Kiwi Flat Hut
(Kiwi Flat Hut: Warren Chinn 2005)
Maintenance Status
Kiwi Flat Hut and the track
to it from the roadend are designated as fully maintain. The track
is overgrowning at the moment and could be challenging to follow in places
for those unfamiliar with it.
Location
Waitaha catchment:
Grid Ref: E1416718/ N5221664. Map BW17.
265m altitude. Kiwi Flat Hut is located on a low terrrace on the TR of
Whirling Water, just upstream from its confluence with the Waitaha River.
It is a pleasant, relatively easy, overnighter,
or a stopover for those heading further up the Waitaha. There is a view out over Kiwi Flat
and the bush faces and terraces above the Hut are mature podocarp/
rata/ kamahi forest. At the bottom of the flat is the entrance to the
Morgan Gorge. This is spanned
by a swingbridge that leads nowhere in particular, but has a great view.
Westpower are currently scoping a major hydro project in the Waitaha. Their scenario
involves a dam at either the top, or midway down Kiwi Flat, and a tunnel taking the water from
the dam down to a powerhouse below the Morgan Gorge. An access road would be put up the
TR of the Waitaha through virgin podocarp forest, and the entire content of the Waitaha
would be piped down the tunnel leaving the Morgan Gorge with a mere trickle from Whirling Water
(25% of its current
flow). The integrity and unspoiled, pristine beauty of the Gorge, its beautiful
azure blue waters roaring down through slots of polished rock overhung with southern rata,
would be
destroyed. Kiwi Flat will be accessable by road and be transformed into an
industrial landscape. High country users and the wider public need to be made aware of this
insane plan and stop it ever eventuating.
Access
The track to Kiwi Flat is overgrowing
in a fair number number of places and has a significant amount of windthrow from the 2008
winter storms.
P.D. Farms Ltd. owns
land at roadend that must be crossed to get to the start of the track.
Its contacts are Philip at 03 762 7632 or David at 03 762 7020,
with the latter more likely
deal with access requests.
From the
locked gate at the roadend
follow the farm road up around the foot of the hill past a small cottage. The
track starts in the top
SW corner of the farm across a small creek.
It follows an old farm trail across the foot of the hill
to a large shingle fan. Cruise tape leads down the fan into a small creek
that flows down towards Douglas Creek. A trail cuts through the bush
from this creek entering the Douglas 150m upstream from where it meets the Waitaha River.
The cruise tape is patchy from the shingle fan to the Douglas and fresh slip damage
has obliterated the trail in places. The Douglas can be difficult to
cross after heavy rain.
An alternative route to the Douglas
is via an old bulldozer that leads from the SE corner of the farm through the bush to the
Waitaha. The dozer track is boggy and churned
up by cattle, but turns
into a passable cruise-taped trail that comes out on the Waitaha riverbed 15 minutes
downstream from Douglas Creek. It is an easy wander up the riverbed to the Douglas.
It is river travel from Douglas Creek to Glamour Glen, with the boulders
getting progressively larger towards the Glen. There
are heaps of goats on this section of frontal country and it is common to see them in
the river and creek beds.
Glamour Glen enters the Waitaha at the mouth of
Morgan Gorge and the track starts 20 or so metres
up its TR bank. It climbs steeply, then sidles
around the TL of the Gorge. At the first small scoured out side creek there is
usually a strong smell of sulphur from some hot springs down in
the gorge. These are located just upstream from where the creek pours over a rock lip.
A diagonal crack leading down from the lip is very exposed and slippery at the top and a
rope would be a good insuranc measure here. The springs feed into small rock hollows
and provide a half-decent bath if you are agile enough to make it down there.
The valley track continues sidling around the Gorge
to around
400m altitude before dropping towards Kiwi Flat.
Once on the Flat, head up the TL and ford Whirling Water. There is a lot fresh deer sign on
the flat currently. Around 200m up the TR of
Whirling Water there is an orange triangle and some steps up the river bank
onto the terrace where the Hut is located. Allow 3-4 hours currently from the roadend to Kiwi Flat.
