Party: Me, Jane, Anne, Anna, Ed, Sophie (WTMC Trip)
16 – 18 November 2018
This was easily the furthest I have ever travelled for a simple weekend tramp. While I had a great crew, I think I’d only go that far for a long weekend in the future.
Friday afternoon we all met at the railway station, jumped in the van and whipped down the road to check in to our ferry. The sailing was smooth and we all enjoyed a good dinner in each others company. Arriving in Picton, it was not yet dark, which was nice, and with a lot of driving ahead of us, we powered off into the night.
We had not made any bookings for camping Friday night, deciding to just find somewhere when we got there. It was decided that St Arnaud was too far from our Saturday morning start points, and all agreed that Kawatiri Junction campsite should be closed down – its impossible to sleep when it sounds like cars and trucks are about to drive straight into your tent all night. All of a sudden, our next option was Marble Hill – and it was already nearly midnight. Eventually, around 1am, we were at Marble Hill and managed to find somewhere to set up our handful of small tents. It wasn’t an official camp site, as those were all full.
Saturday morning dawned full of sandflies and with spits of rain. We all scoffed some breakfast, packed up our tents and packs, topped up our water, and loaded in to the van, ready to drop off the other party we were sharing it with. Then we hit a small snag – one of their party had a dodgy knee, and was suddenly scared of the length of walk that they had planned.
My party was full to my limit I was comfortable leading, and despite not liking to rock the boat, I stood up for myself (this was my first non-families group lead in several years) and said that unfortunately we couldn’t take any more people. Thankfully, Maruia Springs resort was nearby and the quitting camper was happy to pay for themselves to stay there for a night.
After all that, the tramp itself was uneventful. Everyone got along well, the track was well formed for the most part (although it had some interesting unbridged stream crossings) and we made it to Cannibal Gorge Hut in time for a late lunch. Having run into a solid 15 people walking out from there (on a Saturday morning?!) who had said the hut was overflowing on the Friday night, we opted to crash here instead of pushing on to Ada Pass – enabling us to cruise back on Sunday morning and hit up the hot pools at Maruia before our scheduled pick up of the other group.About half of the group grabbed their water bottles and raincoats and continued up the valley to Ada Pass Hut as a daywalk. The rest of us chilled out at the hut with books, tending to the fire, and wandering the small field the hut is situated in. We ended up having the hut entirely to ourselves, after the packed night the night before.
Sunday morning we ventured off early, aiming to beat the rain back to the van. Despite me slowing the group down (my pack was unaccountably heavy considering what was in it), we arrived at the van just as it started drizzling.
A swim and lunch at Maruia Springs was enjoyed by all. We found the other group bang on the time agreed to pick them up and started heading north again.
As a group we all stopped for ice creams and fizz at Murchison, enjoying the warm sunshine on our backs and getting mildly sunburnt. By the time we got to Picton, the temperature at Murchison had dropped to 3 degrees! We arrived in good enough time to allow us all to wander into town and grab dinner makings and snacks, and enjoyed the last of the afternoon sun. The next afternoon, pictures flooded in from a cold snap that had stormed up the country overnight and in the morning – including snow having fallen exactly where the van had been parked for the weekend! Talk about beating the weather!
