The mission was to install the new dunny at Maungahuka. And Gerard was excited! He’d been waiting for a “window” of fine weather and at last he had it! He rang Roger excitedly:
Gerard:The weather’s looking good. Real settled. There are four suns!
Roger: Four what?
Gerard: Four suns! On TV there was a sun for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Hasn’t been like that for weeks.
Roger: Do you always plan your trips this way?
Gerard: It’s never failed me.
Roger: Where is Struan this Christmas?
Gerard: Kaimanawas, I think. Fishing.
Roger: And Harry?
Gerard: South Island.
Roger: Sounds safe. Let’s do it!
Early Boxing Day morning we arrived at Duncan Sutherland’s place in Carterton, loaded our gear into the chopper, donned our flying goggles and ear muffs, and in 8 minutes we were at Maungahuka! Now, this sure beats tramping!
The new dunny had already been flown in and Duncan had chosen the spot following consultation with DOC. The new building weighed about 500 kg so we lifted it by the chopper onto skids beside the spot for the new hole. Then Duncan left us.
We had a short discussion on the bog’s location. A hundred metres north-west of the hut, no longer draining into the tarn but we couldn’t imagine anyone venturing this far in a storm in the middle of the night. However, there was no way we could shift the thing so we just started digging.
Roger dug the first half because he reckoned he was slightly shorter than Gerard! By 4.30 pm, six hours after arriving, the hole was 1.5 metres deep with Gerard having been digging headfirst down the hole and 9-year-old Rory holding onto his ankles. His instructions were to run and get Roger (who was probably asleep in the hut) if Gerard fell in!
Next the bearers were placed fore and aft of the hole and the structure lowered and pushed and pulled into position over the hole, giving a two-metre fall from the bottom on the seat to the bottom of the hole!
At this stage, Gerard asked a hopeful question “Is it flush?” The reply came back “Sorry Gerard. There’s not enough water!” Next the building was coach bolted to the bearers, wire guys were anchored to warratahs, a vent was installed, and boards nailed around the base of the building to prevent those frustrating updraughts a tramper’s biggest curse! Finally the site was landscaped, replanted, and Bob’s your uncle it was all done in 24 hours.
Meanwhile, back at the hut, the interior walls were being scrubbed, the lock-up was emptied out and cleaned (probably for the first time), the new mattresses put in place, a new stainless steel benchtop screwed over the table, windowsills and frames were primed and painted, a lid was made for the water tank, drainage from the tank was improved, the flue was secured with good old No. 8, gutters cleaned, and hey presto Maungahuka Hut was starting to look cosy and cared for again.
About 7.00 pm our visitors for the night arrived; a family of four who had just taken 8 hours to come from Kime. We had a great time together but around dusk there were murmurings of people needing to drop a load or three. So Roger darted out with headlight and nails and hammer to do one final job before the others did theirs. Inside the bog proper, there was a galvanised iron splash guard to protect the timber at the front of the seat structure from deteriorating due to certain acidic body fluids. Now the guard needed to be nailed back in place because it was bent out and obstructing the intended path of other waste matter. It was dark and the only way to do this job was to put both arms down the hole one holding a nail with pliers (the conditions made accuracy very difficult) and the other holding a hammer, while positioning one’s head in such a way that the light shone on the nail. WARNING! DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME FOLKS!
All went well, which is just as well because we were very short on contingency plans for retrieving hammer or pliers from the bottom of a two-metre hole when the only access was via the toilet seat!
Our friends christened the bog and wisely wrote very encouraging and complimentary comments in the hut logbook, both about the Bog and the “Bog Boys”, as they called us.
Next day we put up four very substantial snow poles and a sign marking the route to the dunny. These poles are 20 metres apart and we’re hopeful a few bods might make it all the way in the mist and the murk and the snow and the crud.
Another job DOC asked us to do was to replace the hut ticket box. In doing this, we discovered there were some bits of paper in the old box so, thinking it might be money, we emptied the contents out and discovered 100 hut tickets! No wonder DOC has such low compliance figures for Maungahuka! No one has emptied the box for 3 years!
Finally, we allowed ourselves two hours off and wandered off to the Peaks for a bit of a leg stretch. On returning we remembered our last job: covering up the sludge at the old bog site! A great after dinner treat!
Come Monday (2 days after flying in) we were due to fly out, the forecast was great, we were still in the middle of one of Gerard’s suns, but it was blowing 20 knots, it was 5 degrees, and the mist and the murk had moved in. Good old Tararuas!
It was looking pretty hopeless but Roger, determined not to walk out with an unused Kango hammer weighing 50 kg, rang Duncan painting as encouraging a picture as possible of the conditions on the tops. Eight minutes later we heard the “chop chop chop chop” of the chopper and suddenly it appeared from the crud over the tarn, such was the visibility! Duncan was very concerned about the conditions, so we loaded quickly, flew across the tarn, then followed the track down the ridge to the north of the hut at an altitude of 5 metres until we were out of the murk. Eight minutes later we were back in the sunny Wairarapa at 28 degrees.
By way of a background, the Club has agreed with DOC to adopt Maungahuka Hut and pay half of the costs (up to $1500), because of DOC’s limited reserves and inability to maintain one of our most isolated but strategic huts in the Tararuas. We’re pleased that DOC has already had good feedback from trampers and hunters who are grateful of our efforts at maintaining a great little hut.
Special thanks go to Stuart Palmer too for all his work on site plans and Resource Management Consents and negotiations with DOC.
Punters: Gerard Galvin (builder), Rory Galvin (builder’s apprentice), Roger Bolam (apprentice).