Urchin Track Misadventure

Well I've been living in Tauranga six months now, and I haven't been able to convince my vet buddy Steve to make the drive from Hawera to visit me up here.  It's been ages since I saw him (ie six months), so I had to configure a crafty plan to get to see him.   So I found a weekend we were both free, and found a 2 day tramp that was just about halfway between Tauranga and Hawera.  He couldn't think of an excuse to get out of it, so a-tramping-we-will-go!

The tramp was actually two tracks, the Urchin Track and the Umukarikari Track, which both lead to the Waipakihi Hut.   We took two cars and parked one at the start of each track so we could cut out the 6km walk along the road between the trailheads.   

Saturday morning we started on the Urchin Track, as my (shitty) guidebook said this one was the tougher track.  18.5 km to the hut.  My book said 6-8 hrs, the signs said 7.5-9 hours.

The first words in my guidebook were this-

"The Urchin Track is unforgiving."

You bet your butt it was!  The first 1.5 hours were ALL UPHILL.  I think we gained about 700 meters of elevation, straight up.  

But it was worth it!  At the Urchin Trig, we got views of Mount Ngauruhoe (right) and Ruapehu (left, unfortunately obstructed by clouds).

Peak Bagged-  Urchin Summit- 1391 meters.  Yay!

We had our morning tea break at the top.   We look so cool, calm, and collected, eh?

The next part of the walk was fantastic--- a windy, rocky trail right along the top of the ridge.  And mostly flat, to boot.

Our next challenge was the descent to the Waipakihi River.  

It was a toughie, and quite technical in parts.  Took us almost an hour to get down.  The whole time I thought to myself, "Wow, I'm glad we're doing a loop track so we're only going DOWN this part... I couldn't even IMAGINE climbing UP this-- you'd have to use your hands, arms and feet (plus have your pack on!)"

Here she is... our BFF, the Waipakihi River.

Book said it'd take us 2-3 hours to get to here (correct).    It was before noon when we got here.  Another 4-5 hours to the hut (and these signs are always generous).  Sure, we could do that.  Dinner definitely being cooked by 5pm at the latest.

So, this wasn't the most popular of tramps.  We saw NO one the first day (and only 3 on the second day).   The track description said that the track along the river was undefined--- no track, no poles, no markers.  Just follow the river, and cross the river when you need to, and in 10 km, you'll be at the hut.  Sounds easy enough, right?

Here's the river.   In the beginning, at least one side had some nice stones to walk alongside the river.

We walked another hour and a half and took our lunch break.

Here's Steve, relaxing, and forgetting about the world (and the rest of the tramp ahead!) for a moment :)

Here I am, pondering what lies ahead (and just how many times we're gonna have to cross that river!)

So mid afternoon, things started to get more technical.  The tussock got higher...

The bushes got WAY scratchier....

 The river got deeper (but still beautiful bluegreen!)

We were finding ourselves in the river a LOT more frequently.  At many times, there wasn't even a walkable option on either side of the river.  So we spent a good deal of our time actually just walking in the river.

The rocks were slippery in some places, and we had some near slips, but fortunately both of us stayed fall-free.

However, it started to get a little dark.

And we had no sign of the hut yet.   Clock was at 4:45, and Steve had a serious chat with me.  We came to the conclusion that it was getting late, the river crossings were getting harder, and perhaps we made a wrong turn at one of the river forks.  If we didn't reach the hut soon, we should turn around and start walking back---because the farther we went meant the farther we were going to have to walk back if we still couldn't find the hut.   My heart sank, I got a little scared, but I totally agreed.   30 minutes was our time limit.

5:15 came, no hut.

We turned around and started walking back.  SO many emotions!   Confusion (where did we go wrong? a wrong turn?), dwindling hope (but what if the hut was just another 5 minutes around the bend?), fatigue (we had been already walking for 8 hours), hunger (nothing new--- I'm just about *always* hungry), fear (if I slip in this river and sprain my ankle or break a bone we have no cell phone reception so I'm SCREWED!), apprehension (OMG we don't have a hut to sleep in tonight!).    I did my best to keep these emotions at bay as emotions consume energy.  After a few near mishap slips in the river and some more ouchy scrapes I had a mini-breakdown--- mini meaning only 4-5 tears and all cured by one Steve hug.  And a granola bar :)

Whew!   So we walked back the way we came towards the track start for another 2.5 hrs.  By 7:30 it was getting dark so we decided to set up camp.  Since we didn't have a tent, all that meant was rolling out our sleeping bags, taking off our soggy boots and socks, and getting some water boiling for our dehydrated dinners!

