“Will we get screwed by that river?” – Tracy
“We could get screwed by anything, it’s an off-track trip!” – Madelaine
That was the point at which I fully understood what an off track trip in New Zealand really meant. My friend Madelaine and I took a map and compass with a bit of a plan and wandered off into the Hunter Mountains for 4 days. Our original plan was quickly deemed impossible due to time constraints and ridiculously steep cliffs and so we consulted the map for a different route. We decided to descend into the valley we were up above, cross it on the far side over a mountain pass and hope we could get down the other side into the next valley called Middlebranch. Our gear included a tracking device given to us by Madelaine’s boyfriend David who works for a company that does satellite tracking. If anything went horribly wrong we could send a distress signal and he could pinpoint where we were. We figured at that point he must have been wondering where the heck we were going as we drastically changed our original hiking plans. Once we descended into Middlebranch (using our ice axes to get down the almost vertical terrain covered in tussock bushes at times) we looked back up the valley wall and realized that the route we had taken down was the only possible one and had we gone anywhere else we would have gotten completely stuck. So basically we got really lucky.
The next day involved a 1000m trek up through beech forest. I was super happy when we finally cleared the beech forest and hit scrub at the top of the ridge until I realized it was the worst scrub we had seen as it was taller than us and super thick. Getting to the top of the ridge was definitely bush bashing with an emphasis on the bashing. But the top of the ridge was beautiful with new views of the next valley within which was the Borland hut. We descended into that valley following deer trails (I have discovered a new love of deer trails) until we reached a particularly well defined deer trail, which Madelaine pointed out to me was the walking track we had been looking for! After a joyous celebration of chocolate bars we made our way to a hut for that night.
The next day we walked out along the track, where we definitely enjoyed the lack of bush and obvious walking track. Five hours later we reached the road where our joy was short lived as we started the 9km trek back up the road to retrieve our car. At this point I started questioning whether it was a good idea to get the car that evening but Madelaine pointed out to me that if we stopped walking we were going to be eaten alive by sand flies by saying “do you prefer death by sand flies or death by sore feet?” I chose death by sore feet. Or at least pain by sore feet as the lesser of the two evils.
All in all it was a fabulous trip, and I learned a ton about reading topographical maps and making decisions on off track trips. Madelaine’s comment at the end though that she was “surprised all of her assumptions had actually worked out” emphasized for me again the hidden dangers of off track trips, where you never really know what you’re going to come up against. I’m really looking forward to more New Zealand tramping trips, both on and off track!
As a final hurrah to our trip on the way back to Dunedin we saw a sign for limestone caves and decided to go exploring. Turns out the caves were 300m long and full of neat formations. Although we didn’t take the map seriously when part of the trail marked a “swimming pool” assuming it would be passable. Turns out it was a dark abyss of a hole in the cave and definitely only passable by swimming! So we had to turn around to get back out into daylight.
Oh, and a short side note for my other friends who have been to New Zealand, I tried meat pies and they were actually good. Contrary to my beliefs.
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NZ dictionary update:
convenience store = a dairy
“apricots for africa” = common phrase to mean “I have a lot of apricots”
Posted by tracybw 
Posted by tracybw 
Posted by tracybw 