Taranaki is the world's greatest volcano. Look at a topographic map of it and you'll see what I'm talking about. It shoots out of the sea, rising up to 2500m (8,000 feet), it's elevation contours making a perfect circle. On a cloudy day I walked to Maketawa Hut, a large hut on the side of the mountain, about 1000m up, and spent the night. The next morning was beautiful, and I got a good look at the mountain. Absolutely massive, and so unbelievably pretty! It rains 7-11 meters per year on Taranaki, as much as it rains in the Milford Sound and much of fiordland. As a result, the lower 1500 meters are incredibly lush and green, full of native birdsong and beauty. And while I'm not sure, I suspect that Taranaki's valleys were carved by the same process as the Darran Mountains around Milford Sound - glacial movement and pressure from the last ice age.
I hiked up Taranaki that day. Having the advantage of waking up on the mountain, I was the first one to the top, and got an hour of solitary breathtaking views of New Plymouth, Ruapehu & Ngaruhoe, and even the Southern Alps - I could see all the way to Arthurs Pass, around 400 kilometers away. Taranaki's summit was covered in a foot of snow, and clouds kept swooping over the top of the mountain, obscuring visibility. After an hour of heaven I began descending. Near the top this was arduous, as the ice and snow was much harder to climb down than climb up. But gradually the temperature warmed and the ice disappeared, giving way to lava rock, then loose sand, then light shrubs, then grasses, then a dense green forest, and I arrived back at Maketawa.
The next morning my knee was pretty sore, and I didn't leave the hut until noon. I walked a pretty tough 8k to a road up Taranaki, and caught several rides over to the town of Levin, where I slept behind some bushes, comfortably close to a razor wire fence.
I woke up before sunrise, as is tradition in these sleeping circumstances, and walked a few kilometers down the road to the start of the Te Araroa section of the Tararuas. I carefully stepped through a herd of cows I had mistakenly angered through my "mooing," and began my walk into the original tramping grounds, the Tararuas!
What I had expected to be relatively easy, rolling-hill type tramping turned out to be one of the most difficult section of trail I've walked in New Zealand. Brutally steep and muddy, I climbed 1,000 unforgiving meters up to the first hut, Waiopehu, where I spent the night alone. Low clouds covered the sky the whole day, so I couldn't see much of the mountains. In the morning light rain fell, and the hut was encased in cloud. Begrudgingly I put on my sweat soaked clothes and trudged off to Te Matawai Hut. It was only 6k away but it took three hours. The Tararuas would be as muddy as Stuart Island if they had any flat bits. Trouble is, you're either going steeply up or steeply down in the tararuas - very very rarely do they flatten out. At Te Matawai I met two hunters, Paul and Jeremy, that told me about a storm system coming in known as a "southerly." Southerlies brew around a southern continent kiwis call "Antarctica." On "Antarctica" there is a central point which the continent rotates around. Kiwis call this point the "South Pole." Winds race and race around Antarctica as it rotates, then fly up towards New Zealand, hitting the Tararuas at speeds of 180 km/hr. The hunters told me that 150km/hr winds would tear down trees, and I bloody well better not be caught out in a southerly because they kill idiots like me.
So I stayed at Te Matawai, enjoying the dinner, beers & wine that Jeremy and Paul shared with me. In the morning, visibility was still next-to-nothing, but southern winds were beginning to kick up and I stayed another day. The helicopter didn't come in to pick up Paul and Jeremy - visibility was too poor, and they kindly offloaded more food onto me.
The next morning at 7:30 the helicopter found a window of moderate visibility, showed up and flew Paul and Jeremy away.
I packed up and took off, and immediately the visibility decreased to 50 meters. I walked and walked and walked, uphill 500m, then I reached the summit and started down the other side. It seems that most trails in the Tararuas follow a ridge - the sides of the mountains are too steep to build a trail. The wind was ripping, unbelievably quick. Faster wind than I've ever experienced. Suffice to say I was fortunate to make it to Dracophyllum hut. Around Dracophyllum hut the trees were cracking and groaning from the wind, and from a distance I heard a few indescribable sounds that were trees crashing. Remembering the hunters, I assumed that the winds were at least 150km/hr wherever those trees were, and probably closer to 140km/hr where I was.