 Here we are, spending the night "in the bush"....

One of the crappiest nights of sleep in my life.  Heaps of tossing/turning, feet cold at the start of the night.  Only a few raindrops, easily avoided by sleeping bag over the head.

We survived a night in the bush!  YAY! 

 I was slightly groggy in the AM, but nothing a cup of coffee and bowl of muslei couldn't solve...

Here's a good picture of the high tussock we slept in.

Two of the coolest things about the night were 1- SOOOO many stars!  and 2-  I heard my first Kiwi chirp! (quite a distinctive sound, might I add)

And plus, there's nothing too uberly scary in New Zealand animal-wise, so we didn't have to worry about getting eaten by bears/snakes/etc.

But I *did* wake up to find a nice pebble of deer poo on top of my sock.  

 How the @*(# did THAT get THERE?   I'll never know...

2+ hours of walking back along the same river.   Pausing a few times to take in the scenery...

Then remember that descent down to the river I mentioned?  Yeah, that was a b#tch to climb up.  Our legs and bodies were quite sore, but here we are at the top of the ridge again!

A bit over 5 hours of walking on Sunday, and we were back to where we started.  Not our intended destination, but oh well.  We were safe and injury-free and didn't require any helicopter rescuing!

Steve and I debriefed our adventure over a coffee in the nearby town of Turangi.  Somehow my adventures with him always turn into misadventures (ie the broken derailer on my bike on the Queen Charlotte Track, the wearing out of brake pads on the Heaphy Track, and now this can't-find-the-hut-so-sleep-in-the-bush situation).  And surprisingly he's still talking to me, and still my friend!  I owe him big--- for keeping me calm and leading the way back up the river when I was tired and only could focus on putting one foot in front of the other, let alone navigating river crossings!

We decided that our next meetup will be something fun yet calm and relaxing ... involving little chance of risk and misadventure!

Can't thank you enough Steve!  You are awesome.
Until next time...

Motiti Island

My lovely upstairs neighbor Ross invited me up to dinner last Tuesday evening.  I never turn down a free feed, plus Ross is great company, plus he's on the 8th floor with a gorgeous view of the bay, plus he makes a MEAN greek salad!!

   Dinner conversation went as follows:

Ross:   I'm flying out to Motiti tomorrow.  You should pull a sickie and fly out with me and explore the island while I spray the avos.

Linz:  Whoa, really?  wow, cool!   I don't even need to call in sick--- I don't work Wednesdays.

Ross:  Even better!   Be ready at 730 tomorrow morning and we'll be back Thursday morning.

I had to rearrange a few little stuffs I had scheduled on Wednesday, but that was easily done.   After dinner, I packed my bag, and TRIED to sleep (so hard due to the excitement!).   The next morning we headed to the Tauranga airport to board our 4 seater plane, and after the ten minute flight, here we were--- Motiti Island!

 

What's so special about Motiti Island?  Well, it's quite small (4 square miles), pretty close to where I live (less than 15 miles away), and quite deserted (population 28).  It's not a place that many Kiwis get an opportunity to visit, so I had to go see it!

The pictures above and below were taken from the airplane.  Quite flat, which is a contrast to most of New Zealand's volcanic formed islands.

Here was the our landing strip for the plane.

Who needs lights lining the runway when you've got dandelions, eh? :)

My view from my seat in the plane--- cockpit jackpot!

The plane.   There's flights 3-4 times a day, only going if needed.

Here's our baggage claim :)

Just like that, our pilot was off back to the Mainland!  (about a 10 minute flight)

Here's the "airport parking lot".   There's the 28 people that regularly live here, and also people who come out occasionally (like Ross) to tend to their avocado farms or beehives.

