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Hikers Wool Blog
Wall's Whare to Totora Flats revisited........
They say that when you re-visit places things are never quite the same. Well, "they" were right as I found out when I went back to Totora Flats ( in the south eastern foothills of the Tararua Range ) after 31 years!
At the end of the road in from Greytown (still unsealed but much improved) the old wooden 3 sided Wall's Whare shelter has long gone and now a grassy camping area with modern toilets is in it's place. It's about a 4 hour walk into Totara Flats from Wall's Whare and the first thing you have to do is cross the Waiohine River Gorge.
31 years ago there was a perilously old wire swing bridge (about 100 metres above the river) just wide enough for two feet and no sides apart from the two suspension cables. Only one person could cross at a time as the old bridge swayed around like a tree in the wind. To cross the bridge with a full pack on your back was up there with your first bunjy jump in the adrenalin stakes!. Dogs simply would not go near it and hunters would have to carry them over in a pack or ocross their shoulders. NOW we have a new perfectly balanced and stable 92 metre suspension bridge with mesh sides and 8 people are able to cross at one time!
The walk into Totora Flats was a beautiful as I remembered but I had forgotten that the first of 5 stream crossings was only a half hour into the walk so it was wet feet all the way! The new hut at the Flats now sports about 26 beds in two bunkrooms. It has gas stoves and running water indoors and a wonderful fireplace complete with drying rack overhead - very handy as it had rained for that last two hours of the walk.
With all this and being very accessible (both from Wall's Whare and from Holdsworth in the north) it's a popular hut but we were lucky enough to have it to ourselves on this wet week night.
The Waiohine river still rushes past the Flats as it always did and it was as peaceful and beautiful as ever in there. So even after 31 years there are still some things that never change!
Posted by Sandra on 3rd January, 2010 | Comments | Trackbacks
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