Edwards Hut/Mt Williams 27-28th November 2010

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No. 94

Edwards Hut/Mt Williams 27-28th November 2010

My original intention was for Honora and myself to head over to the West Coast again to tackle another of those remote huts that is listed on the Remote Huts web site. Lake Morgan and the Morgan hut sit nestled nicely on the top of a hill overlooking the Haupiri river. Unfortunately the forecast was for cloud and drizzle with afternoon showers on both days and the thought of going all the way over there and then not be able to see anything on the tops wasn't to inspiring. Honora suggested going up to Edwards hut with her partner Frank and go over the Williams saddle on Sunday. I had been to the Edwards hut a couple of times but never stayed there and I also had been over Williams saddle quite some time ago with the CTC, but our original intention to climb Mt Williams was thwarted by the weather. I was, therefore keen to have another go at Williams, as it was one of my incompletes. The forecast was also for afternoon showers in Arthur's Pass National park, but this at least wouldn't stop us going to the hut and we could then see how Sunday turned out.

Saturday was a warm and fine day as I met Frank & Honora at Springfield before we headed up to Arthurs Pass. After parking the car we crossed the Bealey River, then headed up the Minga river before heading east up the Edwards. We then decided to walk up the river itself, through the gorge, instead of following the track which climbed a good 100 meters sideling the hill. This was a good move as the gorge was pleasant and cool as the day was getting hotter. The trip through the gorge was fairly short, after which the river broadens out to wide shingle flats. After crossing the east branch of the Edwards we started the climb up the track to take us over the impassable gorge and waterfalls. We lunched on a small Knob soon after we started climbing, the day was getting hotter and hotter. We continued on the climb after lunch but I soon started to feel slightly ill and lost energy. I am still not sure if it was just the heat of some thing I ate at lunch, but this slowed me down considerably and made the constant climbing seem much more than it was. We arrived at the Hut after about 4 and 1/2 hours, being the first group to arrive. I felt pretty exhausted at the hut but soon revived after a hot cup of soup and a rest. I was contemplating going for a walk up the Edwards Valley to Taruahuna Pass, to fill in the rest of the day, there was still plenty of daylight hours left and this was also supposed to be the plan of a group from the CTC , that I had read in the Trip calender. Unfortunately, those afternoon showers arrived very quickly  about 30 minutes after we got to the hut. So I stayed put and watched as other parties arrived pretty wet, including the CTC party.  Once the other parties arrived and pretty much filled the rest of the placed in this 16 bed hut, the rain stopped and the rest of the day stayed fine.

After being awaken by one party of 6 at 4:30am, who seemed incapable of leaving quietly, as they were going to climb up to Mt Oats and needed to be back in the city by 5pm, Sunday dawned a stunning fine and warm day. We left the hut  around 9am and headed directly up the hill, climbing up a steep creek bed, then onto the Williams saddle. Had Morning tea then carried along the ridge, getting to Mt Williams summit right on 12pm.

It was warm, there was no wind,  the Sky's were mostly cloudless and the views were stunning so a leisurely lunch was had admiring the scenery before we headed back along some looking for the spot to drop down into the Minga river. The route down involved a very gnarly scree, which got better in the middle part, then rocky at the bottom, before a pretty serious bush bash down the last 250 meters, during which I managed to loose my sunglasses. I was eternally grateful to finally plunge out of the bush onto the Minga riverbed. The rest of the trip was just a straight slog down the Minga river flats back to the car, which we arrived at around 4pm.

 The scenic Edwards gorge

Honora at our lunch viewpoint.

 The Edwards Falls

 The lovley Mt Cook Lillys, there were planty of them near the hut.

 Approaching Edwards Hut

 Looking up the Edwards from the Hut, Falling mountain in the distance.

 And the rain it did come down for 40 minutes and 40 seconds, there abouts.

 Climbing up to the Williams saddle, looking back at the hut

 Looking up river towards Falling Mountain

The creek bed we climbed up.

Looking down onto Williams saddle with Mt Williams at the end of the ridge

Another Great view of the Edwards and Falling mountain at the end

Mt Williams

looking up the Minga valley with Mt Oats to the right

About to drop down into the minga below

That Gnarly Scree

George Benson - Christchurch Town Hall 16th November 2010

Mrs. Roddus was very keen on this one as old George played here doing a Nat King Cole tribute. I had missed Benson last time he was here and was curious to see him live as he has a fearsome reputation as a world class Jazz guitarist. I don't own any of his music and have no interest to, but it was worth while going to see him. I wasn't all too keen to go out of my way for this concert as Nat King Cole really isn't my cup of tea but as Mrs. Roddus was really keen and I refused to go with her to Simply Red last month, I thought this concert was worth making the effort for her. They were advertising that they would play some other stuff in the second half of the show. 

The first thing was that due to lack of ticket sales, the venue was changed from the Westpac Trust center to the Christchurch Town hall. Although this wasn't so good for George and his large cast of supporting musicians, it was good for the audience, as the Town Hall is a much better venue for this sort of music, better acoustics and a more intimate setting. 

