighted to see to the east our old friends Cleughearn and Rocky Top, on the other side of Lake Monowai. The angle was duly registered with the compass, and it was noted that the range turned here sharply towards Lake Monowai. The sight of Cleughearn and Rocky Top definitely i established our position some nine miles in l airline. It enabled us to define with a fair I degree of accuracy the watershed of the Electric River. We saw a large river tending to the north-east, which may be the branch of the Hauroko Burn or perhaps a feeder of the Grebe. We looked over the Grebe Valley, a valley we had explored previously. Our task over, we descended and made our way back to camp, passing on the way down a delightful rock garden cov- . ered with various alpine flowers. ■ Next morning we broke camp early, and taking care to keep on the deer tracks, were soon at. a considerable elevation. When approaching the mouth of the river the deer went down a steep face and crossed. The crossing was too risky with swags up, so we hunted down river for a suitable place. We came on a place where a great log jam had forced the river over to one side just above a thirty-foot fall, the narrowest place being where the water took the leap. Half an hour’s work saw a rough bridge built with a handrail to firiish it off. Three anxious strides and we were over. We followed the deer track up and up till we thought they must have gone to the top, and fearing we might miss our destination w*e tried to drop down to the river. Drop it wa?, for we were on an almost vertical clay face, the scene of a great slip. A few trees and some fern provide a means of getting down—there was no going back — and after doing a few trapeze stunts and a glissade down a ferny face we were safely in the river. A crossing was found after a bit of hunting, and we again got on the deer track, soon after arriving at the Lake about 2 o’clock. As there was a bit of a jobble on the lake we postponed our departure till evening, and arrived at the Lake Control dam about midnight. Pulling on the lake in the dark is rather weird, the boat not seeming to move. Yet though it was so dark we were able to discern the flat at the. Lake Control about an hour before we got there, apd thinking we were nearly home went cautiously for fear of snags. Our caution evaporated after a while and finally we slid into the Monowai river so neatly that the first intimation of our arrival at this outpost of civilisation was the roar of the water through the gap in the dam. THE TOPOGRAPHY.

This valley is quite unlike anything I :ve been up so far. From the month to he head of the valley is approximately six and a-half miles, running roughly east and west. A little over two miles from the mouth a large valley, as big as the main valley, comes in approximately north and south, and then after two miles bends round to the north-east for about four miles, the top-end being east and west. Into this last valley another valley comes joining at the bend running about north-east and between two and three miles long. Proceeding up the main valley for another two miles another lateral valley comes in about N.E. and S.AA . This is a little over a mile long, and has a lake just at the beginning and three more in the head. A peculiar feature of these lateral valleys is that at the junction with the main valley they have a steep step, and then some little distance oack yet another step. These steps could scarcely be caused by glacial action, as there are no branch valleys opposite the steps. In all the valleys there are large areas of sphagnum bog and the bush does not extend across the bottom as it does in most places of a similar nature. The watershed is bounded on the south-west by the mountains between the Electric River and Lake HaUroto, as shown on the survey map, to a point about a mile north of the mouth of the Hauroko Burn. At the Hauroko Burn the range turns sharply to the north, and then tends to the N.E., till it reaches the Grebe watershed at. a point some nine miles distant from Cleughearn. which is at a bearing of 96 deg. magnetic. From here it runs in an easterly and then southerly direction back to the main valley. The hills alongside Monowai are north and south, and the river cuts across them in a deep gorge. Looking up from the lake a very fine mountain is seen—it must be over* 5000 feet. It is at the intersection of the main valley and first lateral at the point where the stream divides. The watershed outlined above allpwing for some water which in all probability goes to the Grebe i.s about thirty square miles in extent. This enlarges to a great extent the Monowai watershed. Even with the extended watershed it does not seem likely that the off-flow will average more than the 450 cusecs expected. Tn this connection it will not be out of place to draw attention to an article in Discovery,

on hydro energy. It is stated there that a company in Britain making aluminium is using the water from a watershed of 55 square miles (about the same as Monowai proper). The rainfall is 70 inches and the head 920 feet. They are generating 30,000 e.h.p. and being up to the capacity of the watershed, are looking for more water. In view of the fact that the head at Monowai is about 150 feet it would seem that the first estimates of the capacity of the watershed were too optimistic. There are fine possibilities of high level water storage in the Electric River in the various lakes, and perhaps in the future advantage will be taken of this storage. THE GEOLOGY. The rocks are crystalline and typical hand specimens to the ordinary observer are almost the same as those to be found at the Bluff. The same variations in colour and size of crystals are observable, and there is little doubt of a close relationship. Blocks of Pegmatite were fairly common in the creek beds and some was .seen in situ. A well defined strike of schist running north and south, dipping at a high angle was observed besides other schist os rocks. The indications point to Lake Monowai and the Grebe valley being on a fault and the deep gorge at the lower end of the Electric River may be the result of a rise in the land.

An examination of the rocks on the Cleughearn side a few days after the party’s return disclosed the presence of a crystalline schist with fair-sized crystals of olivine. This rock seems to be older than that on the other side of the lake. It is therefore fairly certain that the rock formations are as shown on Professor Park’s map. THE DEER Have done a great work on behalf of the explorer. Their tracks abound in all directions. At finding the best grade they arc probably as good as a bushman. They avoid steep bluffs if they can, and to this end the river is crossed wherever necessary. We found this latter characteristic somewhat trying at times. On one occasion it. entailed the building of a bridge, our powers of leaping from rock to rock not equalling those of the four-footed engineers. In bad country the deer stick to one track, which is well defined, but in places where the feed is good, and in fern, they scatter, and the track is difficult to follow*. You cannot do better in deer country than to follow the deepest track. We found the Panax or gum tree pretty well eaten out, the dead wood was common. It made excellent firing. The Celery pine which is abundant has also been largely killed by barking. This tree possesses aromatic qualities which are attractive to the deer. They do not eat it, blit rub themselves against the trunks, barking them for two or three feet. The common bicolour fern was also eaten. This, however, comes away again.

Deer wallows and playgrounds—little clear patches in the forests—were fairly common. I believe this is a good sign for deerstalkers. The animals go up every valley right on to and along the tops. High country is apparently no bar to them, and they go down into the valleys at the head of the Hauroko. The herds must be in large numbers, I noticed that the footmarks on this side of the Monowai Lake were smaller than those on the Cleughearn side. This may be accounted for by the fact that the sexes keep apart except in the roaring season.

THE BUSH Consists principally of the common Beech Fagus Menziesii, a fair amount of F. Solandri, and in the higher parts Cliffortioides. A few Totaras with an occasional specimen of trees found in the low country forest make up the balance. There was a great display of the red mistletoe and a shrub called Archeria (which latter ranged in colour from pink to deep red) relieving the rather sombre green of the forest. Tree moss was comparatively scarce. There was nothing approaching the display of moss seen between Manapouri and the Sounds. This goes to prove a climate considerably drier than that of the West Coast. Filmy fems, as mentioned previously, in some places covered a large extent of country. [ One of the most noticeable features of the high beech bush is the gnarled old specimens one finds on the snow line. Exposed to frost and snow, howling tempests, and saline winds, it survives in spite of them all. These trees are worthy of a trial in our streets. They grow rapidly (20 feet in ten years is recorded in Southland) are evergreen and shapely. The plants exist in large numbers quite handy, and can be got for next door to nothing. On the way down the lake we noticed some nice little patches of mixed bush growing on fans at the edge of the lake.

(To be Continued.)