16. Hirere Falls
I had slept in until 11 am and walked to the kitchen for some dinner left-overs and the Chef asked if I would be keen to join a lodgee from Quintin Lodge for a walk. "Wait a minute," I quickly replied. "Did you say, Hirere Falls?"
I've been wanting to go to Hirere Falls from the start but it just never worked out. At the start of the season I thought I could find it myself but ended up lost and almost carried off by chest-deep water.
The Quintin lodgee walked into the room and asked if I would want to join her. She looked like she was ready to leave. I told her I would love to and quickly made some lunch before getting my pack.
Once we got walking, I discovered that this was the lodgee's fifth season. She had worked for four years at Pompolona and decided to spend a year at Quintin, but she prefers Pomp, she told me as we walked along the trail under the Beech trees. She was from the Czech Republic and wanted to spend some time away from all the nearby conflict and war, and decided New Zealand was about as far away as one could be.
The sunlight filtered through the Beech canopy above us and dotted the rocky path before us. We both talked about our love of nature and how awe-inspiring this place was. Sometimes I get caught up in the job and the constant conflict of personality clashes so I was grateful to be on this walk.
She was very knowledgeable and familiar with the area, and showed me smaller walks I could do on another day. Being a Relief Manager, I don't get many opportunities to do walks like this; I am often too exhausted. It is a well-known fact that my role is the least liked because of the long hours. We are only paid a daily rate, based on a 8 hour day. Often I am working 13 hours of hard physical work and of course, sleeping is never an issue. I go to bed and am asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow!
It took about 1 hour 40 mins to reach the place where we cross the river, just beyond the 8 mile marker. I watched as she stepped into the water with her shoes and knew I was to do the same. I have always had this thing about not getting into water with my shoes on... the feeling of wet socks gave me the shivers. Unbelievably, I have managed to keep my boots dry right up until this moment. Even when I crossed the Clinton river last time, I had removed my boots, despite being told at the beginning of the season to not remove your boots when crossing rivers. I am not the only soggy-sock-averse person... the guides often tell us of walkers who avoid puddles by walking up on the sides of the track only to navigate through waist-high flood waters after a downpour.
My right foot plunged through the clear waters of the Clinton river and as I stepped onto the rocky river bed, the boot filled with cold water as expected. The second foot followed and once again I felt the cold water instantly soak my sock. I took several more steps and realised how much easier it was walking over the rocks with boots on!
The water level was only at knee level and once I was in the middle of the river I looked up to see beech trees lining the river, and beyond them were the mountains and blue sky. It looked so beautiful I had forgotten about my soggy soaks. We got over to the other side and the first few steps out of the water felt a little squishy but incredibly after a few more steps, my feet didn't even feel wet. That was the benefit of merino socks!
We followed a dry river bed for about 30 minutes or so. Some of the rocks were quite large and I wondered what it would have looked like seeing them roll down off the mountain. There was the odd beech tree that had seeded in the rocks and somehow survived through all the flash floods after heavy rain. Their woody roots wound around the rocks and some had leaned into nearby trees for additional support. Now that's nature at its finest. "You don't hear the trees complaining about their tough life, do you?" I yell out to the lodgee who was several steps ahead of me. Suddenly a tree made a creaking sound and I squealed. The lodgee laughed and told me trees make noises all of the time. I thought it was going to fall down on me so I picked up my pace to keep up with her.
Eventually the waterfall came into view above some rather large boulders. As we climbed up, we noticed water trickling under the rocks and before long, flowing over the rocks. Once again our shoes plunged into the cold water as we navigated the climb up until we arrived at the bottom of the waterfall.
Usually there is a lot more water coming down, the lodgee told me, but we haven't had rain for a few days. Because we are literally at the top of the mountains, water levels instantly climb or reduce within minutes. Our walk was made a lot easier because water levels were so low.
It could have been on a brochure, it looked so pretty. The water fell into a small pool of clear jade green water and if the temperature was a balmy 20oC, I would have totally jumped in and enjoyed the most beautiful swim of my life. I dipped my finger in and wasn't surprised at the icy-cold water that near-numbed it. We sat down on some nearby rocks and ate our lunch while we soaked up the last of the sun before it disappeared behind the mountains.
"There's another pool of water above us that is quite pretty," the lodgee said. "The walk up is a bit sketchy though" and I followed her gaze to a steep rock face.
I wasn't sure if she wanted to go up so I said I would if she wanted to go. She did. I felt apprehensive but I might not be back here, I thought to myself.
I followed her steps as we climbed the rock and I decided not to look down but rather focus all my energy on not falling off. There was a part where I felt a little anxious as my boots were just balancing on a small ledge of rock and my hands were above my head scrambling to hold onto anything that wouldn't move and I shimmied my way across.
The steps got a little easier after that and when the lodgee called to me saying we had arrived, I leapt over the final rocks to see the view. Well, that was worth it! An even prettier pool of jade green water with the waterfall sliding down the steep mountain cliff. We were perhaps 200 metres from the summit at this point and as I turned around, the view was jaw-droppingly beautiful. We climbed a big rock which overlooked the valley below and took photo's of each other. We were on top of the world, it felt, as we looked down over the beech canopy that flowed up the valley.
At the top of one mountain was a small glacier of ice which shone brilliantly in the sun. Down the valley we could see the Clinton river meander its way through the forest and spread out before it condensed again and disappeared into the trees.
WOW, a thousand times, wow! This was spectacular, I yelled out to the view in front of me. There was nobody else where we were. Only lodgees get to do these walks. We took a radio just in case... these walks aren't designed for walkers. No... they can be very dangerous and there have been walkers and lodgees who have lost their lives on this track.
I now have the deepest respect for nature and next time I think my life is tough, I will think of those beech trees with their roots wrapped around rocks on a dry riverbed that occasionally floods. Many trees had succumbed and laid broken over the rocks, uprooted. Hold on until one day you can't!
I knew that getting down the rock would be harder than getting up and at one point, I wanted to freeze as I couldn't find a place for my right foot and I had nothing but rock to hold on to. I had to trust that my next foot placement would be okay and not slip because if I fell, I probably would break a leg or worse. It was just rock below and I could hear the lodgee encouraging me to take the next step but I was hesitating.
All my focus was on finding somewhere to put my right foot as I flattened my body up against the rock. Oh crap... I took tiny steps until I eventually found something more solid. We are bouldering, I yelled to the lodgee, but without the mattress. I saw some people doing "bouldering" once at Castle Hill on the way up to Arthur's Pass. They carried these mattresses on their back and I wondered... what on earth? I couldn't think of anything worse and yet, here I was, clambering across a large boulder and hoping not to fall because I had no mattress to land on! Thankfully I got off the rock and we both high-fived each other. I was really buzzing, adrenalin was flowing through my veins and I felt really high!
We made our way back to Pompolona Lodge in time for a fabulous dinner where the Chef had made the most perfect buns for our burgers. Wow, I said as I took my first bite. How many times have I said that, I asked the lodgee, who was sitting next to me? Thank you again, I told her, for such an amazing day!
It was incredible!