The Concert started promptly at 8:00pm with the appearance on the stage of a rather oldish looking gentleman introduced as Roy Something(I didn't catch his last name), who sat as the front of the stage behind a set of Keyboards and started to play this very slow, melancholic, late night jazz sort of stuff, with corny lyrics to do with love and relationships etc... Sounded like he should be playing in one of those late night bars where all the patrons come to drown their sorrows with smooth jazz being played in the background by some old bloke. It nearly put me to sleep and the first two songs he did like this seemed to go on and on forever. One thing about this guy was he was a very good singer and His voice had a familiar sound to it, quite distinct, but I just couldn't place it. After he finished playing the first two songs, with some of the audience nodding off, he introduced him self saying this was the first time he had played here since 1969 with a band called the Peddlers. Things fell into place after that announcement and he then told us a funny story before playing some of  The Peddlers songs such as "Girlie P.S. I Love You" and "Birth" off the 1969 "Birthday" album Of which I used to have a copy on vinyl some time back. Roy also played "Last Train to Clarksville" among some other songs, before departing after his short set. Once I knew who he was I took a bit more interest in his music.

After a drinks break, on came George, and started into his Nat King Cole Tribute, after the first number of some uptempo jazz, and some great guitar work. He was backed by his band and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and although I am not moved much by Nat's music, I was intrigued to watch and listen to the orchestra's playing on the songs and enjoyed some of the subtle string melodies backing the songs. George was upfront and the quintensentuial showman and won the crowed immediately. As well as an excellent guitarist, he is also a powerful singer and did justice to Cole's material. I had noticed the group of back up singers that he had used on a couple of the songs and they too were a powerful sounding bunch and for one song, One of those soppy Cole love songs or what ever, he was joined by the chorus leader, a tall and slender blond who had the most awesome powerful voice I have heard live for a very long time. Although I didn't like the song it's self, The woman's(I don't remember her name) vocal performance was outstanding. She was capable of raising the roof of that hall and I noticed when she was really giving it her all on some parts of the song, how she dropped her microphone away from herself , but her volume didn't diminish. Very Impressed. Once dispensed with the Nat King Cole set, George started in on his promise of a George Party and got stuck in to some more uptempo funky jazz stuff, which had me tapping my foot vigorously. As He then toned it down for some of his more commercial stuff I was reminded a lot of Stevie Wonder. Some of this material was a bit slower and not as much to my liking and while this was happening I was trying hard to remember what song it was he had had a big hit with back in the very early 80s, which I remember was thrashed on the radio here. "Give Me The Night" was that song, and no sooner had I remembered it when He started into playing it. This got the crowd to its feet and dancing in the isles. This was the last song but the crowd roared for more and a long introduction to each member of the band was followed by a couple more uptempo tracks and an impressive solo from the drummer. 

Apart from George's Scat singing along with his guitar playing in places and the use of backing tapes on a couple of songs it was a worthwhile concert and enjoyed by both myself and Mrs. Roddus. Well Done George.

Adventure Biv/Yeats Hut - 6th&7th November 2010

Uncle Roddus Tramping diary: Tramp No.93
Adventure Biv/Yeats Hut 6-7th Nov 2010.

Picked up my companion for this trip from Springfield at about 9am Saturday morning and headed over to Hokitika for our weekends adventure. The original plan was to revisit Kirwans hut near Reefton but as no one else signed on for that, Honora suggested that if there was somewhere more challenging or different I wanted to go she was keen. Adventure Biv is the first hut listed on the Remote Huts Westland website and I had been  thinking about organising a trip there for quite a while. Honora agreed and said it was one she also had wanted to visit. She had done some trips in the area and knew the terrain so it was decided. The difficulty of the West coast is getting the weather good and our luck looked like it was in as the forecast was for bright sunny days on both Saturday and Sunday. Honora suggested after, some discussion, that on Sunday we head up from Adventure Biv along the tops and head back down to Yeats hut and then out from there, I thought this was a good idea and we then get to visit two huts on my new mission to visit all the huts on the Remote Huts site.

So our adventure starts just on Midday as we leave the car at the end of  Middlebranch Road and begin the journey up the Toaroha river towards the famous Cedar Flats huts and hot pools. Surprisingly, there were no DOC signs indicating the start of the track up to Cedar Flats, which I thought was strange as it is a popular tramping destination for trampers who like to soak in hot pools at the end of their walks. There was an orange marker though, so we headed off in the direction it indicated to us. The track up to Cedar Flats is well used and well maintained and a team were working there on Saturday building new boardwalks on the lower parts of the track. Some of the travel involved a long stretch of rock hopping lower down, although there is a high flood track if needed. After a pleasant amble of around 3&1/2 hours we cross the long swing bridge to check out the 2 huts at Cedar Flats take in the views of where we are about to climb and have some afternoon tea.
We head up river from Cedar Flats a while until we get to cross another shorter swing bridge spanning a deep gorge  back across the Toaroha River. We soon reach the signposted turnoff to Adventure Biv and start the climb up the ridge through the bush. The track was easy to follow and well marked. It climbed fairly steeply before cresting point 808 and dropping down a good 50 or 60 meters before the final climb up to Adventure Biv. We made the climb to the Biv in just over 2 hours and just under 6 & 1.2 hours from the road. The Biv itself is one of those low small affairs put there by the old Forestry Service back in 1984 and it only had one bed with some sacking and foam mats for comfort. A pleasant evening was had sitting outside, me learning to use my new MSR liquid fuel stove, cooking and eating dinner with spongy puddings for desert and hitting the sack just before it got dark.

