Thread: On the hoof in the Northern Ruas

Yeah, my memory said it was on the southern side of that wee stream that Barlow hut is by, above the Makaroro river. There was a massive native, about 3 foot in diameter, lying about a dozen feet to the north of the hut. Would have totalled the hut, had it fallen a gnats cock the other way. Have a photo somewhere...

Originally Posted by XR500

Yeah, my memory said it was on the southern side of that wee stream that Barlow hut is by, above the Makaroro river. There was a massive native, about 3 foot in diameter, lying about a dozen feet to the north of the hut. Would have totalled the hut, had it fallen a gnats cock the other way. Have a photo somewhere...

Attachment 245174

Greetings @XR500 and all,
The Makaroro has changed considerably has changed considerably since my first trip in the late 1960's. Centre Makaroro Hut was just to the North of the stream mentioned above and there was a wire bridge connecting to a route to the Parks Peak track. The river bed was considerably lower than now. A major storm in the mid 1970's (possibly Cyclone Alison) deposited vast quantities of gravel in the lower Makaroro reaches covering all of the bush benches. The centre of the wire bridge was now barely a metre above the gravel. Norman Elders route guide talked of a barely negotiable pool at the start of a gorge 30 minutes above the hut and gave directions of how to get around it. On a trip in the late 1970's we were still looking for the pool when we got to Upper Makaroro Hut.
Regards Grandpamac.

Greetings,
Here are some scans of Elders Route Guide and NZMS74. all we had to go on in the late 1960's.
GPM.

Thanks for that @grandpamac. Yes, that route up the spur opposite the hut up to Parks Peak was a doozy for all the big fat possums we got on cyanide. Too frequently we would come around the corner and think we had poisoned someone's dog...to find it was a big buck possum. The damage to the riverbed was very evident in 1979/1980. Actually made the trip in on the XR500 rather easy....till the wintertime waterlevel rose, and the poor bike needed a snorkle and Vaseline smeared all over the electrics

Originally Posted by kiwijames

There was a lake up there too. Too early for my time but remember being told of it. @NIMROD would know..

Yes.... the lake was formed by a slip, possibly during cyclone Bola in 1988 if i recall correctly. Had a cobber who stashed a cheap inflatable dinghy by it to save swimming. took years before the river carved a path through the rock & debris.
Also of interest, the standard SF70 NZFS hut on display at the old DOC field center at Ongaonga was originally the Makaroro Base camp.

Originally Posted by NIMROD

Yes.... the lake was formed by a slip, possibly during cyclone Bola in 1988 if i recall correctly. Had a cobber who stashed a cheap inflatable dinghy by it to save swimming. took years before the river carved a path through the rock & debris.
Also of interest, the standard SF70 NZFS hut on display at the old DOC field center at Ongaonga was originally the Makaroro Base camp.

There was also a big dam up the tuki
The last part I have to question?
The original makaroro base camp is now Poutaki Hut in the wakararas
The doc hut in onga onga is The old Broome Hut.

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Originally Posted by BRADS

There was also a big dam up the tuki
The last part I have to question?
The original makaroro base camp is now Poutaki Hut in the wakararas
The doc hut in onga onga is The old Broome Hut.

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Agreed - the DOC hut at Onga Onga is the old Broome Hut from the base of Big Hill.

Originally Posted by BRADS

There was also a big dam up the tuki
The last part I have to question?
The original makaroro base camp is now Poutaki Hut in the wakararas
The doc hut in onga onga is The old Broome Hut.

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Yep definitely the old Broome hut. I remember when they took it away.
We used to stay there when I was a kid and fish the ngaruroro.

Originally Posted by kimber08

Yep definitely the old Broome hut. I remember when they took it away.
We used to stay there when I was a kid and fish the ngaruroro.

There's a picture somewhere of the base hut slung under a 500 into the wakararas

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Originally Posted by BRADS

There was also a big dam up the tuki
The last part I have to question?
The original makaroro base camp is now Poutaki Hut in the wakararas
The doc hut in onga onga is The old Broome Hut.

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Thanks for the correction BRADS..... good to know my memory is still operating at its usual level

The last time I was in Broome Hut before it was pulled out, was on a weekend territorials exercise and we had 4 or 5 Land Rovers stuck down in the dip by the hut unable to climb back up the papa track

Originally Posted by BRADS

There's a picture somewhere of the base hut slung under a 500 into the wakararas

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I was involved in the relocation and rebuild of the old Mac base hut..which became poutaki hut...

Just wanted to say I’m enjoying the history in these replies.

NZMS74 Oops more later

Originally Posted by hebe

Just wanted to say I’m enjoying the history in these replies.

Same its cool!

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Greetings,
In the bottom of my map drawers I found a copy of an old Wakarara N133 map from 1953. It shows some of the detail from the early NZMS 74 map plus some vegetation and topographical detail. Only Shute's and Ellis huts still exist. Some huts carry the names of current huts but these have been replaced over time. There are no huts in the Makaroro catchment and only two tracks, Colenso and Barlow, are shown. That is a lot of change for 70 years.
GPM.