Kaweka J, Wednesday 21 February 2024
Banner Photo: (L to R) Cherie, Jenny and Keith on the seat at the memorial cairn at Kaweka J (Photo taken by Di)
At 7.15am, five happy trampers met at Park Island and we managed to arrange everyone comfortably into my car. The weather was fairly cool, a pleasant tramping temperature and blue skies – though it was forecast to be cloudy with a chance of rain. Whittle Road was a bit soft in a couple of places; however, the car coped well even though it isn’t a 4WD or all-wheel drive.
When we arrived, there were no other cars in the park and we didn’t see anyone else all day. It was about 10C and almost no wind – perfect! Elly told us of her plan to do a couple of local walks while still nursing her broken arm, and we four set off at about 9am.
No views from Kaweka J due to the low cloud base
Morning tea was a Dominie Biv, glowing with her very fresh new paint, and even the floor looked varnished. The door had been left open with a note saying to leave open until Monday to allow the paint to dry. It was dry (now Wednesday) but we reckoned you’d have been asphyxiated if shut in, the smell was so strong.
The clouds were starting to roll in but we had good views until about 15 minutes before we reached the top. It was pretty chilly along the top and we were walking along in the cloud.
Everyone coped really well with the climb and spirits were high. Photos were taken and we started down at quite a pace, getting back to the biv just after midday for lunch. The sun shone intermittently, and we were sheltered, but it was a bit cool. Back we went, down Trials Spur, a relatively easy tramp back to the car and met Elly back at base at about 2pm.
Still no other cars in the car park! We arrived back at Park Island at about 3.30pm to 23 deg C, a big change from our 10-14C day.
Elly reports on her lower-level recce:
I was not fit enough for Kaweka J and decided to explore the track towards Kaweka Flats. I was particularly interested in the state of the track and what the cyclone had done to the stream you need to follow for 300 metres before climbing up to Kaweka Flats.
Algae – a worrying sign of degradation up-country
Well, the track is in a good shape, if you take care walking over the upper edges of two slips. The track along the stream is no more. If you wish to continue towards Kaweka Flats, you’ll have to rock-hop your way to where the uphill track begins. But nothing too hard. I noticed how low the stream was and how much algae it contained. It was completely green.
After morning tea at the stream, I retraced my steps, had lunch at the car park and walked the Ngahere Loop track, which isn’t really a loop, but a one-way track with a return along the road – still, a very pleasant walk of about one hour. It was only about 40 minutes before the others returned from the tops.
Trampers: Cherie Le Lievre, Keith James, Jenny Burns, Elly Govers and reporter Di Reid
Leave a Reply