The trees were fantastic - shrouded in hanging moss and swaying like drunk dancers, and I walked through them and the white clouds, seeing 50 meters around me without a clue of what lies further. On and on this majestic forest went, with me clueless as to what I was approaching. After 8 hours of walking a short 12 kilometers I finally reached Nichols hut, freezing and thanking all the dieties that I had a base layer of IO Merino to keep me warm. I hunkered down and spent the night in the hut.
When I woke up there was a centimeter of snow on the ground, and hardly a cloud in the sky. It wasn't much snow, but it was just enough to give the range a beautiful white lustre. I moved out at 10, stretching into my soggy clothes and making my way up to Mt. Crawford, the last mountain I'll climb in New Zealand. I marvel at the beauty of the Tararuas. Yes, the highest peak is a measly 1500 meters, and no, they don't have rocky peaks with impressive sheer faces, but they are still one of the most difficult ranges I've encountered - possibly the most difficult.
From Mt. Crawford I stumbled down to Waitewaewae Hut. Around 4, a man named Craig showed up. His arrival concluded 31 hours without any human contact - the longest I've ever been away from people. Think about that for a second - when was the longest period in your life that you were isolated from anyone else? 31 hours is pretty short, but I'd wager it's longer than most people. I spent the night at YTYY.
From Waitewaewae Hut I walked to Otaki Forks, then walked along the road for several kilometers before catching a ride to Wellington. This was my last tramp in New Zealand. I'm not sure what to think - I've had a fantastic time here, and part of me wishes I didn't shorten my visit to NZ, but the treacherous weather in the Tararuas is foreboding of the worse weather that is soon to follow, and I am ready to be home. I have seen everything (and much more) that I wanted to see - I've walked through Marlborough Sounds, visited Mt. Cook on a beautiful day, I've seen the skies over Lake Tekapo, walked 6 out of 9 "Great Walks," went to all 3 islands, I've seen a kiwi in the wild, spent a few days in Milford Sound, climbed Taranaki. I've met loads of friendly & very interesting people, toured Rotorua, learned about wind, slept on hot water beach, and climbed Mt. Doom.
I hiked up Taranaki that day. Having the advantage of waking up on the mountain, I was the first one to the top, and got an hour of solitary breathtaking views of New Plymouth, Ruapehu & Ngaruhoe, and even the Southern Alps - I could see all the way to Arthurs Pass, around 400 kilometers away. Taranaki's summit was covered in a foot of snow, and clouds kept swooping over the top of the mountain, obscuring visibility. After an hour of heaven I began descending. Near the top this was arduous, as the ice and snow was much harder to climb down than climb up. But gradually the temperature warmed and the ice disappeared, giving way to lava rock, then loose sand, then light shrubs, then grasses, then a dense green forest, and I arrived back at Maketawa.
The next morning my knee was pretty sore, and I didn't leave the hut until noon. I walked a pretty tough 8k to a road up Taranaki, and caught several rides over to the town of Levin, where I slept behind some bushes, comfortably close to a razor wire fence.
I woke up before sunrise, as is tradition in these sleeping circumstances, and walked a few kilometers down the road to the start of the Te Araroa section of the Tararuas. I carefully stepped through a herd of cows I had mistakenly angered through my "mooing," and began my walk into the original tramping grounds, the Tararuas!
