News: Tracks to be built by Transmission Gully Project 24 Great Walks: The Kepler Track - a wilderness ad- venture above the clouds

Now that Transmision Gully Expressway is opened to vehicles walkers are now wondering when walking tracks will be built near the area.

The 27 kilometres of safe, reliable, and resilient motorway isn’t all the Transmission Gully project includes.

There will be several recreational walking and cycling tracks built in the final phase of the project, now the motorway has opened to traffic.

A one-kilometre-long network of shared paths will be built beside SH58 (between the roundabout with Pāuatahanui village and the new motorway interchange roundabouts).

A further kilometre of recreational and scenic path for walking and cycling will follow the Pāuatahanui stream, overlooking native planting through the new Transmission Gully/ SH58 interchange.

These will provide a better con-

Above right: The Gasline Track.

nection from Bradey Road to the Pāuatahanui village and Whitby. The flat gradient of these paths will make them suitable for pushchairs, wheelchairs and mobility scooters, as well as families with kids on bikes.

A one-metre-wide track will be built from the northern end of Flightys Road to Battle Hill Farm Forest Park. This track has some varying terrain with a gradient up to 15% so won’t be for the faint hearted. Cattle stops/ grates need to be installed on the path where stock is moved, so this track is unlikely to be suitable for horses.

There will be a short section close to the motorway running north from Battle Hill, then a very steep uphill climb (with gradients up to 25%) to an existing track along the western ridgeline continuing through to Paekākāriki.

Currently known as the Gasline Track, the ridgeline track sits above the Kapuni gas main that runs all the way from Taranaki to Wellington. The track continues down to SH59 at Paekākāriki via the historic Middle Run farm, beside Te Puka Stream.

We expect this to be a popular and challenging walking track as the ridge has awe inspiring views of Kāpiti Island and on the right day you can see all the way to Mount Ruapehu and Mount Taranaki. The Transmission Gully project team is working with experts in mountain bike track design to see if it can safely become a Grade 4 mountain bike track, as well as a walking track.

Situated in the hills between Porirua and the Hutt Valley, Belmont Regional Park tracks will be re-connected under the Transmission Gully motorway at Wai o Hata (Bridge 19 – north of Te Ara a Toa). There will also be connections under the abutments of Te Ara a Toa to link with existing paths into Cannons Creek and Waitangirua.

Belmont Regional Park offers bushclad tracks for walking, running, mountain biking and horse riding. It’s also an excellent spot for a picnic, or to explore the historic Korokoro Dam, Pareaho Pa,

World War II ammunition stores and the original main coach road from Wellington. For a magnificent view of Te Ara a Toa, the viaduct over the Cannons Creek stream, people can access the track from the top of Takapu Road and walk underneath once the path connections are re-established.

A replacement carpark will also be built at the end of Takapu Road, to replace the temporary one built during construction of the new motorway, a little further down Takapu Road.

There is a track to walk up and look down on the Transmission Gully Expressway on the Porirua side. It starts from the Cannons Creek entrance, and follows the track along the edge of the ponds.

You then enter a short section of track through the bush before opening up into farm land.

There is a need to navigate a couple of styles. The track across the farmland is grassy and reasonably wide and steep to the viewing point.

There is a short branch track that leads to a viewing point over the Transmission Gully motorway. This track isn’t very well marked.

This is Daniel Haddock’s experi-

Five to six hours, 13.8 km

(DOC Bed Bug warning at Luxmore Hut was emailed prior to starting the walk.)

Always nice to get a pub meal, chat to the locals, and sleep in a nice bed. An early check of my booking was required at the Te Anau DOC office up the road. After it was stamped, I headed back to the hostel for my pick up by Track Net bus.

I was the only one on the bus and the only one backing up from all those I met on the Routeburn.

After you crossed the Control Gates, you entered the Red Beech Realm and followed the flat, wide pathway as you made your way around the lake to the Brod Bay shelter. There I met up with others getting ready to go to Luxmore Hut as well.

For the next two and a half hours, there was a steady climb on a track much smoother and less technical than its sister, the Routeburn. Switch Backs assisted in gaining the requisite elevation through the bush. Large limestone bluffs made their appearance and were part of the landscape for the next few kilometres.

A group of three runners with daypacks charged past. Two rangers were working alongside the pathway and we discussed the bedbug situation. Looking for the top of the bush, I continued upwards.

