Location: Kaimanawa Ranges
Author: Martin Lambrechtse-Reid and Emi Lipoth
Participants: Seán Thomson, Chris Hobbs, Hamish Cossey, Mia Edwards, Janelle Evans, James Killick, Emi Lipoth, Nick Mahon, Thomas Whyte, Tyler Wolsky, Martin Lambrechtse-Reid
Date: 27th - 30th June 2024
Bush Nav
The dense bush of the Kaimanawa Ranges provided the perfect opportunity to practise challenging navigation. Sometimes our route was well planned and democratically discussed, but other times it was settled over a game of paper-scissors-rock.
Our biggest challenge for day two was to split off into our subgroups and navigate our own path to a predetermined point on the map for camp. My group decided to take to the ridgeline before powering through the bush.
The bush was incredibly dense with short visibility, so we set a compass bearing and headed onwards. We chose to make tracks down a river gully rather than a spur, trading thick bush for a steeper slippery route.
Taking the gully certainly had its advantages, but it wasn’t without challenges. At one point, we reached a dry waterfall section. James scouted the drop ahead, proclaiming it was “pretty dicey but I’ll do it if you do.”
“Straight up the guts” echoed through the valley as we fell descended off the drop.
The other groups decided on similar routes but wisely stuck to the spurs instead of the steep gullies, especially as darkness descended on the valley. One group traversed a spur to the river flats before, to their absolute shock and horror, coming face to face with a seemingly insurmountable bluff separating them from the river (nicknamed ‘The Wall’). After a short scramble accompanied by a slew of profanities, they too joined up with the third group and headed to the campsite for the night.
Campfires
On the second night, we were tasked with starting a fire using a flint and steel. This proved to be quite a challenge, as most of the wood and shrub in the valley was soaking wet. After much struggle, we were shown a useful cheat, which involved cutting open a tampon and using its dry gutted insides to start some embers.
We also experimented with some more unorthodox methods of fire starting…
Eventually, we had a roaring fire which served as the perfect remedy for cold hands and roasting marshmallows.
Bivvies
Prior to our trip, we had an instructional evening on the basics of bivvy building and knot tying. We headed to the Auckland Domain and spent the evening playing shelter origami. However, it quicky devolved into tree climbing and triple shoulder stacking…
Now overconfident in our skills, we were able to put our bivvy making skills into practice on the trip. We did our best to find flat, non-rooted and relatively warm spots to make our shelters. This proved to be good practice for what was to come…
The final night involved setting up camp in what was essentially the frost flats which, as the name suggests, are cold. So instead of making a few small shelters, we opted for a single bivvy. A mega bivvy if you will.
This shelter was made up of all the tarps we had between us and just about fit our whole group – a grand total of eleven people. Though basic in nature, some creative thinking and questionable engineering resulted in a peaked roof in the middle and double seam sealed tarp edges. It was quite the luxury experience.
Food
While group discourse remained civil for most of the time, heated discussions flared up when it came to the topic of food. One group challenged themselves to consume only ready-made, heatless food, taking on the moniker ‘Team Cold Soak’. While they theoretically saved time and weight, they also reported that mealtimes became bland and uninteresting and that they missed out on the communal aspect of camp dinners. One brave anonymous tramper chose a 1kg block of cheese to be his main source of calories over the four days… a decision he would later come to regret. We hope he will never underestimate the importance of fibre ever again.
Conclusion
I feel comfortable speaking for the group in that we all had a fantastic trip, chock full of top tier memories and stellar vibes. Thank you to our instructors Chris and Seán who delivered some outstanding teaching and helped us develop our backcountry leadership skills. We can’t wait to put our new skills into practice!
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