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Salient: An Organ of Student Opinion At Victoria University College, Wellington, N. Z. Vol. 24, No. 4. 1961

Kaikoura Ho — V.U.W. Tramping Club Trip

Kaikoura Ho

V.U.W. Tramping Club Trip

Dec. 23: Party left Wellington airport at 10.15 p.m., bound for Blenheim. Took taxi to Hodder Bridge—over typical mainland road. Bivouac under stars by bridge.

Dec. 24: Up at dawn and went down into riverbed. Cooked breakfast and competed with sandflies for it. River very scummy. Set off upstream 0800 or so—one hour to shin confluence—only 13 fords so far. In gorge, fords tended to become more frequent—one every 50 yards. West wall more heavily vegetated. Two hours in gorge to shingle flats then back into gorge—map was wrong about start of gorge. Sidled waterfall at 1500ft.—very steep snow grass—must be hellish in winter. Then 10 minutes to lovely camp site. Slept for an hour or so while we dried out. Had tea, then moved into campsite above next gorge. Near-perfect camp established.

Sunday Dec. 25 (Xmas Day): Set out for Tapuaenuku at about 0666. Glorious view from top of first ridge. Slugged up thousands of feet of rock. Slide on to spur and sidled Pinnacle—very long sidle on steep snow—easy to top. Snoozed for couple of hours after highest Xmas dinner in New Zealand. Smooth descent and reached camp about 1900hrs", tired, snow-burnt, and hungry.

Dec. 26: Beautiful day. Just lazed round in ivy-rigged shade and sweltered. Struck camp when in shadow at last and moved upstream. Slept under stars. Good old Dewey.

Dec. 27: The saddle, and Mitre looked fairly easy. Scrambled madly down into Muzzle and lunched in first patch of shade. Man, was it hot? Slight miscalculation led to a slight drop in morale but finally made Clarence confluence—no camp site to speak of—so dossed on dusty flat on North bank. Bad night. And breakfast was even worse.

Dec. 28: Ground off via high track for Bluff. Lunched in musterer's hut. Bloody hot. Just lolled around in stinking heat—finally got into gear and plodded upstream. Confronted by an impassable gorge in sight of objective—up vertical snow grass slope and thundered down other side in dribs and drabs. Wound our weary way to homestead where we were greeted with homebrew and other forms of Southern hospitality. Wonderful people—showed us round homestead, made us sleep in shearers' huts, gave us breakfast, and sent us on our way a healthier mob.

Dec. 29: Quail Flat was the objective. And surprisingly we made it. Three fords of notorious Clarence—fairly easy. Fascinating system of flats—Quail Flat was an old homestead—no one in residence. Kerry discovered goobers somewhere in valley. So we stewed 'em for tea, made bread, and sang songs in delightful old kitchen. Dewey turned it on during day.

Dec. 30: Set sail for out-and-meandered-up rivers in dismal conditions. Easy going, but cold. Lunched in culler's hut. Then few hours up easy track to saddle. Only drawback was Dewey again. It snowed! In mid-summer. Bitterly cold, mist swirled and sleet melted in our clothes. Misery. Great joy at seeing cultivated fields around Kaikoura. Our peak in Darien was a saddle in the Seaward Kaikouras. But what did we care? A final mindless surge down to the road. Bludged tea at homestead, left muddy pools on kitchen floor, and taxied to Kaikoura.

Dec. 31: Meandered up to Blenheim and thence to Picton. Slept in motor camp.

Jan. 1: Bored stiff with people and surroundings in camp so took ferry home with many regrets and remembrances of a very pleasant trip.