- RANDULF`S BLOG

All good things comes to an end...

An ice cold westerly wind carries snow and sleet to the plains along the Mararoa River as we head down the Mavora Walkway. We seek shelter in a small cabin with no heating, and thus enter the sleeping bags as fast as we can. As I regain the body heat, the urge to check the nearest pools in the river grows stronger and stronger. It is a funny thing, how chances of good fishing somehow cripples your ability to think clear, and despite of the weather I head out again.

The first pools, seemingly hold no fish. But in a deep pool, at the start of a gorge section, a moowing shadow betrays what is probably a good sized rainbow trout. The only downside is that i have to enter the river in order to cast for it, and with no waders that means some freezing minutes, and wet boots for the remainder of the trip. I feel that I have really earned this fish, but the fish has other intentions. A misplaced cast scares it off. I am not too disappointed, as this means I can return to the cabin. It takes half an hour to get back the feeling in my freezing feet. We spend a long evening in the cabin, thinking of the past five months. We have been under way from early spring, and now autumn is clearly on its way. We have seen lots of beautiful areas, but there is more to see and at some point we will definitely come back to New Zealand.

In the early morning hours, a couple of days later beside the lover Mavora Lake, we pack the tent for the last time. The only thing that now remains is a few days of roadwork down to Bluff. When we get there, it is of course with a sense of relief but melancholy is also present. It has been a wonderful journey.

I have started to sort the images from the trip, and some fishing shots are already in the Scanout archives. Take a look here (sett inn link)

South island wilderness

-It can't possibly be that steep?
That is my first thought, and also my only comfort, as we get the first
glimpse of Browning Pass. The narrow scree slope seems alsmost vertical at
first sight. Still, this is much travelled route and thus it has to be
possible to navigate the slope in a relatively safe manner.

The Three Passes route, from Arthur's Pass to the West Coast is the
conclusion of one month of wilderness travel in the northern part of the
South Island. Apart from short stops to stock up on supplies in St.
Arnaud and Arthur's Pass, we have spent our time in the bush. Beautiful
forests, wild mountain passes, gigantic trout and the welcome change of
nice summer weather are among our experiences.

Now we only have to navigate Browning Pass, and then it is straight
forward to the West Coast. Luckily, as we approach the pass, the slope
seems to get less steep, and once we have started it is not that bad at
all. After a break in the sun by Browning Lake at the top, we continue our
trek towards the coast.

On to the South Island

After a few days rest in Wellington, we are now ready to take the ferry to Picton and start our trek down the South Island of New Zealand. Since leaving Turangi, we have mainly travelled through National Parks and Forest Parks. The volcanic mountains of Tongariro was an experience,
different to anything we have ever seen. We were also lucky enough to have a day of nice weather, enabling us to do the climb to the craters edge of Mt. Ruapehu.
Ruahine and Tararua Forest parks has been an awesome experience. We have read that this december has been the coldest in New Zealand for at least 78 years. We have no problems understanding that, as snow, rain and cold weather has been faithful travelling mates for the last weeks. In the forest parks much of the travelling is done either along river beds, or on the top of the hills. These are usually separated by several hundred
meters of altitude, making progress relatively slow.
Both parks are supposed to provide decent trout fishing. The first days in Ruahine were sunny and clear, and a couple of nice rainbows were landed. After that, the continous rain has resulted in unclear rivers and high water levels and the fishing has not been succesfull. As we are starting the South Island we hope the weather will improve and that the angling conditions will get better.

- Strike!

Fishing guide John Somervell yells, just as the yellow strike indicator disappears in the clear waters of the Whakapapa river. The rod curves, and the reel – in its high pitch voice – tells a story of a large rainbow trout at the end of the leader. Some intense seconds later it is gone.

- At the next take, I want you to strike like you want to rip the head off that trout, John says. He suspects that the hook was not properly set this time, and that was the reason for loosing the trout. The next time the strike-indicator stops, I do the best I can, and this time a 2,5 kilo trout ends in the net.

When you go to new places, it is important to learn the local tricks of the trade. Therefore, one of the rest days in Turangi was spent with a fishing guide. On our trek, New Zealand lengthways, we will soon enter areas with good opportunities for trout fishing, such as the Ruahine and Tararua Forest parks, and this opportunity for honing the fishing skills was thus most welcome.