Suddenly the vegetation morphed into an alpine environment. The rocky track offered stunning views of Lake Te Anau.

Bright sunlight meant stopping and slapping on some sunscreen. Butterflies were flooding over the swathes of alpine plants. Passing me

By Daniel Haddock

Opposite page: A great view on the steps up to Mt Luxmore. Photo by Penny

Sliva Above right: Watch your step in the tussock land as you head towards Iris

on his way back to the hut, the ranger offered some advice about where the hut was ahead as some trampers walked past it or have had their lunch near the trail when the hut is only a few metres away around the bend. Butterflies were flooding the area over swathes of alpine plants.

I shouted out when I saw the hut and the Southland Boys’ teachers on the deck laughed as everyone coming in was so happy to see their night’s accommodation.

Lunchtime preparation was disrupted by the antics of “Number 2”, the resident kea, cavorting on the deck and the handrail. How come a hot lunch always tastes so good when you’ve finished your tramp for the day?

Later on, a group of us walked to Luxmore Cave, a mere 10 minutes away. It was a long, narrow cavern that straddled a creek. Headlamps were a necessity and helped you to see the limestone formations inside although there were no real stalactites or stalagmites.

After tea, the ranger covered the usual bases in his talk including how to prevent the spread of bedbugs. He checked our reservations and ticked

Above: A kea in flight on the top of

Mt Luxmore. Photo by Penny Silva Below left: The hut is a welcome site after a long day. Below right: A kea sits close to the track on Mt Luxmore. us off the list. With the longer Southland twilight, there was enough time to walk a bit of tomorrow’s track. It climbed immediately behind the hut towards Mt. Luxmore.

Five to six hours, 14.6 km. (Dropping from 1400 to 500 metres)

The valleys below were smothered by cloud. In fact, we were above the

cloud all day bathed in sunshine but buffeted by a cold wind especially on the ridge tops.

I decided not to stop at Mt. Luxmore, but that was my mistake! Luckily, Penny decided to have a look and ended up staying at Mt. Luxmore for a while being entertained by the flying kea aerial team. Wings over Wanaka move over! Her brilliant images accompany this article.

Picking my way along the rocky, narrow paths, constant kea calls resounded as they cruised around the tops above the clouds.

Two runners with day packs who had started at the car park were pushing through to the end of the track. They hardly looked puffed.

It’s mind boggling to think that the entire 60 km distance was cut out by this year’s Kepler Challenge male winner in four hrs. 37 mins 37 secs and the female winner completed the journey in 5 hours. 26 minutes. 29 seconds.

The beginning and end of the

Kepler were faster/flatter but the middle sections were extremely challenging.

The temperature had dropped and the wind had increased. The shelters at Forest Burn and Hanging Valley were safe havens at just the right time.

One can imagine that if you experienced bad weather at these two points on the ridge, these emergency shelters would be ‘god- sent’.

I didn’t see any one on the trail in either direction for the rest of the day. The ranger had warned us about the “Steps”, a series of long, wooden stairs that would bring us down towards Iris Burn. Concentration was necessary there were huge vertical drops on either side of the ridge trails.

As the descent began, the sun blazed through. Luckily small mossy waterfalls on the hillsides provided an opportunity to wet your hat, head Above: Penny on the top of Mt Lux-

more. Photo by Penny Silva

Below left: Dropping into the Luxmore Cave.

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and face to cool down

There was brief relief as you headed back into the bush for the final, seemingly endless descent to Iris Burn Hut.

Luckily the possum traps started at #1 with #24 being Iris Burn Hut. So the countdown became an incentive to keep going down and across the beech forest switch backs.

A sighting of the tussock clearing where the hut was raised false hopes of an end to the pressure on your knees as it still took ages.

Being the first one, I was able to choose a bottom bunk in a room of eight.

After lunch, a quick sleep charged the batteries. The fine afternoon offered a great opportunity to walk to the Iris Burn Falls for a swim. As I was soaking my legs near the falls, the sand flies were in attack mode. A quick plunge led to “brain freeze” but it was the next best thing to having a proper shower. Walking back, I went to the Iris River. Now that would have been a much better swimming hole than the falls.

Jan, the warden, did a roll call, checked our Vax passes, and told us about the purpose-built Kepler Track history.

