After our mini epic in Mathers we were like what a 20min walk in, 2hr canyon 1min walk out? Yes Please.
We’d kept Imp Grotto until last as it would be a short morning giving us plenty of time to get the gear washed and dried for the trip home.
It was another one I was really looking forward to as it sounded like the prefect bang for buck canyon.
We pulled up at the bridge, found the secret entrance to the entry track… It’s such a cool ecperirence you part the ferns and the trail appears in an area that looks all but cliffed out.
Magic
Less than 15min later we are at the start of the canyon.
How cool is that.
Of the canyons we visited this trip, in terms of look, Imp Grotto is probably the most reminent of the Blue Mountains canyons we are use to.
I head over and set the rope and we are into it like a Hobbit in a cake shop
Kris leading the way
On a scale of 1 -10 its a 15 on the fun dial.
And pretty darn pretty to boot
Lots of little jumps
Absiels big and small
Jason on anchor duties. Hywaida keeping an eye on things
Kylie on the big one. There a bit of hydraulic at the bottom but at these water levels it was relatively tame
Jason, as LARP
And before we know it we are splashing around in the pool under the bridge like some sort of troll living his best life in the absence of Billy Goats Gruff.
And with rain predicted for tomorrow we can’t believe just how lucky we got with the notorious west coast weather.
We are not the fastest group out there and don’t intend to break speed record but we go alright. Even taking the time to soak in the experience and take 1001 photos our group of 6 had cruised through Robinson, Cross Creek, Wilsons, and Mill Creek well within the suggested timeframes so we weren’t expecting Mathers to be too big a day.
As it was, it turned into a bit of a mini epic.
No idea why, TBH.
We did have a couple of stuck ropes ( first one the figure 8 block flipped over and caught on the anchor ring) but they didn’t take us long to sort out.
Maybe in our complacency we spent a bit too much time enjoying the slides and jumps in the upper section.
The middle section seemed to go on for-fucking-ever…
End result we were well over the suggested time but still had an absolute blast.
In hindsight a 4th rope in a party of 6 would have made it a lot more efficient.
Anyhoo. This one is a little less descriptive than my usual write up (Most of these ones from NZ are mostly from it all being a blur of awesomeness)
We were frothing to get into it. Mathers was rumoured to be very pretty with lots of slide and jumps.
We make our way from the campground, along the Haast and up into Mathers creek.
The canyon ends at one of the prettiest waterfall Archways going.
It’s recently become a social media hot spot. I can see why
Unfortunately Haast river is infected with Didymo and the increasing crowds of influencers either don’t know or don’t care about cleaning it off their shoes before entering the side creeks. Sadly the pool below the Arch is showing signs of Rock Snot.
While we tried to avoid walking in the water you can pick up cells in the dirt along the banks so we had brought bottles of detergent and scrubbing brushes and paused here to SAY NO TO DIDYMO.
And then up we went.
more gorgeous colours
After an hour or so hauling up we gain the top of the creek and are pretty much straight into it
And tricky traverses to hanging belays. This was one of our rope jams. Nothing obvious for it to catch on. thankfully a few attempts changing the angle of the dangle it came free
Well, yeah, but there was a method to our madness.
And to be honest this one turned out to be a bit of a surprise highlight, partly because I wasn’t expecting much.
Anyhoo, Jason put it on his must do list for this trip and we all just went along with him. The description sounded cool and after Wilsons it was a bit of a rest day.
The diving would break up the trip a bit and give us a chance to restock supplies and eat out in Wanaka.
The pass up was steep but not too difficult and we make good time.
We are too high calls Kylie, We are a few contours above the trace
There’s marking tape here though, replies Jason
It looks like a rough trail, Says Kristo
we push on, or down. or sumfink
I’ve been down some goat tracks in my time but this was up there in the goat trackiness. And all the while the roar of the water is churning int he back ground.
still there are signs someone at some point has come this way.
It doesn’t feel right. Says Kylie. I’m sure this was run during the festival. the track should be fresh.
There’s a landline here.
The old hand line was possibly more a short abseil but Jason and Kris get down.
I start to hand over hand.
Whatever I’m standing on gives way and suddenly I’m free hanging on a skinny cord and can’t quite get my feet back on the wall.
Below nothing but steep scree, soiled underpants and a sense of dread.
No choice but accept a bit of rope burn and slide down.
I’ll say up front this little episode put the wind up me a bit.
Still we scramble down a bit more before coming to what looks like another small cliffline.
Below us Mill Creek Tumbles through a series of complex boulders.
According to the trace the start is 50m down that way.
Will be get past that pool? It looks horrid,
Maybe if we can cross above it?
Problem is we can’t see what the water is doing directly below us.
