Walk 20 - Inland Pack Track |
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Day 1: Punakaiki to the Ballroom Overhang It was a hazy day as we crossed underneath the highway bridge and set out up the Pororari River Gorge. We followed this route as it is more scenic than the official start of the Inland Pack Track. The track closely followed the river bank through a lush vegetation; the nikau palms and scrambling leafy kiekie vines giving it a quasi-tropical feel. Tall rimu and rata reached above the canopy and the sheer limestone cliffs of the gorge reached even higher above the green-clad lower slopes. It was hard to believe that this clear, shallow stream was the same one as the raging brown torrent of a few days earlier. |
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Soon we arrived at the junction with the Inland Pack Track proper and turned left to reach the ford across the Pororari - sandals replaced boots for the first time and we waded the swiftly flowing knee-deep river to enter a world of beech-rimu forest on the strangely uneven surface of the limestone syncline; on either side of the track were sinkholes and deep potholes, while occasionally we passed over grikes (deep narrow cracks in the limestone) that crossed the track. This section of the track seemed relatively long, given our current level of saturation with beech forest, but eventually opened up to an area of flat farmland, through which ran Bullock Creek, our second fording of the day. |
From Bullock Creek, the track re-entered the beech-rimu forest gradually climbing up to the north, before heading east across several small streams to emerge at Fossil Creek, where the real adventure of this tramp starts. At Fossil Creek the formed track ended. We took off our boots which would not be needed for the rest of the day, donned sandals and commenced our journey down the shallow creek, under a thick forest canopy, with banks lined with thick vegetation, including the infamous New Zealand nettle bush (NB keep way from this one - the tingles in my arm took 48 hours to subside). Guided by the occasional orange triangle, we waded long shallow sections, crossed stoney reaches and took to the bush occasionally to avoid deeper holes, before emerging at a broad open stoney river course. |
Beyond, the limestone walls narrowed and steepened; we had reached the junction with Dilemma Creek. Crossing the first of 18 fords, we commenced a wonderful amble down this magnificent gorge, criss-crossing the fast-flowing icy waters of the creek to follow first one bank than the other, along a highway of water-rounded stones and boulders. At each turn, a new and different facet of this spectacular limestone landscape was revealed.
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The ever changing vistas descending Dilemma Creek Gorge |
After a few kilometres, the flat wall of a second gorge blocked our field of view; we had reached the junction of Dilemma Creek with the Fox River. Heading downstream for a few hundred metres, we found the best place to ford the Fox, though we had to lean thigh-deep into the fast-flowing stream as it tugged at us, probably the most difficult crossing of the trip. Once on the other side, we headed upstream again and, passing the deep pools of the Fox-Dilemma junction, began another series of shallow fordings as we headed up the Fox River gorge. |
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Day 2: The Ballroom to Fox River Mouth We awoke to a misty morning, wisps of cloud hanging midway down the limestone walls of the gorge. There was no great hurry to leave, as we were only due at Fox River mouth at 4pm (to catch a passing bus back to Punakaiki). By 10am when we set off again, the mist had lifted and the sun broke through, highlighting the brilliant whiteness of the limestone cliffs against the greeness of the vegetation above and below them and glistening off the river, as we retraced our steps back to the first Fox ford. |
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At the top of the large opening lay a small slot in the rocks, an unobtrusive entrance to the magic that lay beyond. |
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