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  • NZ Hunter

    THE WAITAHA AND MORE

    Sep 30, 2019 7 minutes
    WRITTEN BY ~ SHAUN MONK
    POINTSSOUTH PHOTOS BY ~ HALEY LLOYD

    We intended to drop my ute at the Whitcombe car park and head to the start of the Waitaha Valley in Haley’s family van. Unfortunately a car pulled out in front of her and it was ‘lights out’ for the van. Luckily no one was hurt and Haley was even more determined to continue with the trip.

    The tow truck driver put us in contact with Rachel from Hokitika Scenic Tours and she went out of her way to get us where we wanted to go.

    The goal was use ‘Shanks’s pony’ to reach one of the world’s most isolated and scenic huts situated at Ivory Lake, and hopefully to get on to some roaring stags in the process. The Waitaha Valley track and hut network is maintained by the Permolat volunteers associated with Remote Huts New Zealand so it is not a DOC-maintained walkway and is by no means perfect, but that’s all part of the remote experience. A trip of this length calls for quite a bit of gear and food so my pack weighed 32kg at the start of the journey, including a rifle and binoculars.

    Following the track route

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