Thursday, March 12: Rain at first, then somewhat drier, rain again in the evening

Tramping: Tarawera Trail, 13.4 km

Astray (BBH, $37 + $3)

• Topo
• GPS

The day wasn’t turning out so well for a tramp, but I decided on going ahead with it anyway. By about 9:30 the car was packed and ready to go, and I was a the car park for the trail by about 10:00. The forecast had been for showers but it was coming down in a constant stream.

I had my full-length trousers and the raincoat on right from the beginning. The path is rather narrow and the wet plants on either side were hanging over the track and transferring water first to the pants and then to the sox and boots. I made brief stops every now and then and at the second picnic place it had virtually stopped raining so I stopped for my two rounds of sandwiches and mandarine for lunch.

Not many distant views to be had, but some nice large rocks, and many a valley with fern trees, some quite distinctive and large. I’m not sure whether this would make this track a “Great Walk”, but if it went over the mountain or had a little more thermal area than the one Hot Water Beach, then I suppose it could.

I was up over the main climb – as with most of the time today – just under the time advertised and was down at said Hot Water Beach by about 1:30. The water in the lake along the beach was already quite warm; I stripped off and went in, but the deeper I went the cooler it became. I went along to the “swimming pool” at the estuary of the hot spring and nearly burnt my feet – strange sensation, couldn’t quite work out what was happening at first, because the sensation was one of pain rather than heat initially. Anyway, it was very hot in the “swimming pool” and the water had to be mixed around; even the pebbles I was sitting on were hot, and I didn’t remain in for very long.

There was a group of people here who had just come in on a motor boat. They were staying in a couple of tents, and also had a Canadian canoe parked on the beach. They invited me for a cuppa while I waited for my water taxi. I mistook them for a family at first, but am at a loss to say how they got together. Eventually some more of them turned up in a sea kayak and a further canoe, and I went down to the beach to take some photos, bracketed panoramas and time lapses.

All of that party were then ferried away in the speed boat to another part of the lake. By now my water taxi was late and I mistook the returning boat for it; then another boat with a young family turned up for a swim; finally a couple in another speed boat.

By now I was debating whether to trigger the spot. It was already too late to walk back and retrieve the car from the car park (it would be locked by the time I got back). Chris, the husband of the last couple to return had tried getting cell phone coverage to call the water taxi company whose telephone number was prominently displayed on the beach but couldn’t find anything; at this point I decided that the spot could be triggered as an orange alert (“Help”).

It took some time for the alerted crew to get their act together; in that time Chris and Viv Profit had consulted with each other and decided to offer me a lift back; ostensibly Chris needed some more fuel for a triple trip; I then went back to sending a green OK signal once he had decided to go. Back on land he drove me to the car park and waited until my car actually started. He declined my offer of contributing towards his fuel costs. Decent bloke!

Back here I decided I needed to get sorted quickly and found a room at the Astray, had my pizza, emailed Michael and was happy that my actions were justified. He had seen that I was in the middle of nowhere, called the police who imagined that I would be waiting for a water taxi, and they were in the middle of organising something when my OK signal came from the surface of the lake. Michael correctly interpreted this as my being on my way to safety and further action was nullified.

Now to the pictures.