EIGHT GET WET

(AKA: TOTARA FLATS THAT WASN’T)

Powell Hut, Tararua Forest ParkDate: 27 February – 1 March 2009
People: Amelia (Leader), Joel, Lilian, Anna, Victoria, Mark, Barbara, Deborah.

Friday night at the railway station there were some concerned faces (in the other group at least) during discussion of the weather report for the weekend – wet, windy and generally not very nice. Being hardy souls, we all decided that the weather report had changed so many times in the last 8 hours that it was pretty much irrelevant, so we piled into the GUTLESS WONDER (aka the diesel, automatic, rental van) and headed off to the Wairarapa.

Arriving in Carterton at a respectable 7pm (having left Wellington ON TIME for once), an announcement was made that good kebabs were here, fish n chips down the road, each to their own, see you in about half an hour… Half an hour later we had barely managed to all order at Istanbul, and by the time we had all eaten and were looking at heading off, it was nearly 8. Sent Victoria and Mark off to find Joel who was watching the cricket at the pub and got back on the road.

But it was OK, since it was only a short drive on to the road end, and after running in to the caretaker who informed us that it actually costs money to sleep at the Holdsworth road end, some people headed off to Donnelly flat and others camped out in the shelter at the road end anyway, deciding that staying dry in the morning was more important. It wasn’t a bad choice, as it started raining at about 6.15am and it was lovely to continue lying in bed, listening to the rain, knowing that there were flush toilets just there, and we didn’t have to get wet getting organized to go.

Pulling out the map as we worked through breakfast, a discussion was held on likely issues on our intended route – including unbridged streams and the fact that if the weather cleared (which was looking more unlikely) there wasn’t anything to go look at from Totara Flats. So we decided to head up the hill to Powell for the night instead, hoping for the weather to clear to allow us a short stroll up to the trig. Talking to another group at the lodge, we found that it was probably the right decision, as one of their group had gone in to Totara Flats in bad weather and been stuck at the hut because of uncrossable streams in the past.

So up the hill we trudged, into ever worsening weather. The wind was blowing DIRECTLY in the door of Mountain House, meaning it really provided no shelter at all. So, we had a really quick stop for food and water and got moving again. Up towards Powell it got challenging at times with the wind trying to blow us all off the hill, and the clouds making sure we couldn’t see where we would fall if we did. Eventually the hut appeared in front of us, lashed by rain and the verandah offering no shelter for taking off wet gear, so all the wet gear went inside instead, where it dripped into huge puddles in the doorway.

Thankfully the old gas heater that had been broken on my last overnight visit to Powell had been replaced by a coal fire and plenty of coal to burn, so once we were all in dry clothes, it was time to get the fire lit and a billy of water on for hot drinks to go with lunch. We were all still vaguely hopeful that the weather would improve – mainly so we didn’t have to go down to the toilets in wet gear and nasty weather – but it steadfastly refused to get any better, so we were confined to the hut all afternoon. Naps and reading ensued before dinner at a reasonable time and dessert as the light faded. At some stage a report came in that the door had half come off one toilet, meaning there was only ONE toilet available - which caused a couple of short queues during the evening of people waiting inside for the person ahead to come back. Everyone wandered off to bed, only to be woken at about 2am by a member of another party loudly complaining about the members of a third playing with the fire and quietly talking. None of us had heard any of the noise though, so we don’t know what she was going on about!

Sunday morning was a lazy affair for everyone in the hut. The larger other group had originally planned to head over to Jumbo, but the weather had changed that plan on Saturday, when the plan had been changed to East Holdsworth if the weather cleared, which it didn’t. The couple who had still (apparently) been up at 2am had consumed rather a large amount of wine, and were still only just stirring from their bunks at about 8.30. We had a relaxed breakfast, pack up and clean up and headed out of the hut about 9.30am. With only about three hours walking ahead, followed by lunch in Carterton, we were in no hurry. Most of us had put back on at least some wet gear from Saturday before leaving, so the cold wind and slow pace down hill was a tad miserable. Once we got to Mountain House (out of the wind and into improving weather) we all went at our own pace, stopping a couple of times along the way to make sure everyone was still there. The further down the hill we got the warmer it was, and the less clothes people coming in the opposite direction were wearing. We started to feel a bit silly and overdressed!

Back to the van, changed into dry clothes and off to Carterton for yummy lunch and a beer at the White Swan, collecting an extra from the other group along the way, follwed by a stop at Schoc chocolates before leaving town and we were back in what was actually quite a sunny, warm Wellington (well, comparably) early enough to get the van back to the rental company before it closed!