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Perambulator Road

It was a glorious day. Picture it; the view from Mount Peel stretching on forever. The long lazy lunch at Lake Peel. A refreshing dip in this beautiful little tarn and the promise of a pleasant stroll down the stream to the Takaka River on a glorious Easter Sunday in North-West Nelson Forest Park. Listen to them: Sweet William Taylor: "There's a new track down the valley. Some woman took a pram down it."

Rodney DaygloPlastics Gilman: "I saw the poles as we came up Balloon Ridge. It'll be easy, dinner at Flora."

I don't know of this track but I'm only a local. I may not have heard - so I cast doubts aside and follow over the moraine and down a cliff of spaniard and Hebe to the valley floor. The upper valley is a pleasant stroll in and out of scrubby beech and marshy clearings, back and forth across the stream in the bright sunshine - but no sign of a track. An hour-and-a-half later the lady with the pram is consigned to the same regions as certain seventy-year-old ladies from the "Bot. Soc." ( - ask Olly for details ), as the stream begins to cut down into a steeply "V"'d valley.

Progress slows to a crawl. Sidle through bush lawyer, wade down the stream, sidle on the other side, cross back and sidle again. And again and again. We split up, and it began to get dark. The valley became increasingly gorgey, and at one bend a massive log came crashing down the rock wall. It was the sidling group and a certain amount of abuse went up to them before we lost contact again. On we splashed, slithered and waded, managing to avoid most of the cold, waist-deep pools. Finally the light began to go as a terrace appeared on the bank, so we decided to camp and downed packs.

And, lo and behold, the sidling gang appeared from downstream to inform us the Takaka River was only a hundred yards' easy travel away, so we packed up again and moved on. After a fruitless search for the track to Flora, (by Janet, who got bluffed,) we found a campsite a short way up the river. It took another three hours to get dinner and hit pit.

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So, if you wish to go down Deep Creek from Peel Lake, don't leave it too late and it will be a nice trip. It took us an hour and a half for the first three miles and three hours for the remaining three miles. I want to go back again.

D.J.W.