Wheel Creek

21-23 October 2023

By the time we’d spoken to the farmer’s son and found our way to the parking spot beside the Maruia River it was close to 11am. Our walk started on grassy flats, then followed an old boggy 4WD track towards Wheel Creek. We were looking for a big red marker but at Marsden Creek we concluded we’d missed the marker and turned back to find the track shown on the map. We didn’t find it and lost close to an hour following a non-existent track. It turns out that we just had to stay on the vehicle track, cross Wheel Creek and proceed on a marked track. We eventually reached Wheel Creek and got on the correct path. The forest track has a lot of fallen, rotting logs as you’d expect in Westland/Tasman and is dense enough that track markers can be hard to see. Keith and Steve were surprisingly good spotters. The track climbs well above the creek and crosses damp, ferny gullies where we were hard-pressed to find markers, which were often plastic film tied to the shrubbery.

In the morning, Helen was up at first-light, so at 8am we were away towards Waitaha Saddle, taking a spur on the true left of the unnamed stream that drains from the saddle. We connected with the saddle and headed east to take a spur up to the bush-line. A short section of scrub slowed us but soon we were on the ridge leading to Mt Crosscut. Helen set off ahead, while the three stragglers stopped for a 12.30 lunch. Helen stopped at 1550m, impeded by giant blocks of granite. The same had happened to our 2019 PTC trip, 600m short of Mt Crosscut. We had the advantage of fine weather but after looking either side of the ridge we realised we would need to go back, lower and sidle around the bluffs. With the time at 1pm and our energy flagging. we chose not to go the added distance and 100m climb to Mt C.

On the ridge back towards Wheel Creek a solitary kea stopped to observe us and Helen was able to get quite close for a photo. We avoided the scrub problem getting into the forest, but had to sidle in the trees to find the good spur to Waitaha Saddle, then we went a little too high to get back on our spur to the hut. Once on it, it was plain-sailing, but steep, back to the hut. We were pleased to be able to bask in the sun and dry damp socks from 4pm. Our evening’s lentil spaghetti contained bay leaves which were discarded outside afterwards. In the morning, Steve noticed they had disappeared, so the local possums will now be hunting for the source tree to find more of this delicacy.

Notes on the Permolat website say the open fire-place smokes unless a window is opened. We lit a small fire and it didn’t create a big enough up-draft, so we got smoked, even when the door or window was open. Other notes warn of mice in the hut but rodenticide in the cupboard seems to have answered that problem. A comment in the hut book said that “some track markers are missing”, so it seems that some miscreant has been stealing them.

Labour Day, Monday and we were away from the hut at 7.30am for the downstream return to the car. Halfway down the track Kerry tore a quad muscle for no apparent reason and we had visions of calling in a chopper in dense forest. It didn’t come to that. Helen provided an elastic stocking and pain-killers and we pressed on at ¾-speed. This time we crossed Wheel Creek at the big triangle and got to the car at 2pm. We’d taken 6½ hours, versus 7½, partially off track, for the inward leg. Again, Helen had the long drive to Chch and then further south.

On overgrown parts of the track, our four mumbled oaths like “never again”, but later as the whole experience gelled, such notions softened. We’d had an adventure in great country and the unusual occurrence of three fine days. Reading the hut book, Helen observed that our four boosted the stats for hut occupancy to seven so far this year, a big jump up from 2022’s five. The farmer did comment that he doesn’t see repeat visitors. 

Nonetheless, Helen Binnie, Keith Hoard, Steve Cameron and Kerry Moore can say they’ve been there. [KM]