Casey Hut 17-18th April 2010

Uncle Roddus Tramping diary:Tramp no. 89

Casey Hut 17-18th April 2010

The Casey hut is a 16 bunk hut near the confluence of Casey stream and the Poulter river. it is a moderate trip to get to it from the Andrews shelter and to either come back the same way or follow the four wheel drive track down the poulter and over Binser saddle then back to the cars along the road, a pretty straight forward trip and a popular one. This trip had been on my to do list for quite some time after the last attempt never even left town for weather reasons. Some friends who had been reading some of my trip reports on this blog and others who knew I tramped had asked me about going out sometime and doing something. What with so many other things going on and tramps with the CTC taking a lot of my tramping time I haden't got round to organising anything. Ulrich said he wanted to do something before his holidays were over and I was looking for someone to do this trip with. I checked in with another couple of people but it was short notice and some were out of town and others had to work, so it was just the two of us.

We arrived at Andrews shelter about 9:20am on an overcast but warm Saturday morning, with a light norwest wind. The forcast was for cloud clearing and Sunday was to be fine. We decided to do the long way first, walk round to the start of the Binser Saddle track, over Binser Saddle, then up the Poulter to the Hut and then out the shorter track over Casey Saddle and along the Andrews Track. We left the car at 9:40am and had climbed the 500 or so meters to Binser saddle, throught beech forrest, by 11:30, stopping briefly at the clearing before the saddle to re fuel. The track was mostly clear of wind fall and is a very well used and easy to follow track. After a steep desent of 200 or so meters we qiuckly dropped down to Pete stream amd link up with the four wheel drive track which we follow almost all the way to the hut. Seven KM from the hut, there is a DOC sign saying the the rest of the track is a monitored mountainbike track to the Trust/Poulter Hut, and indeed, did 2 mountainbikers turn up at the casy hut for the night about 2 hours after we arrived.

The top part of our trek was much more scenic than the lower part, through Matagari country, and after Rabbit flat we headed back into the bush and then through a lovely garssy clearing after a small lake and before we left the mountain blke track and cut across the big flat bush area behind Casey Hut, which had some impressive specimens of Black beach. We got to the hut in 6 and 3/4 hours covering 22.7KM. With a weekend pack, I was feeling it. A plesent evening was had chatting with the 2 mountain bikers and the other couple who had come in over Casy saddle and the clear sky made for an impressive starry sky after dark.

Sunday Morning dawned fine as promised, and Ulrich and I set of at about 8:20am to trek the 13.8KM up the Casy Stream, over Casy Saddler and down the Andrews track. It was a most enjoyable walk out in brilliant sunshine, changing forrest and lovely open spaces along the saddle and Hallelujah flats. Saw some good camping spots but had fairly short breaks on the open areas as the sand flies wouldnt leave us alone each time we stopped. Some very impressive Red Beech in one of the gullies lower down and the song of the Kea near the Saddle. Got back to the car in 5 and 1/2 hours. Exellent trip. 

Ulrich at the Andrews Shelter Saturday morning

 Sweating our way up Binser Saddle

A stroll in the bush

 Matagari country

 Further up the Poulter

 Another shot looking back down the Poulter

The Swampy lake just past Rabbit flat

Someones shelter

Checking the map, we must be there soon.

The large Beech trees behind the hut.

Casey Hut

On the Casy Track

Up on Casy saddle

Casy Saddle looking back towards Casy hut

 A long boardwalk

Just coming off Casy Saddle heading towards Halleujah flats

Back in bush about 30 minutes from the road

Brian Auger's Oblivion Express - Christchurch 8th April 2010

Brian Auger has been around since the Roman Empire, or so he jokeingly tell us from the stage of the James Hay Theater in Chritchurch on Thursday night. I hadn't really heard much of his music, but I had heard of him and as he was playing here as part of the annual Jazz & Blues Festival and Mrs Roddus was going to see Carol king and James Taylor that same night , I thought it would be worth going to see, and a LOT cheaper than the King/Taylor concert.