What I had expected to be relatively easy, rolling-hill type tramping turned out to be one of the most difficult section of trail I've walked in New Zealand. Brutally steep and muddy, I climbed 1,000 unforgiving meters up to the first hut, Waiopehu, where I spent the night alone. Low clouds covered the sky the whole day, so I couldn't see much of the mountains. In the morning light rain fell, and the hut was encased in cloud. Begrudgingly I put on my sweat soaked clothes and trudged off to Te Matawai Hut. It was only 6k away but it took three hours. The Tararuas would be as muddy as Stuart Island if they had any flat bits. Trouble is, you're either going steeply up or steeply down in the tararuas - very very rarely do they flatten out. At Te Matawai I met two hunters, Paul and Jeremy, that told me about a storm system coming in known as a "southerly." Southerlies brew around a southern continent kiwis call "Antarctica." On "Antarctica" there is a central point which the continent rotates around. Kiwis call this point the "South Pole." Winds race and race around Antarctica as it rotates, then fly up towards New Zealand, hitting the Tararuas at speeds of 180 km/hr. The hunters told me that 150km/hr winds would tear down trees, and I bloody well better not be caught out in a southerly because they kill idiots like me.
So I stayed at Te Matawai, enjoying the dinner, beers & wine that Jeremy and Paul shared with me. In the morning, visibility was still next-to-nothing, but southern winds were beginning to kick up and I stayed another day. The helicopter didn't come in to pick up Paul and Jeremy - visibility was too poor, and they kindly offloaded more food onto me.
The next morning at 7:30 the helicopter found a window of moderate visibility, showed up and flew Paul and Jeremy away.
I packed up and took off, and immediately the visibility decreased to 50 meters. I walked and walked and walked, uphill 500m, then I reached the summit and started down the other side. It seems that most trails in the Tararuas follow a ridge - the sides of the mountains are too steep to build a trail. The wind was ripping, unbelievably quick. Faster wind than I've ever experienced. Suffice to say I was fortunate to make it to Dracophyllum hut. Around Dracophyllum hut the trees were cracking and groaning from the wind, and from a distance I heard a few indescribable sounds that were trees crashing. Remembering the hunters, I assumed that the winds were at least 150km/hr wherever those trees were, and probably closer to 140km/hr where I was.
The trees were fantastic - shrouded in hanging moss and swaying like drunk dancers, and I walked through them and the white clouds, seeing 50 meters around me without a clue of what lies further. On and on this majestic forest went, with me clueless as to what I was approaching. After 8 hours of walking a short 12 kilometers I finally reached Nichols hut, freezing and thanking all the dieties that I had a base layer of IO Merino to keep me warm. I hunkered down and spent the night in the hut.
When I woke up there was a centimeter of snow on the ground, and hardly a cloud in the sky. It wasn't much snow, but it was just enough to give the range a beautiful white lustre. I moved out at 10, stretching into my soggy clothes and making my way up to Mt. Crawford, the last mountain I'll climb in New Zealand. I marvel at the beauty of the Tararuas. Yes, the highest peak is a measly 1500 meters, and no, they don't have rocky peaks with impressive sheer faces, but they are still one of the most difficult ranges I've encountered - possibly the most difficult.
From Mt. Crawford I stumbled down to Waitewaewae Hut. Around 4, a man named Craig showed up. His arrival concluded 31 hours without any human contact - the longest I've ever been away from people. Think about that for a second - when was the longest period in your life that you were isolated from anyone else? 31 hours is pretty short, but I'd wager it's longer than most people. I spent the night at YTYY.
From Waitewaewae Hut I walked to Otaki Forks, then walked along the road for several kilometers before catching a ride to Wellington. This was my last tramp in New Zealand. I'm not sure what to think - I've had a fantastic time here, and part of me wishes I didn't shorten my visit to NZ, but the treacherous weather in the Tararuas is foreboding of the worse weather that is soon to follow, and I am ready to be home. I have seen everything (and much more) that I wanted to see - I've walked through Marlborough Sounds, visited Mt. Cook on a beautiful day, I've seen the skies over Lake Tekapo, walked 6 out of 9 "Great Walks," went to all 3 islands, I've seen a kiwi in the wild, spent a few days in Milford Sound, climbed Taranaki. I've met loads of friendly & very interesting people, toured Rotorua, learned about wind, slept on hot water beach, and climbed Mt. Doom.