Sharing is caring around Motiti, so I wouldn't be surprised if most of these cars were unlocked with the keys under the mat, so they can be used by more than one person.   Ross lets others use his van, and unfortunately when we got to it, it had a flat tire and wouldn't start!  Oh well, at least it wasn't far to walk to his place.

Speaking of which, check in out!  He calls it "The Hub".

Definitely more modern than I was expecting!  Ross is an engineer, and he built this all.    There's no power on the island, so he has solar lights, a gas fridge, a gas stove, and a generator.   He also built a bathroom with fully functioning toilet, sink and gas heated shower.  We definitely weren't roughing it... but I learned fast that this isn't the place to be if you're afraid of spiders.   In my short time on the toilet for a pee, I counted twelve spiders within eyesight.  :)

He built two cabins around two old campers.... so his place can easily sleep 15!

So Ross went off in the morning to his avocado orchard.

Yum.... avos!

The trees need to be sprayed to prevent against mites that do this to the leaves...

The avo orchard has some resident turkeys that aren't really pests at all and pretty much mind their own business...

So, Ross went off to spray, and I went exploring around the island.   Here is the pier, where ships come in, and the barge that periodically brings supplies when needed.

A lot of the coast is rocky, but here was one nice sandy beach I found.

Remember that container ship Rena that got stuck on a reef near me last year and spilled all that oil/containers into the sea?  Well it's not far from here at all (like only 2km away), and some of the oil/debris washed up onto this beach.

(all gone now thankfully)

Here is a pied stilt.  First time for me seeing one of these!

I went exploring around some of the rocky coast as well.  The rocks are bits of volcanic pumice stone, stuck all together.

Here's a view of the pier from a lookout on the coast.   There too is the barge that came in that morning (I missed the big island excitement of the day of it coming in!). 

Ross and I met back at "The Hub" for lunchtime, then he asked me to give him a ride back out to the orchard.   I got to drive him out in this John Deere Gator.  How fun!

Oh, did I mention there are no roads on the island?   No businesses either.   No stores, no shops, no  restaurants, no pubs, no gas stations.... nada.  Apparently a doctor gets flown out every few weeks for a day to handle the locals' medical care.   Ross introduced me to one gentleman (probably in his 70s) that was born on the Island, and probably hasn't been to the mainland in 3 or 4 years!

After I dropped Ross off, he gave me permission to have a go picking some avos.  There were heaps already on the ground!   It was like an adult Easter Egg hunt, and I was the only participant!

I loaded up the Gator with these beauties, and brought them back to The Hub.

I picked all levels of ripeness so they could be used over the next week or so.

Did you know you could store ripened avos in the fridge, and they'll keep an extra 2-3 days?

 

Off for more more costal exploring... this time it was closer to low tide.

I found this little cave on the left...

And found these creepy crawly crabs inside.

Here's Ross slaving over the bbq/stove cooking our pork chops for dinner! yummm...

We rushed through dinner to head out to a lookout point to catch the end of the sunset.   Mount Maunganui on the right, the Kaimai Mountains in the background/on the left.

Some of Ross's friends joined us for company after dinner.  They have some beehives on the island and were working all day collecting honey.  As I was thoroughly entertained by their stories of beekeeping and honey collecting,...

NEK MINNIT  (a Kiwi saying).....

A tree stump next to the stove was profusely smoking--- like glowing orange on the bottom!   Some embers from the fire must've flicked off and caught the stump aglow!   Ross's friend got the hose and it took a good 10-15 minutes of spraying to put that baby out.   No flames, but it was a close call!    If that would've caught fire for real, we would've been doomed!

(As you can imagine, no fire hose/fire station etc etc on an island of 28 people!)

Well after the smokin tree trunk was taken care of, I soon retired to bed.  Slept GREAT in that little camper thing!  The next morning we had breakfast, cleaned up the place, and boarded the little plane again to head back home.

We wanted to see it a little closer, but our pilot was on a tight schedule for time....Here's as close as we got to the Rena container ship (which has now broke in half!)

Just under 10 minutes and we were home back to Mount Sweet Mount.

What an absolutely fantastic impromptu Wednesday adventure!  Thank you Ross for the invite and an amazing day and night on Motiti Island....From now on, whenever I eat an avo, I will think of you!