Brian put togeather the Oblivian Express in the early 70s, after having sucess in various outfits and playing with many of the leading musicians of the 60s. The Express played uptempo Jazz/Funk based Progressive type rock lead by Brians Organ and keyboards. The vocals in this current band line up are handeled by his daughter Savannah Grace Auger with his son Karma Auger on drums and Californian Derek frank on bass. 

Savannah is a powerful singer and the few times she vocalised unaccompanied her voice sounded so pure, unfortunatly the vocals were just slightly too low in the mix to hear her clearly, so it was difficuly to appreciate her talent more fully. I thought Karma played exellent and was impressive on a couple of solos. Brian really gets into is extended organ breakes and my foot was tapping for almost the whole show. One stand out was a slow burning version of "Light My Fire" as well as "Season of the Witch", of which I was familiar, but didn't know that Donavon wrote it. They also did some pure Jazz covers in their own style and played for about 2 hours. My more full enjoyement of this concert was somewhat tapered by the tradgedy that had befallen us earlier that day(see below). My rating 3.5/5.

Mufasa: A Eulogy to the Dude

The King is Dead and we are left broken hearted and distrought.

This little man came into our house in late 2007, a tiny ball of orange with bright eyes and the most loving nature. He soon won the hearts of all who dwell here, excetp Petel, the black female cat, but every one else, including the old Tom, Sid, fell under his spell. As he grew, so did our affection for him and as he came into adulthood he did become his namesake, The King of our house. He loved to stalk Petel, to bring live birds into the house, hide mice in my shoes, hang out with us in the garden, to annoy Sid , but Sid took it well, to waltz in at 3:00am and crawl under the bed covers with us, all covered with leaves that he would pick up in is long fluffy coat. With his winter coat he almost did have a Lions main. Most evenings after dinner, he would disappear outside to play for the evening, chasing moths, mice, Sid or Petel, teasing the dogs next door and generally causing trouble and every hour or so he would come inside to just see if we were still there, or to show us he was still here, have a smooch and then head outdoors again.

He loved and worshipped Sid  but he would always have to leap past Sid when we let them in and be first to the food bowls and Sid would sit back and wait till Mu was finished. He loved being brushed with the fine cat brush we brought him and was almost always there when we got home at nights looking up at us with those big eyes saying ,"come on, feed me". He was one of the Coolest Cats I have ever known and was a much loved member of out family.

The King awaiting his breakfast in bed.

Sometime during the night of the 7/8th April he must have been over the road checking out the paddock and what ever caught his intrest. He was hit by a car and as far as we can tell died instantly. Our neighbuor found his body on their front lawn later that day.

Our greif and sense of loss in deep, we will miss you MU.

Goodby my friend.

Under The Southern Moonlight (The Kiwi Rock Scene1970 - 1975) - Various Artists.

Another Recent Roddus Purchase

Here is an interesting find I recently came across in the Warehouse for a very reasonable price. A compilation of  early 70's New Zealand rock. Some classics here I already have or know, like the exellent "Good Morning Mr Rock N' Roll" by Headband and "Ride The Rain" by Quincy Conserve, featuring the late grate Bruno Laurance, as well as his BLERTA, also included here.Some less known classics from classic bands like Split Enz, Luther, Dragon and The La De Da's and plenty of rarities from obscure bands like Taylor, Butler, Bitch and Killip, not to mention also awesome stuff from the likes of The Underdogs, Ticket, Space Farm and A cover of  The kinks "You Really Got Me" By The powerful Human Instinct.

Overall, a very good compilation giving a great cross section of the NZ rock scene from this period. No real weak tracks here just plenty of killers with several others that grow with each listen and showing the talent and professionalism of the local scene even 35 years ago. My Rating 4/5

Buy Here