Phuk this say I, still shaken from my near fall. Let’s head back up a bit and cut across to where the trace is.
We ascend back up above the dodgy hand line and follow Kylie’s trace down over the next knob and pick up a much clearer trail, and less dodge path down.
Reaching the creek we see that had we have abseiled in before a narrow ledge and bit of scrambling would have gotten us across to the first anchor.
Anyhoo, setting up an anchor and getting us all down would have taken just as long. So alls well that ends well.
We pause for a bite to eat, suit up and take in the surroundings.
What a spot.
The roar of the water is intense
We bypass the first anchor and traverse bolts which appear to be high-water options and set up at the first drop.
The guide wasn’t wrong.
Some of the drops are very intimidating from above.
Most end in deep pools.
Most of those pools have wash-over risks
But whoever set the route has done a fabulous job. shout yourselves a beer or two.
The anchors are in the perfect positions to get you into a safe spot to assess the eddie and choose your swim line before committing to the water.
It’s such a diverse canyon too.
The top is open, yet intimidating. And the further you descend the more the walls close in.
Rated as an A5 in the Kiwi Canyoning guidebook and website a land slide in recent years has resulted in some of the pools silting up a bit. The Hydraulics are still there and you have to know how to avoid/deal with them but they’re possibly not as hectic as they once were. Coupled with stunningly good weather it may have been on the easier end of A4 but I think A4 is still fair.
Of course that silting up has also affected the jumpability of the pools too.
Anyhoo I get ahead of myself.
We had had (hadhad had, had) a lot of fun yesterday in Robinson and Cross Creek, the team had just clicked and was working together with barely the need for verbal communication (Other than jokes and taking the piss) so we were really looking forward to today.
Wilsons Creek has an almost mythical status as the quintessential Haast Pass canyon. Last year, on a road trip in the depths of winter Kylie and I had stuck our noses up the exit chamber and were blown away by the beauty. Finally we were back to do it from the top.
The entry track goes up, and up and up (over 9000! (not really)) then we descend the landslide of certain death to cross a side creek. Then it’s down, down, down a steep razor ridge between the side creek and the Wilsons. At times I wondering if we should be using a rope, or a parachute, but it goes easy enough.
And finally we arrive at the top of the canyon.
Nervous excitement.
Grins.
We suit up.
eat eggs.
and get into it
Jason sets the first anchor.
I head on in
Looking back up to the start of the canyon. Already it’s an awe-inspiring place to be.
And soon we get to our first hydraulic challenge, the roundy roundy pool.
With the dry weather it’s not pumping too hard but you can still see it would be an issue if you drop into the wrong spot.
The advice is to jump over the swirl, problem is with the silting up of pools we don’t know how deep it is for a safe jump.
Kristo set the rope. Jason lead the way, abseiling part way down before making the leap,
He makes it look simple.
The rest of us follow.
Kristo mid leap
Beautiful, deep schist
You can’t put into words just how insignificant you become when emerged in a place of this grandeur
beauty and power
And soon we get to the “Julie Pool”
Hywaida and Jason showing how it’s done.
Being a little taller is definitely an advantage for bridging out across this one
cheeky monkeys
Next up is the boil. Jason set the rope and I head on down.
I’d watched the Coalition of American Canyoneers video that discusses this hydraulic (16.11 mark) and it wasn’t looking anywhere near as nasty, but still I aimed for their suggested line and dove out with Leo’s voice ringing in my head “Now Swim hard!”
Once again, at these water levels it was fairly straight forward and everyone got across no worries. Still no one got a photo…
It’s then through Star War alley, a truely beautiful section of canyon, before 1 more tricky traverse line to the final abseil.
And then it’s on to battle the tourists in the exit chamber.
all in all an amazing experience with a great team.
more photos below. Click to enlarge them
Mine
Kylie’s
Hywiada’s
Surround yourself with awesome people. Experience Awesome things.
Dave, Jason, Hywaida, Kristo, Kylie and meeeeeeeee
A canyoning trip to New Zealand has been on the wish list for years but just hadn’t popped to the top of the priority list.
Until now.
The lead up was a bit chaotic and at various points it was looking like not all of us would make it but somehow the stars aligned and, thankfully, all 6 of us found ourselves making the acquaintance of every sand fly in Haast.
With the flies in a suitable frenzy over the taste of our blood we started our adventures off with a bang in Robinsons Creek.
a 15min walk up the hill and we are straight into it.
The patterns and colours in the Schist was beautiful. Haast Schist is a metamorphic rock formed from sand and mudstones that have been reheated and placed under pressure then subjected to folding and uplifting to give it the patterns and swirls.
All good, gentle fun so far. A couple of small hydraulic features to be aware of.
