Mangatutu Camping 30 Jan to 4 Feb 2013

Turn left at Taradale, and drive for 2 hours to the end of the road, the last hour of which is gravel, increasingly narrow, steep and winding.  Destination: the Kaweka Forest Park, Mangatutu Hot Springs and the mighty Mohaka River. Ma & Pa Camper were going intrepid, albeit with their new 2 room tent with pyjama shelf, coffee percolator, card table and airbed pump. Car camping at its best.

Hawkes Bay, closer to the ranges, looked stunning with a bit more greenery than coastal areas.

The DOC camp was free, and as such provided good spaces to pitch tents, barbecues  to control wanton fire-lighting, picnic tables and benches (grateful thanks to those of us with "knees") and quite acceptable toilets.
 
Water was to come from a nearby stream.




















What we first found was not a stream, and for the purposes of water-gathering,was not nearby. We were a long way above the mighty Mohaka.  Eventually we found the water, 100 metres along the track which goes to Te Puia Lodge. We confess to driving the 500 metres to the end of the track, because water is heavy!! The water oozed from a spring, in a moss-filled fairy dell. There's a rumour than mature, grey-haired women can be heard, and sometimes seen, pouring dipper loads of ice-cold water over themselves, as part of the water-gathering ritual.

There was a surprisingly steady stream of fellow campers, considering how remote we were: families and groups of young travellers, loosely labelled Israelis or Scots, and a man who arrived early in the morning, pitched the tiniest tent, and proceeded to sleep noisily for 24 hours, before disappearing in the morning mist, back to his night shift job in Napier. Oh, how we speculated on his home circumstances.
 


The point of difference for this camp was a Hot Spring. Five minutes walk, and a ten minute clamber (complete with walking poles for some) and we had two hot tubs.










What a grand way to start the day. We found they were a bit hot for end of day, especially when those days exceeded 30 degrees.

 DOC had done an amazing job installing a couple of ex-fish tanks well nestled into the side of the cliff.


 





The journey down was intrepid to say the least.

Five to ten minutes' climb (as opposed to clamber) below the hot pools was the river, worth every second of tree-hugging to get there. Thanks to the recent dry weather, the river chugged along sedately, an eddy here, a rapid there, a perfect temperature for us and the brown trout.

 As the temperature was scorching in our valley, and as we counted the clamber to the hot pool, the climb to the river, and the trip for water all as "exercise" we had to do quite a lot of relaxing.

Extensive use of calomine lotion makes the Quilter look like an Aboriginal dot painting

When we weren't relaxing, or planning our next water excursion, we were planning our next meal, or eating. Quote of the week, after tent erection, from Barb. " I just love being outside - drinking". No rubbish bins meant we had to take our bottles out in one (big) bag. So embarrassing, we left them to be recycled in Onga Onga.

Francie prepares her Mediterranean pasta specialty, surrounded by quality ingredients and equipment.

Assistance provided in the form of verbal encouragement and more wine.

The point is, will this boiling chickpea & pumpkin curry melt the serving bowl?

Damper & bean sprouts anyone? Oh, what's that wine doing there!!

 In a quest for more exercise options, Bill & Bev drove to the helipad (well, how else do you get rich tourists into the Mohaka for a bit of fishing/rafting/shooting?) and decided that the walks were far too up, and the river was still far too down, so they played with their cameras.

Our lunch break on the way in was at Ball's Clearing, a scenic reserve at the end of the tar seal. The sign could also have said "last flush toilet for 6 days".

We decided to return for an outing, enticed by the promise of an outstanding example of a dense virgin podocarp forest, and indeed, it was!

With a spooky little macrocarpa grove on the side

As part of the selling point for getting in the car on a 32degree afternoon, and driving an hour each way on a gravel road, Bill promised us a swim in a stream. This was the most accessible stream, and heaven on a sunny day, although it had all the promise of eels living under every rock. Bill had already frightened off the 4 small brown fish when he landed in the pool first.  Wisely, he kept this to himself until his wife returned to terra firma.





Birdlife abounded at the camp, and we were lucky to have Francie's extensive knowledge of New Zealand birds, as well as her (self-confessed) bat-like hearing. We couldn't go to bed until the moreporks told us we could, at 9.35 pm, on the dot.

The dragonflies were quite enormous, and dazzling, but Snap of the Week goes to this caterpillar. (Marg's camera, Bill's finger, so no votes, thank you very much.)










We planned to come home on Tuesday.  On Monday morning we awoke to the lightest of drizzle, and a forecast for the heaviest of rain that night. It was an unattractive thought to pack up in the rain, especially after 5 dazzling days, but there was a small matter of the ford which would become uncrossable after a relatively small amount of rain.

So goodbye cosy tent bedroom

Goodbye spacious camp site

And hello Onga Onga Recycling Station.