Sunday dawned clear and fine as promised and a reasonably early start of 8am saw us leaving the Biv to head up hill to Zit Saddle. The area above the biv is very scrubby and tussocky in patches, the tussock being quite large. The track is less maintained here and took more concentration to stay on it. Also it got very steep in places and we had to carefully use the flora to help pull us up as we climbed. In my less fit condition after the winter I certainly found it hard going and as it was so steep, my walking poles weren't of much use. We made Zit saddle just after 10am, had a refuelling stop and admired the views before the clouds started to come in ad obscure our visibility somewhat. Heading south along the ridge towards point 1694, there were areas of rocky outcrops to negotiate and plenty of snow patches along the eastern side. As the clag closed in and visibility lessened we had to stay focused on where we where and where we needed to head off to get down to Yates ridge. We also ended up cramponning across several snow fields. When we got down to somewhere between 1400 & 1500 on Yeats ridge, with visibility around us pretty low, we started to have doubts as to exactly where we were. We spent a good time consulting our maps and compasses and could see a bit into the valley beside us, but we still weren't exactly convinced. We decided to eat and sat down on the fog encrusted ridge in not too unpleasant conditions and as we were eating the fog lifted enough to give us a misty view of Crystal Biv and the associated ridge and after reconsulting our maps we knew we were exactly where we should be.
Not too much further down we cleared the cloud and got a good view of Yeats hut. The rest of the trip down was me slipping and sliding as the ground was quite damp under the vegetation and also trying to find our way down as the track has very little maintenance apart from a few poles and some cutting. It certainly wasn't easy going and still took us a while to finally get to the hut. We arrived just before 2:30pm, which meant we had taken 6&1/2 hours. Wrote a quick note in the hut book took photos and off we went as were behind schedule and had  a long way to go. We traversed the ridge along behind Yeats hut and got to the point where the track enters the bush and heads sharply down hill just after 3pm. I was looking forward to a good track perhaps like the one coming up Adventure ridge, but alas this this track is only slightly maintained and the top part of it, although easy to follow, is very steep, looks like it follows a waterway and is very overgrown with flax. further down there is plenty of windfall and it was steep most of the way down. we lost it a couple of times by big windfalls but in the end the track got us to where we wanted to be. Certainly not easy going, but a real taste of West Coast tramping. Got back to Cedar Flats just after 5pm refuelled and set off for the last leg of out journey just after 5:30pm. As fast as my tired and aching would carry me we made good time on this last leg and got back to the car in 2&1/2 hours. After 12 hours of some difficult travel we arrived back safe, exhausted, sore and bruised, challenged and exhilarated. An excellent trip, wonderful scenery, great company and a lasting memory and I look forward to taking on this area again and visiting some of the many other huts in this area.

 The Track into Cedar Flats

 Look upstream the Toaroha River

 Honora on the swing bridge before Cedar Flats huts.

 The old Cedar Flats Hut

 The Newer Cedar Flats hut

 The lovely Gorge on the Toaroha above Cedar Flats

 Looking up to the tops on Adventure Ridge

 Approaching Adventure Biv

 Great views and great weather

 Looking at where we are going to climb tomorrow

 Me at Adventure Biv

 The Interior

 Looking back where we come from

 Heading along to Zit Saddle

 Heading away from Zit saddle

 Looking down the Kokatahi River

 Heading towards point 1694 before the clouds came in

 My winter tramping experience for the year

 Yeats Hut

 Inside Yeats hut

 Me at Yeats Hut

 looking towards Mullins Basin from Yeats Ridge

 An Idea of the track down off Yeats Ridge

 And this also on the Yates ridge track.

Electric Sandwich - Electric Sandwich (Germany 1973)

Roddus Album Of The Day

 

An excellent slab of German Prog from this short lived outfit who produced this as their only album. The album kicks right off with it's centerpiece in the extended maelstrom of "China" A gruelling, relentless heavy  prog laden piece of krautrock with soring guitar leads and Faustian rhythm. "Devils Dream" is a far more commercial sounding affair with strong vocal melody and groovy guitar before drifting off into some pretty cool jazzy territory.. Some great fuzzed out guitar for the psych monster intro that is "Nervous Creek" with its loud start then quiet folksy passage before jazzing out some and then returning back to psych time to finish and all done so seamlessly. The band present their blues credentials on the lovely slow but heavy blues of :Archies blues" . Throughout the album the band shows their superb musicianship, their great songwriting and the width and breadth of their musical influences. Almost all tracks contain sections of different stylings and the quality remains high throughout.And in true Prog fashion there is plenty of diversity between songs to make this a classic of the genre. My rating is an impressive 4.5/5. highly Recommended.

 Check this out Here