Thread: Tramper missing in Tararuas

Originally Posted by Rushy

For a start most all the insects and larvae you find although Wetas taste pretty foul. Koura and eels are fairly easy to catch and thereafter head up the animal scale. come with me to a park some day and I will find you some stick insects, cicadas and grass hoppers to get you started. After your first cicada I bet you take the wings off the next one.

That's a done deal.

I have a few spots in galatea foot hills I could show you around.

Locusts and cicadas aren't bad. You can fry them, but they're fine fresh.

Cicadas have a nutty sort of flavour. Locusts have a gelatin sort of texture and a grass-like taste once you get past the initial 'crunch' and get into the juicy innards. Great source of protein and a host of valuable minerals.

If you're in the sub-alpine/alpine you can eat Spaniard Grass roots - which taste a bit like carrot/parsnip. In fact, I'm pretty sure they're in a similar family. They can be quite tough to chew on and are nicer cooked. Some of the early NZ pioners actually lived off Spaniard roots when food was scarce.

Coprosma berries - another source of food in alpine areas across the South Island. They're small perfectly round berries about the size of a large matchstick head, and they come in different colours: reds, yellows, blue/purple. They're very sweet and a handful of them can be quite moral boosting.

Thistles - you may find them close to farmland or in low-land bush. You can eat the leaves fresh (once you've taken off the prickles), boil them, and you can also eat the heads of the bulbs (they're similar to a 'nut') and the stalks (quite stringy, but you can get a bit of moisture/minerals from them). You can also eat the roots of thistles. The younger the plant the sweeter the root. Thistle leaves are actually used in salads in some Asian dishes, and I'm fairly sure it's a European thing as well (or at least used to be).

Chicken fern fronds.

Lichen.

Mushrooms (better take a field guide with you).

Hedgehogs, possums, rats, mice etc.


You won't fill your belly as you may at Mcdonald's, but it's enough to keep you alive until you knock over another deer.

And with deer, you can eat the eye balls, bone marrow, brain, heart...you can get most of the minerals you need. The muscle meat alone won't cut it and it may upset your stomach if that's all you're eating.

Plenty of stuff to try.

And Huhu grubs. I love those bloody things straight out of the log. I have been eating them for over sixty years.

Originally Posted by Rushy

And Huhu grubs. I love those bloody things straight out of the log. I have been eating them for over sixty years.

Ahah ... that explains your liking for Waikato swamp water.

Yea, quite like a feed of huhus myself. Don't get them much round here tho. Cooked on a sqauremouth shovel over a fire used to be the norm.
Any news about the fella gone missing?

Originally Posted by chainsaw

Ahah ... that explains your liking for Waikato swamp water.

Just a boy from the bush chainsaw. A little town in the middle of nowhere that doesn’t exist any more.

Cabbage tree too. If you happen to be close to one.

Quote..”And Huhu grubs.”

Waikato and Huhu grubs,MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE,gourmet tucker..

...............what was yr dads name????.we might be related

I’m not sure hunger is the guy who’s lost is his biggest need right now.

We can last a lot of time without food so long as we are warm enough and have fluids.

Personally, I can only ever recall during my lifetime (seems like a long time) one occasion when someone lost has had to revert to eating off the land to actually survive. Does anyone remember the 2 sisters who were lost many years ago in the Waiau up near Waikerimoana?

Originally Posted by Bonecrusher

The hardest decision to make is too turn around but I think you would be hard pressed to final an example of where a fatality has happened when a party has retreated to shelter / cover in inclement weather

The DOC hut booking system can influence this (not DOC bashing here). Because people book and pay for huts like Angelus they put themselves under more pressure to get there on a given day, otherwise they loose their place. Stupid to risk your life for I know but it is one more factor that makes people "press on". As QB weekend approached and we were driving down to St Arnaud my wife (having seen the forecast) commented on the likelyhood of the rescue chopper having a busy weekend down there. Unfortunately she was right.
I heard that the missing man in the Tararuas has a tent? Maybe he is hunkered down somewhere out of the weather. Lets hope.

Originally Posted by Tahr

We can last a lot of time without food so long as we are warm enough and have fluids.

Personally, I can only ever recall during my lifetime (seems like a long time) one occasion when someone lost has had to revert to eating off the land to actually survive. Does anyone remember the 2 sisters who were lost many years ago in the Waiau up near Waikerimoana?

Yes.

Originally Posted by Tahr

We can last a lot of time without food so long as we are warm enough and have fluids.

Personally, I can only ever recall during my lifetime (seems like a long time) one occasion when someone lost has had to revert to eating off the land to actually survive. Does anyone remember the 2 sisters who were lost many years ago in the Waiau up near Waikerimoana?

If I remember correct the cold did a bit of damage, was near Ruatahuna?

Originally Posted by Tahr

We can last a lot of time without food so long as we are warm enough and have fluids.

Yes it is generally accepted as ten days but a man of my considerable reserves ......... well potentially several weeks.

Originally Posted by Rushy

Yes it is generally accepted as ten days but a man of my considerable reserves ......... well potentially several weeks.

Met some of your new recruits tonight who had been on a weeks exercise in Pureora Forest, the first couple were running, the next lot walking, the end of the line were hobbling. This was their easy training exercise, they are heading for Waioru in the morning to get really cold.