page 3

Home Track (Partial)

Glen Esk Rd to Winstone Track

Just to the right is a relatively unusual sight along the track, a spray of supplejack leaves growing where I can see them.

I am feeling the climb a little admittedly, but I don't need an excuse to stop and spend a while enjoying this punga just off the track and down the hill a little.

The second time up, the sky is overcast and the light has a different, more even quality than first time.

I'm always surprised to come across a karaka in the bush. Its shining leathery leaves seem quite at odds with the "family" appearance of the rest of the trees. I'm more accustomed to see it in groves around old seetlement sites.

Here and there the track reminds you of its existence. This is not the perambulator-friendly Kitekite track.

Alice is almost ready for a breather. Yesterday I wouldn't have thought she could make it to the letter box, she was limping so badly on her right front paw. We had taken it for a strained ligament for a start but anti-inflammatories had no effect whatsoever, and antibiotics were prescribed. Within three hours she was back running around, and this morning refused to be left behind. Nevertheless, I have been keeping an eye on her, ready to bail if necessary.

I haul a small dish from the side of the pack, and pour her a drink. She drains the dish and a second fill.

I love the patterns rata make on punga trunks.

As we continue, the bronzey fronds of Blechnum fraserii begins to appear more and more thickly beside the track, like miniature punga.

Suddenly the bush is darker and colder, and there's almost nothing growing beneath the canopy

It's not pleasant walking any more, (first time up the track) especially as I'd hoped to see the Connect Track sign and it wasn't showing. Even Alice is looking over her shoulder from time to time.

I try a swig of water, and things improve. Miranda holds her hands together and I pour some water for Alice. She is so keen she is actually slurping it straight from the bottle. I wipe it carefully and put it back in my camera bag. Dehydration can be subtle, especially when it's later in the day and not obviously hot.

There's a bit more spooky stuff, but it's no longer getting to me.

Suddenly we arrive. it's not the Connect Track after all, it's the Winstone Track. The topo sheet just wasn't all that clear about which names attached where..

Still, I have been studying the ARC map before we left, and I know where we are. We hang a right and begin our long downhill return to the van. And about bloody time, too. Fatman time for this bit has been 5 minutes under the hour.

For the continuation of this walk as far as the Connect Track, click here.

Postscript: Home Track Revisited 17 January 2007

Playing around with the elevation profile feature of my Memory-Map program I discovered that this section of Home Track is a near-enough match for the first day of our big walk this year, from the Divide to the Howden Hut on the Routeburn Track - about 220 m climb over 1.2 km - though I've no idea how track surfaces compare. This is about a month away as I write.

I decided to stuff the big pack with a combo of cushions and 3 litre juice containers plus the day's necessaries, so that I would be carrying around 19kg, and check it out, choosing a day when my ultra-fit wife, well, medium fit, was engaged elsewhere, so as to avoid the temptation to impress. Oh, yeah, I wasn't wearing the knee bandage either.

Result, I established it was inside my ability without undue distress, provided that I didn't try and push it. Even my knee gave up niggling after the first five or ten cautious minutes.

I used poles generously for support, especially on some of the higher steps and more uneven ground. Once legs get wobbly, energy demands increase just to keep stable, and I found the Winstone Track somewhat less friendly on the way down than I did last time.

Rehydration also needs watching. (I know there are websites out there that totally rubbish the "sipping culture" but if I can transform my mental state, my ability to pay attention to my surroundings, and find extra energy, by swallowing a mouthful of water every ten minutes or so, then Amen.)

Fatman time with the full pack - and stopping to take photographs and drink water - : just under an hour and a half. Slept well that night.

Fatman time for the total loop, Home-Winstone-Connect-Kitekite, just over three hours (including a 25 minute break), compared with 2hr 10 m without pack.

So I can do the hill. Next challenge, the long walk. Probably Coast Rd at Muriwai to check out a 20km relatively level hike, comparable to Day 3 along the Greenstone Valley.