The route is really well set. Unlike the typical Blue Mountain canyons we are use to there are times where you need to set traverse lines to avoid the hydraulics at the bottom of the waterfall, or loose log jams that act a sheives part way down. We are not unfamiliar with high flow canyons and practice this stuff a lot but it was a lot of fun putting our skills into practice in an easier canyon on day 1.
Then we come to the cavern pitch.
Jason sets the rope and I jump on, peering over the void.
It looks epic.
Then I notice a guy in board shorts below…. He’d scrambled up from the bottom but doesn’t hang around long. It was cold enough in the 5mm wettie.
Anyhoo, this pitch was amazebalz
Kylie at the top. The roar of the water beside you is awe inspiring.
Buzzing from Robinson Creek we make the short drive down to the Cross Creek Bridge.
Now I may have been a little over hyped.
I may or may not have mis-read the notes to say “From the Bridge Walk 10min back toward Haast to find the obvious trail.”
Well we walked toward Haast for 10min…
What the notes Actually said was “Walk 10m (As in metres everybody) back towards Haast Pass (As in toward Wanaka- away from Haast, like der Fred ) You would have thunk the friendly guide having a chat with us while suiting up his clients might have said “Hey Bros you’re going the wrong way. It’s just there aye”
Anyhoo, we correct our (my) mistake.
what’s a Flynny trip with out a slight navigational hiccough anyway?
The warm up walk curbed our enthusiasm slightly so we opted not to go all the way to the upper sections and dropped in to the middle section a little early to get the jump on the guide group.
and we are pretty much straight into it again.
while the canyon was a little more open the colours were even more vivid.
and a few fun little slides greeted us
And some easier features to be wary of
And natures artworks
It was a little bit fun
all on wonderfully grippy Schist
and crystal clear water
And once again the canyon finishes pretty much at the car. We change and eat and swap tall stories about our first 2 NZ canyons then make our way back to our rented house at Haast where the lovely flies had told all their friends just how tasty we are.
Unfortunately the Haast river itself and some of its tributaries, including Cross Creek are infected with the invasive Didymo slime, AKA rock snot.
And while we didn’t see any it’s important to do the right thing, this means cleaning all our gear in diluted detergent and drying it off each day. Most parties we spoke to suggested we get a plastic tub each for this.
There’s one more geological marvel we want to see.
But before we get there we stop at a PDS to empty the grey water out of van and top up fresh water.
While there and another van pulls up and out jumps Debby Downer wanting a chat.
Moeraki Boulders? Says him after asking where we are heading. That’s a big lot of disappointment. nothing there, just rocks on a beach…
And he proceeds to launch into a general whinge about the world, life, and modern times intermingled with a racist rant or two. I curse at how slow the grey water tank drains and opt to just pretend it’s finished so I can move on quicker…
So what are the Moeraki Boulders?
Well old racist Karen was sort of right, they are rocks on a beach.
But not just any rocks, they are concretions, Septarian Concretions to be exact. Similar to the ones we saw in the cave tour only bigger. Much bigger.
What the hell are Septarian Concretions?
I’m glad you ask.
They are nodules of rock, typically spherical, usually formed in cabanate rich mudstone. They often “grow” around something, a crab claw or dinosaur bone for example, so often contain fossils in their centre.
So basically as dumbed down as I needed it explained to me, a bit of organic matter is engulfed in mud and a rock “crystal” grows around it before the mud/sand is rockyfied itself.
Time move son and the softer mudstone or sandstone is eroded from around the harder nodule leaving behind big marbles.
And if that’s not impressive enough to make you want to check them out. Well they are on a spectacular stretch of beach.
And, well
Just look at them!
There are other, similar concretions 20km south at Shag Point (Teheheh, Shag!) that contain plesiosaur fossils but we are heading north…
And that end’s our New Zealand adventure, for this time. The following day is spent making our way back up to Christchurch, we’ve a plane to catch.
All in all we had a great trip. To recap here’s a list of links to all the awesome stuff we got to see and do.
From Aoraki we head down the valley to Lake Pukaki.
One of the larger freedom camps we’ve come across to date, we set the van up with tremendous views across the expansive lake.
The reflections off the snow capped mountains made great photos with a grand view of the sun set.
This also gives me an idea. I do a few calculations and check a few things and work out that in the wee hours of the morning the Milkyway should be splayed out horizontally above the mountains.
Now I just need to decide if I really want to interrupt my sleep to crawl out of a nice warm bed and stand in the cold….
Milky over the lake with a truck passing over the spillway.
Another hour and it might have presented as more of an arch over the mountains but it was 2:30am and -6ºC. I wasn’t hanging around.
Lake Pukaki was just one of the amazing lakes we drove past / stopped at / were amazed by.
