25 January 2017 - Canaan Downs DOC Camp, Abel Tasman National Park, Tasman

Again the birds woke us to their dawn chorus; our spot beside the Riwaka River was really the most delightful spot for avian song. We headed off promptly after breakfast, up the eastern side of  Takaka Hill, passing by Hawkes Lookout which was still packed with little campers who had stayed the night, leaving little room for us to have parked had we wished to check out the views from the lookout.

Toward the summit through the misty rain

We drove on to the road summit where the car park for the Takaka Hill Walkway is situated. No sooner had we donned out heavy boots that the rain arrived. This had been expected; there is yet another severe storm passing over the country today, but the Nelson area was to be spared all but a few showers for a couple of hours. We waited for the worst to pass, put on our raincoats and headed out into the wet misty rain.

The Takaka Hill Walkway crosses private land owned by the Harwood family who probably earn a fortune from the communications companies who have a series of towers up on the highest of the peaks, where we were headed. There are three marked walks through karst landscapes, subalpine shrub-lands and beech forests. We followed the main track to this summit at 950 metres ASL in the hope of seeing the spectacular views over Golden Bay, Tasman Bay and the Kahurangi National Park, then returned via the same track, turning off at the 4WD road and took this easier route back to the car park.

Must give way to all quail families

The track rose steeply, through tutu, gorse, broom, and heather, the return road bordered with blooming daisies, lotus major, purple clover, manuka, dandelions and buttercups. We encountered a large family of Californian quail, the chicks just days old and still learning that the family must stick together, and a long legged hare, a rare sight although more common this holiday than any before. Alas the views were just glimpses through the clouds sweeping across the heights and one would only consider the walk a success if views were not considered the main event.

We were back inside an hour and a quarter, and soon ready to head back down the road toward Motueka but turning up Canaan Road about four kilometres back from the top. There is a sign at the entry to the road, recommending that campervans and large vehicles refrain from using the road. We had driven up the road ten years before and had no problems so we pressed on today, hoping we would not encounter any oncoming traffic. The first five kilometres passes through private farmland, and is narrow, winding and rough. There are few places to pass if the meeting vehicles are more than car width and backing up would not be a fun experience, however I do know that English people are well used to doing so. Fortunately we did not meet anything until we were well within the National Park boundaries where the road was a little wider and without nasty drops along the side. At the nine kilometre point we came down into a shallow green basin full of campers and activity; tee-pees and big tops being erected, and all manner of strange goings-on. We were stopped by a young foreign chap with rasta-locks and a sunny smile who asked us where we were going. Harwood’s Hole we told him; who are you? we asked.

The enchanted forest

It seems that the crowds are already congregating to prepare for the “Luminade” festival, whatever that is. It is not due to start until 1 February but takes some setting up, and it seemed to us that the organisers had engaged all the backpacker types from the Bay, those waiting for the apple picking to begin, to come and help here.

I later learned that the preparation was in aid of the “Luminate” Festival which runs bi-annually this year from 1 – 8 February. Apart from advertising itself as a “vibrant summer music festival”, it promises inspirational workshops on permaculture, yoga, aikido, quantum science, holistic health, African drumming, dance and so much more. In other words, it is targeted at the alternative folk who populate this earth. Decades ago I might have been drawn, but nowadays, not so much.

We continued on the last two kilometres to Canaan Downs, the car park for several walks, most significantly Harwood’s Hole, our destination for the day. We had also discovered the existence of a small DOC camp, with just ten tent sites and a car park that begged to be filled by whizz-bangs. So here we set ourselves up, the only large motorhome amongst the smaller “camping” vehicles; sedans and vans. Other walks from here link up to the Inland Abel Tasman Track but are marked as “tramping” rather than “walking” tracks.

Posing high above the Gorge Creek

Harwood’s Hole is the biggest tomo in the southern hemisphere, at 400 metres deep and 70 metres across and a vertical drop of 183 metres. It normally takes about half an hour from the car park to the walk to the “hole”, however we detoured and dithered finding much to distract us. The track in passes through an enchanted beech forest landscape, then continues down through a rock strewn riverbed.

The shaft of Harwood’s Hole formerly took a stream that rose on the flanks of Mt Evans five kilometres to the east of here beyond Canaan Downs, the slightly acidic waters of the stream gradually dissolved fissures in the underlying marble to produce the pothole, which was also enlarged by the collapse as its sides were undercut by the impressive waterfall that once must have plunged into it. In time the waters that formed Harwood’s Hole eventually dissolved new routes through fissures in the marble upstream from here; so Harwood’s Hole gradually became abandoned except in times of high flood. The stream now never reaches Harwood’s Hole but sinks underground, resurging 1.3 kilometres from here and 357 metres lower down on the flanks of Gorge Creek. This water ultimately sinks underground again finally to reappear at the Waikoropupu Springs near Takaka, another spot we intend to visit in the next couple of days.

Reaching the Hole, we scrambled up over the massive rocks that surround the tomo, but it is so large there is really no way of seeing it properly without descending. High above, strung across between the cliffs was a roped affair which we watched a dare-devil cross, walking his hands across as he swung below. We had thought the rope was something to do with lowering spelaeologists into the bowels of the earth; maybe it was, but we shall never know. 

Daredevil crossing above Harwood's Hole

We detoured up to the Gorge Creek Viewpoint, ten minutes out of our way up a rooty and rocky climb arriving at a pile of wind and water sculptured rocks, many of which had retained their sharp fluted edges. This spot was truly amazing and the scramble up and over these ragged rocks brought one to a point on the very edge of the range, with views of the Takaka River far below.

As we made our way through the enchanted forest before descending along the old riverbed, we stopped by a rather brackish pond and discovered to our delight, tens of thousands of tadpoles. Imagine how many frogs will need to be kissed?!

Rocky river bed

But on the serious side, we would dearly have liked to find out whether this was an abnormal occurrence, what kind of frogs would evolve and why this seemed to be the only body of water along the route that hosted these pre-princes. A DOC worker had arrived as we set out on the walk, with a trailer full  of predator traps and hopefully to deal to the toilets, but unfortunately he was gone by the time we returned more than two hours later.

Back in the camp a dozen little whizz-bangs and their rasta-haired occupants were settling in; we are an eclectic mix tonight, we the old conservatives. The weather did clear in the afternoon and is set to remain so for several days. How good is that!?