Its circular nature resulted in the beginning of the Kepler Challenge in 1988 and is still well-supported. I did ask why there were not more Maori names for the walk as the Kepler Mountains and track referred to Johannes Kepler, the German astronmer, who worked out the elliptical orbits of the planets. Progress apparently was being made with bracketing the European and Maori names.

Five to six hours, 16.2 km

Nice to have a good sleep again and I hit the trail at 6:50 a.m. Although this was the longest day in terms of distance, it was a bit of an anti-climax compared to yesterday’s dramatic scenery. Really it was a stroll in a fern forest for kilometres.

There was a huge slip ‘caused by heavy rain to Rocky Point’ in 1984. It resulted in a re-routing of the trail. There was a small climb named ‘Suicide Hill’ but it was a small grunt compared to climbing from Luxmore Hut to Forest Burn Shelter.

The sand flies kept you company but thanks to a friend’s home-made repellent ‘No-Mates’, they came close but did not bite.

Following the Iris River from a distance, it was not a demanding walk as we approached Lake Manapouri. Lots of fellow trampers from the last hut carried on to Rainbow Reach or the Kepler Track car park.

Due to airline times, I only had to complete 6 kms. tomorrow in order to catch the bus and make the flight rather than doing 9 km. more to the car park. Again, I was the first one to the hut on the shores of Lake Manapouri.

The ranger, Grace, suggested that I walk to Shallow Bay, 25 minutes down the path. This spot offered stunning views of many of the 33 motus/islands that are in the Lake.

Upon returning to the hut, I went for a swim under the sun and the sand flies. Sure the water was cold but remember lots of athletes have ice baths to soothe the muscles. I even managed a short swim.

Well, it was a good decision after all staying at Moturau. Ranger Grace was amazing! She got us warmedup by doing stretching exercises and then presented the usual information.

We were told to put out our mattresses outside tomorrow morning as fumigators were being helicoptered in to spray all the Kepler Huts. It appears that all of us dodged a bullet as there were no reported bedbug incidents over the four days.

However, at the end of her talk she offered to take anyone interested on a nature walk around the immediate surroundings. Three of us went.

Just off the trail were a number of small native orchids and other plants

Above left: The Moturau Hut on the shores of Lake Manapouri. Below left: The steep descent to Iris Burn Hut.

which Grace described to us. Normally you just cruise along and never look down at all the uniqueness on the bush floor. Then we went down to the beach to see a myriad of Kiwi footprints leading from the edge of the bush to the sandy beach. I had never seen their tracks so clearly before and hadn’t noticed them earlier.

We planned to come back at night to see if the Kiwis followed this pathway. However, 9 mm of rain had been forecast and it finally started and continued all night.

Above right: Great spot for a picnic, Moturau Hut Below left: Bridge over Iris Burn. Below right: The final bridge to cross over the Waiau River to the pick up point at Rainbow Reach

One hour 30 minutes- two hours.

The steady rain eased and it remained fine for my last day. Penny had come through from the kitchen area where she was sleeping and woke me at 4:15 am.

The fire alarm was beeping in the kitchen like a smoke alarm. I grabbed my head lamp as she didn’t have a torch and the lights went out at 10 pm every night. I was hoping to reset it and not trip the alarm. Luckily we sorted it and I could get some more sleep.

For my last breakfast, I finished off the remainder of my food, Mac and Cheese plus Brown Rice. Yum!

The trail was a little wet but the dripping bush was stunning. Wow, what a difference a light pack makes. Soon I was walking alongside the Waiau River and crossed it on a small bridge. Continuing on, you couldn’t help but notice how the rain had perked up the plants.

Well, it only took 90 minutes before the only way to cross the now roaring Waiau River was a long swing bridge to the Rainbow Reach pick-up point. I took a selfie on that magnificent spot.

I waited for the bus and when the Track Net driver turned up, it was Kerry from my Routeburn adventure. He dropped me at the Track Net headquarters in Te Anau where I waited for the bus to Queenstown airport.

Seven days in the fourth rainiest area of the world and it only rained one night with brilliant weather otherwise!

The Double Happy is highly recommended for its stunning scenery and well-organised support. You can kill off two of the great walks in one trip. DOC and all the transport operators and accommodation managers were great examples of Southern Hospitality and expertise. What are you waiting for?