This might sound naive but the size and amount of lakes caught me by surprise. I mean, I knew the rivers and creek systems were a lot higher flow but kinda just assumed they tumbled off the mountains and flowed into the ocean. Coming from the driest habitable continent on earth the shear amount of lakes contained by our little cousin across the ditch, and their size, blew me away.
Below is a random collection of photos of just some of the ones we stopped at for photos.
Anyhoo after the epic nightscape shoot we sleep in a little then head to Elephant Rocks.
From the Clay Cliffs we make our way up to White Horse Hill campground which is nestled below the towering peak of Aorali/Mount Cook.
White Horse Hill is a paid ground. During the winter the main toilet/shower blocks are closed off as the frequent negative temperatures lead to burst pipes and what not. What you are left with is two of the smelliest drop toilets I’ve ever encountered, And I’ve done long weekends at Newnes Camp ground in it’s heyday.
Take the biggest breath you can here and hold it as long as you can, a young whipper snapper was heard giving advice to her younger brother…..
Don’t let that put you off though, the scenery is well worth a skinny loo or two.
We roll in late afternoon and set the camp up. The temperature is already -2ºC and falling. The little diesel heater fitted in the van is amazing.
As night settles in and the temp plummets to -8º we decide to brave it for the sake of the most amazingly clear night sky.
Clicky Clicky to see full photo
The next day we head out on the Hooker Valley Trail.
Normally this gives the closest access to the base Aoraki the general public will get and also views over the proglacial Hooker Lake, complete with icebergs, however only a short section of the trail was open at the time of our visit due to track work and a bridge being washed out.
the short open section did, however provide great views over the Mueller Glacier and it’s lake.
Next we return to the van and duck over to the village for a coffee. While there we dropped in to the Department of Conservation information centre.
Wow!!!
What an amazing free resource. If you were in the area and the weather was bad you could easily spend a whole day in here. There are displays and videos and more lots more.
But today was a blue bird day so we have a quick look and then head over towards the Tasman Glacier.
Here you can take helicopter tour or a boat tour on the lake. We opt to just do the tourist walks.
Sitting between NZ’s two tallest peaks the Tasman is New Zealand’s largest glacier, being up to 4km wide and 600m thick in places. It had remained a fairy constant 28km long through out its recorded history up until it starting to retreat in the 1990s. It’s currently 23km long and retreating on average 180m/year.
Looking up the lake from the tourist lookout the glacier is’t much to look at. Compared to the white snow and crystal blue ice on the Franz Josef, the Tasman crunches up and contains a lot more rock and minerals (Glacier flour), giving it a dark, almost dirty appearance. Without the information sign at the I doubt most people, me included, would pick it out in the distance.
The lake, however is stunning.
The Blue Pools. When named they were connected to the glacier and very blue. Now they are cut off they are more a stagnant green.
Back at the van we start heading back down the valley.
On the way in I’d caught a glimpse of Wakefield Falls. It caught my eye on the way back out.
Is that waterfall frozen?
Looks like it.
It’s difficult to come to terms with scale here. That waterfall tumbles 230 vertical meters.
We pull over for a better look.
Na, it’s flowing. Looks like a cracker of a slot it’s tumbling into.
Should we go for a look.
hell yeah.
I grab the camera and off we go.
There is what appears to be a former tourist trail that comes and goes through the scrub and scree.
Did I mention it is hard to come to terms with scale here? It becomes apparent it’s further than it first looked.
Belatedly I realise in my excitement to get going I failed to grab my puffer jacket and beanie. This is how silly tourist get themselves on the news kids. Luckily not today though
Halfway up we meet to Russian(?) guys coming back down.
Did you get to the waterfall? ask we
Yes yes. Beautiful. Very careful. Very careful.
We push on. We reach the end of the flatter basin and the terrain gets steeper and looser. We had been yeeting up but slow here. A rolled ankle, rock fall or dislodging the scree here would be bad indeed.
There is still a fair way to go. Says Kylie. We should set a hard stop point.
Good idea.
It had been about 2:15pm when we left the van. We decide at 3:15 we need to turn around to get back prior to loosing the light.
I think we gained about 200m of elevation from the road. A bit after 3pm we get to a point where we had a a reasonable view into the slot where 3 streams of the falls converge.
We are so close. Another 10-15min and we’d be at the base of the falls. but hard stops are hard stops and but I know by the time I get the camera set up and get some shot we’d be close to time so thats what we do.
I’d guesstimate the bottom tier you can see here is about 50m tall
We get the shots and video in and scoot back down.
Part way down we come across this old information sign. Weird spot but I guess the old tourist track came up to this vantage point.
Explaining how the moraines pushed up by the glaciers formed dams in the rivers as the glacier retreated. or sumfink
Back at the van we chug down the road making for a freedom camp at lake Pukaki
