Dancing Dam Camp

No idea who was dancin or what moves they were bustin but that’s the name of the DOC Camp spot :) These kauri logs are the left overs of giant dams they built here in the twenties to rip out all the ancient native kauri giants. Turned out to be pretty devastating for the wildlife and the land. But musta “Seemed like a good idea at the time..” of course.

Impressive trigger-linked sets of dams were loaded up with thousands of monster tree trunks and sprung to cause an enormous, gorge-carving torrent of water powerful enough to drive the valuable logs out of the mountains to the valley below. 28,000 of these were carried down in a single drive once, and these are extra ordinarily MASSIVE trees too. I’d be getting *well* out the way if I’d have lived in that valley, for sure!

The Pinnacles is a very popular spot and all accommodation, including campsites, have to be booked in advance. It’s Saturday and the hut is fully booked (we missed our reservation for Friday night..)

Luckily we were overtaken by a Swiss girl this morning, who let it slip that she’d reserved a camp spot here tonight, but was ahead of schedule and wouldn’t be needed it. Well not wanting it to go to waste, Nicky brushed up on her Swiss accent and we moved right in :)

Sat 11th Dec
Permalink
0 comments
50

Path up to the Pinnacles

Sun 12th Dec
Permalink
 
0 comments
51

Are you sure this is the right way Cookie?

Hah! For a moment there I thought you meant I had to…
Hang on, you what?

Sun 12th Dec
Permalink
   
0 comments
51

Nicky Climbing the Iron Staples

As we know, I am little endowed with natural climbing talent. So this presented a possible challenge shall we say! But much to my delight, not only were there steps cut for most of the ascent but they’d stuck bars in most of the tricky bits. Thank god! Great for me, but probably a dull climb for climbing fans. But the views were *unbelievable!!* Well worth it.

I’ve come across these before, not sure what they’re actually called, I’ve always known them as ‘staples’ for obvious reasons. There’s quite a few well placed ones round here to help us up the mountain.

The route up:

Sun 12th Dec
Permalink
  
1 comment
51

Nicky & Cookie on the Top of Pinnacles

AMAZING views. Felt like we were either in the Andies or Lord of the Rings ( my obvious metaphor for epic landscapes ). But it’s true. Bloody awesome. So glad I came up. Made the arduous journey there seem totally worth the pain. ( Most people come up the easy track from the south to the hut - we’ll be heading out that way I reckon! )

Sun 12th Dec
Permalink
   
0 comments
51

View from the Top

Without doubt the 360 degree panorama from the top is the best views we’ve had in New Zealand so far. Fun climb up too, glad that I did it twice! (I came up yesterday without Nicky) The East Ridge looks pretty impressive, no route this way though!

Sun 12th Dec
Permalink
  
1 comment
51

Interesting rock round here

We were told by an information point on the way down that this whole area was very volcanic about 8 million years ago. The top of the Pinnacles is actually a hard plug of rock that solidified inside of a volcano, the volcanic peak has now eroded away leaving the plug exposed.

There’s also a strange mountain across the valley called Table Mountain, which has a similar history, but it was a lava lake that solidified forming it’s strange flat-topped-ness.

This last little pointy bit is the summit proper, a bit precarious getting up here, but rewarded with the view eastward.

Sun 12th Dec
Permalink
    
0 comments
51

Looking back down

We spent a good hour on top taking it all in. Time now to head down, we go back the same way we came up, straight down the ridge behind Nicky in this photo!

Sun 12th Dec
Permalink
  
4 comments
51

Webb Creek then Hitching with a Hiker to Thames

Knowing there was a loooong and dodgy road walk of indeterminable length ahead of us ( we’ve gone a bit off-piste map-wise ) on the way to Thames we decided not to die in the heat en route, and hitch a ride ;)

An amazing bit of luck, but a hiker ( who had literally sprinted past us along the rough *path* two days earlier ) spotted us and asked if we needed a lift. Yey! He was clearly a seasoned professional hiker, with calfs like kauri trunks. Proper hardcore. Cookie noted his ‘all wool attire’. None of this modern poly-fibres malarky ( that I’m dressed head to toe in ) ;) He has clearly seen some miles in his time.

Thames, by the way, has a big wiggling river running through it, called, you guessed it … no, not Thames. But you’d have thought it would be eh with that name!

Plan A was to stay up high and follow the ridge southwards over Hihi, Motutapere, then the highest peak in the region, Kaitarakihi. I couldn’t find out a whole lot of info about the track condition, other than the NZ Navy use the route as training for their sailors.. So based on our half a mile an hour progress the other day, we decided to give that one a miss.

Plan B was head down the valley then cut across just south of the mountain Kaitarakihi and onwards to Puriri, thus avoiding the ridge altogether. I’d read accounts of this route that made it sound more difficult the track we’d done the other day. Which Nicky said she didn’t want to repeat anytime soon, so we had to think of another plan..

Plan C was to hitch down the valley and get a beer! This decision was made a lot easier by a kind offer of a lift before we could even get our thumbs out. Thames here we come.

Sun 12th Dec
Permalink
 
0 comments
51

Salad days at The Junction Hotel, Thames

Dehydrated pasta, noodles and porridge play havoc with belly and the brain if you go for days without proper nutrients. So aside from boshing Berocca as much as we can on trail, getting into town is a chance to nail a few vital vitamins! I believe Cookie’s thoughts are that it’s probably sacrelidge to miss any opportunity for steak and chips, but I think just sometimes you’ve gotta make space for a few leaves ;)

This is us chillin on the roof of our pub/hotel. Bloggin, boozin, and botherin the landlord Oz. He was busy up there smoking a Snapper on the barbie with some Manuka wood chips. Smelt pretty tasty… Manuka are the fragrant trees the expensive honey making bees hang out in, in the bush. Also first called the Tea Tree, by Captain Cook himself.

This is what happens when you take a girl hiking.. salad on your rest days! When me and Paul walked across America, our rule was to find & eat the biggest steak in town. Ah the good old days eh ;)

Mon 13th Dec
Permalink
     
0 comments
52