Turangi labels itself as the trout fishing capital of the world. It is most famous for the fishing for spawning trout in the Tongariro River. The Tongariro River has its peak season during the winter, and is thus of season at present. In the back country rivers, like the Whakapapa, the season has just started and during the day we caught some nice rainbows. Most of the fish in the river vere in the 1,5 to 2,5 kilo range and gave good fights in the swift flowing waters.

Our trek now continues into Tongariro National park, and south through Ruahine and Tararua Forest park.

Back in Auckland 15.Nov.2006
One month after we started from North Cape, we are back in Auckland. Somewhere between 400 and 500 kilometers are behind us and about 2000 lay ahead. Much of the distance from Kaitaia to Auckland has been covered by walking on main roads. Walking on sealed roads is hard for the feet, but apart from a steadily increasing number of blisters we are currently feeling well. The daily walking distance has increased from less than 20 to almost 30 kilometers a day during the last three weeks. Thus, the progress southwards has recently been really good, especially for the latest couple of weeks. Our equipment has worked well so far, and we have been traveling light.

A nice break in the road travel, was the trek through the Puketi Forest. This is a tropical rain forest which looks highly exotic for a couple of Norwegians. The giant kauri trees was a highlight of this part of the trip. It was also an interesting experience to wake up in the tent to the unfamiliar sounds of the native New Zealand birds.

We are now spending a couple of days in Auckland, planning the route and sorting out the logistics for the reminder of the North Island. We hope to reach Lake Tapou in a couple of weeks. From there we will change to larger packs and gear up for more rugged terrain. Our planned route then takes us through Tongariro National park, before we head on through Kaimanawa, Kaweka, Ruahine and Tararua Forest Parks that will hopefully take us to the outskirts of Wellington.

Walk on the beach... 25.Oct.2006

New Zealands Ninty Mile Beach is in reality closer to 90 kilometers long, but it is still a fairly long walk in the sand. The beach was the major part of the first leg of our hiking trip New Zealand lengthways, that took us from North Cape to the village Kaitaia. North Cape Scientific Reserve was an interesting experience. Many of the plants that grow here are only found at this location, worldwide. Therfore, drastic measures are taken to protect them. The reserve is guarded by electric fencing, and animals entering the reserve are poisoned.
The hike along the beach was a new experience. The wind is ever present, as is the noise from the swells of the Tasman sea, hitting the beach. We spent almost six days at the beach. Although the scenery was beautiful, it felt good to leave the beach behind us when we reached the end of it. By then, the sand had entered all of our clothing and equipment, as well as our food and cooking gear.
We have taken a few days off in the village Kaitaia to tidy our gear, recover, so some writing, and plan the next leg towards Auckland. We will traverse over to the east coast. Due to the dense forests, and the fact that most of the land is private, much of the distance to Auckland will be covered by walking along roads. We will however experience some of the Puketi forest with its enormus Kaori trees. Walking along roads is not our prefered way of progressing, but anyhow we look forward to starting the next leg of our adventure.

New Zealand lengthways 01.0ct.2006

Don't you have a drivers licence? That's a comment we have heard a couple of times now. Yes we do, but by doing this 2500 kilometre hiking trip, we hope to have time to experience the spectacular nature of New Zealand - not only see it. We will be starting at North Cape in early October, and will hopefully reach South Cape on Stewart Island by the end of March. This blogg will be updated when we have the opportunity.

The route is not planned in detail as we want to be flexible. Still, we will try to route the trek through as much wilderness as possible. We will also visit many of New Zealands forest- and national parks en route. Tongariro, Arthurs Pass, Mount Aspiring and Fjordland National parks are areas we don't want to miss.

For a 2500 kilometre trek, travelling light is important. Thus, the Nikon D2X and most of my lenses will have some months of well deserved rest. I will base all the photography of the trip on the Nikon D200 and the Nikon 18-200 3,5-5,6 VR that I will carry in a waterproof Ortlieb camera bag outside my back pack. This combo provides a good balance between flexibility, accessibility and light weight. There will of course be times when I will miss my 300/2,8 or the large tripod. But as Galen Rowell so wisely said: «When an artist is actively involved in an interpretive experience, whether it be climbing Everest or walking through a field, too much equipment interrupts the flow of emotional response that is the essential human element communicated in the best nature photography»

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