Easter Weekend in Victoria Forest Park

Hello to those of you at the club who I have not met. This is a short summary of my first trip away with the club. The long Easter weekend started with a swift jaunt from work, spare socks, billy and a toothbrush thrown in the pack and we were off! Sharing our journey down to the south island was a med-fit trip and an easy-med, so WTMC made its presence felt on the ferry over. A smooth and gorgeous sunset crossing started us in good spirits for a trip from Picton to our lovely camp ground in Murchison to avoid the forecast heavy rain.
Bright and early we were off, leaving the other groups we got to Boatmans Road where the track started. Quick dab of deet and we were off up a fairly well cut track making our way up the valley. It may have been forecast for mixed weather over the weekend but Friday was definitely remembered for being a muggy tramp up through that typical goblin forest and made for a pleasant six hours as we got to Kirwans Hut by mid-afternoon. As predicted we didn’t get the hut all to ourselves as we were joined by another tramping group and a couple of wannabe hunters. As the hunters made their way through their two bottles of Southern Comfort we had a tasty spag bol to line the stomach so all in all nobody struggled too much for sleep that night.
Saturday was a day planned for the tops and the weather was looking promising with good panoramas of the nearby peaks greeting us from our bunks. It was new ground for all of us on the trip and what had looked like a good traverse along the tops became more of a bush bash after the tussocky top ran into more of that goblin forest. Quick calculations done over a chocolate break and we decided against spending a possible four hours fighting the undergrowth in favour of heading back to check out Kirwans Hill, the old hut site and the nearby gold mine. Deciding against time on the tops was for sure the better choice as we got settled with a brew in the hut just as a thick shower of hailstones thundered down and reminded us all of the treats the West Coast can have in store. It made for a great second option with some cool relics found and made the information provided in Kirwans Hut all the more useful; definitely places to check out if you’re around that way.
Fuelled by Alistair’s custard Sunday was a fairly relaxed day heading off from Kirwans Hut past the previous days mine site and down into the valleys to Montgomery Hut. The scheduled helicopter drop for some downhill mountain bikers didn’t seem to materialise unsurprisingly due to the heavy cloud cover so we were largely without other company except for a chap known only as Reefton Ross who was doing a similar loop. Plenty of good weather made for some great scenery in that infamous forest with fungi and spiders webs caught in the sunshine adding to its medieval feel. We made good time and got into Montgomery Hut for early afternoon meaning enough time for Sharon to get her fishing rod out and perfect some spinning. There was no luck on catching much more than a stack of sandfly bites however – the downside of staying in a remote river side location – but did mean we could justify getting fires going inside and outside the hut to ward off the pesky sandflies. Last meal of the trip was a club cook book favourite courtesy of Illona with a tramping twist on a veggie shepherd’s pie which went down very well as our socks dried by the log burner.
Final day and spirits were still high, the weather was holding and we had Paul to thank for whatever rain dance he had done through the week so that we kept dry out on the west coast in late March. Splashing and almost wading through puddle after puddle meant no one was leaving with dry feet however and I had enough hook grass on my socks to ruin them ever being used again; gaiters are next on the shopping list! We made good time heading out of the valleys, so much so that there must be a spanner in the works to come. Sure enough a bit of a communication mix up between us meant Chinese whispers encouraged us into a ‘detour’ route off past another mine and down an ever narrowing riverbed. Enough was enough and after a few minutes of clambering over, under and around a million trees and it was agreed to head back out and back onto our planned route. About 45 minutes lost meant it was a chance for us to get a trot on and stride out around swooping traverses on good track passing the hamlet of Blacks Point in the process. Soon enough our mecca of Reefton came into view and to finish off it was some looping double track down to the back water country town to share tales with our med-fit companions and get stuck into some much needed fish and chips.
All in all it was a great trip as my first weekend with the club and a great way to explore a corner of the country which doesn’t get checked out as much as many of the other typical stomping grounds. A big thanks to Paul for organising and leading, to those I shared the Easter weekend with, those who had the patience to teach me 500 and to Illona and Kev for all the driving. Here’s to hopefully many more trips with good weather and great company.