"Where's that?" was the usual reaction, but we explained it in relation to Milford and Doubtful Sounds.
T'was, on the Saturday morning we travelled to Te Anau in Alan's van.
Vern Thomson, no relation, met the party at DoC and transported us to Te Anau Downs and his boat. The route across the lake was in need of some maintenance. There were far too many potholes and corrugations for it all to be blamed on the westerly flow. At the end of Middle Arm a short walk took us to Vern's other craft, a dinghy just large enough for six with its attached tender for the packs. The outboard pushed up Lake Hankinson and Vern pointed out the damage to the bush and the enormous slip resulting from the last major storm and snowfall just two weeks prior. At the mouth of the Wapiti River, trout scattered as Vern navigated up to a beach opposite the Hankinson Hut to arrive late afternoon.
There had been no advice from DoC that there would be another party of seven on the track. The guys from Invercargill, Riverton and Auckland had been to George Sound. One of their number was fishing in the rain as they waited to fly out at 6 p.m. The floatplane did not arrive so we sought information on their behalf when we made our scheduled call on the mountain radio at 8 p.m It transpired the weather had kept the plane away but it would leave Te Anau at 6 am next morning. In fact it was 5.45 am on a sunny mom when we heard the plane buzz the hut. It would take two trips to get all seven to Te Anau, so our party went down to the lake to photograph and see off the second group.
After breakfast we headed off to Thomson Hut and soon crossed the first three?wire bridge. For two of us it was a first and some apprehension was evident, but by the end of the trip the same bridge was crossed with much confidence by all. As expected, the track was affected by fallen trees resulting from the recent storm and heavy snowfall. It took 4 1/2 hours, including a stop for lunch, to get to Thomson Hut. We decided to rest and concentrate on carbo. loading rather than undertake a side trip that afternoon.
At 5 am next morning, before it was light, Peter woke us and by 6.45 we were on our way to George Sound. Plenty of mud, but some years ago split logs were laid over the worst patches. Deadwood Lagoon is not stained with tannin as might be expected. A clear stream running over granite gravel feeds the lagoon, which was formed a long time ago by a large slip. The trees were drowned and eventually rotted. The stumps are now plant colonies and provide an interesting visual study, especially when in flower.
After Deadwood Lagoon we climbed up to Henry Pass for lunch. There had been some doubt as to our speed so we gave ourselves the target of 1 p.m. on Henry Pass. Any later and we would turn back, but we arrived on the pass a little before midday and felt confident of getting to George Sound well before nightfall. Wonderful views on the way up of Mount Elwood and the valley we had negotiated. Even more wonderful views looking west down the Katherine Valley to the lake and over to the Marguerite Peaks on the south. The track to George Sound is classified as a route and this was no where more evident than on the section between Henry Pass and the Katherine Valley. No rock climbing was necessary but we came close on a couple of occasions. Doesn't the water in those mountain streams taste wonderful when you are on a hard tramp! The route eased as we walked down the Katherine Stream until we hit the big slip we saw from Henry Pass. At one time the slip had dammed the Katherine Stream and drowned an area of bush. The trees now stand dead in the surrounding green.
We continued and soon realised we were walking alongside Lake Katherine. The really interesting bit came close to the end of Lake Katherine when we had to sidle along a bluff using fixed ropes. One of the ropes seemed to be tied to a rather suspect tree stump which wiggled! Still, it was not too far to fall into the lake below and just a short swim to a point where one could be rescued. Our concerns were, of course, groundless as DoC had fixed one of their orange number tags to show that the rope was recorded in their asset inventory. By the end of the lake we were all pretty tired so we rested before walking the last leg to George Sound Hut, which took about an hour.
Gerwin and Nicolette from Dronten in Holland had flown into George Sound and started walking out the following day. Therefore we had the hut to ourselves for our rest day. Resting involved dodging the voracious sandflies, a little shore fishing (no trout to be seen in the river), photography, feeding the hut's weka, and a lot of reading. The weather was sunny and our washing soon dried. There are possible side trips to Lake Alice and up various ridges, but we judged our time was better spent preparing for the return journey.
Peter acted as alarm clock again and we were all having breakfast by 5.30 am. The return journey was undertaken in good weather. The highlight was our communicating with three kaka that came close and were very taken with Peter's use of the dog whistle. We saw kea above the bush line but generally not a lot of bird life. The return journey to Thomson Hut took the same time as the outward journey, 13 and a half hours.
Another rest day for tired bodies but we did venture up Mount Thomson at the rear of Thomson Hut for a better view. The cloud was down so we didn't go to the top, but we had good views of Lakes Hankinson and Te Anau, also the mountains across the valley that hid Lakes Wade and Clark. The mice in the hut provided an entertaining interlude, and we wondered about the man who had drowned in Lake Thomson over 100 years ago and whose grave marker was fixed to a tree outside the hut.
The final day we tramped under the threat of rain and arrived at Hankinson Hut in plenty of time. A group of hunters and fisherman arrived and they took photographs of our whole group for our record. Vem duly collected us and transported us out of the rain back to Te Anau. We had tea in Gore and arrived back in Dunedin without incident.
We agreed we all had an excellent trip with great people and a trip we would always remember, but with so many other places to visit we would probably not repeat this tramp. The route is very well marked, but the indicated times proved to be too optimistic for our party. The average age of the group was 58, with Peter having celebrated his 70th birthday earlier in the year.
Phil Dowsett for Alan Thomson (leader), Yvonne Greer, Zena Roderique and Peter Vollweiler.
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