Type
Kiwi Flat Hut is a
standard six-bunk NZFS design with open fire, built in the 1960's.
It was lined in the early 80's and had
some of the cupboards removed around the entrance. A water tank
was added around the same time and a woodshed followed shortly after.
Condition
Kiwi Flat Hut was repainted and had some general maintenance
and chimney repairs done in 2003. It is in good condition currently.
The regrowth around the Hut could do with a trim and is making the
Hut damp and shady on the terrace side.
The chimney leaks a bit and has rust appearing
on the outside a metre and a half above ground level. There is also
a leak near the ridge of the hut that drips from the top of
the skylight above the fireplace area. Kiwi's toilet is full and rising!
Routes
DOC have officially ceased maintaining the valley tracks upriver from
Kiwi Flat. The track to Moonbeam Hut
overgrew steadily from the early 90's onward and
became increasingly difficult to follow. In August 2007
Permolat volunteers recut this and the upper valley tracks, but had much
of their good work trashed a short time after
by some severe winter storms in 2008.
The Moonbeam track wasn't too badly hit acording to initial reports, however more recent
feedback from April 2010 indicates it is difficult again in places due
to fresh slips and areas of windfall. Some of the markers from 2007 have gone as well.
The Moonbeam track starts at the Kiwi Flat Hut door and
climbs steeply up onto the bush terrace directly above.
It follows the terrace for 30 minutes to the Headlong Spur turnoff
and sidles from here across
the bush faces above the Waitaha Gorge, climbing gradually. There are a couple of
large slips a 1/2 hour
up
from the turnoff, the first relatively stable, and the second active.
For the second you need to drop down a distance, cross, and climb back up to the track on the
other side.
The sidle continues with numerous ups and downs and one new slip
from 2009 that has taken out a few markers. The track
drops down to the Waitaha riverbed
just upstream of Mark Creek and from here it is around an hour's boulderhopping to
Moonbeam Hut (there is one short 400m track section about 2/3's of the way up). Moonbeam
Torrent is
a large, swift creek and is generally impassable after heavy rain.
10-15 minutes of boulderhopping takes you from the Torrent a swingbridge across the Waitaha.
The track enters the bush
20 metres upriver from the bridge and climbs steeply for 10 minutes onto the terrace where the
Hut is located. Allow 6-7 hours to get from Kiwi Flat to Moonbeam Hut.
The track
to Scamper Torrent starts at the
bottom of Kiwi Flat on the TR of Labyrinth Creek, about 75m upstream from
the Flat. A cruise-taped stoatline enters the bush just downstram from the actual track entrance,
but it all connects up eventually. The track entrance proper is getting pretty overgrown as is
the first section of track up onto the terrace above the Creek. There are significant
areas of windthrow up on the terrace and it requires care here to stay on the track.
The terrace section is followed by a steep climb up a bush face onto a steep narrow ridge.
The track is better defined here and easier to follow. At the tussock line the ridge
connects with the spur bounding the TL of Scamper Torrent basin.
Snow poles lead from the crest of the spur down into the basin (the Hut is visible from just below
the crest in fine weather).
A rough trail marked with permolat, cruise-tape and the odd pole passes down through a
band of alpine scub to the Torrent. From here it is easy going up the creekbed for 15
minutes to the Hut,
which is located on a tussock terrace 30m above the TL fork of the Torrent.
The Scamper track has had the odd bit of
trimming and cruise-taping work done
by various folk over the years, the most recent in February of this year.
Allow three hours to reach Scamper Torrent Hut from Kiwi Flat Hut.
A tops track up Headlong Spur 1/2 an hour upriver from Kiwi Flat provides
access to the Smyth Range and alpine routes to
County Stream Hut and Scamper Torrent.
Follow the main valley track to Moonbeam Hut to the turnoff. DOC have redesignated
the Headlong Spur track as
fully maintain and will cut it at some point, but at the moment it is overgrown and
can be challenging to follow in places. There is a good three-day circuit from Kiwi Flat
around the Smyth Range to Scamper Torrent and back down the Waitaha (a tent is required for
the one of the nights). For the route down off Mt. Durward to Scamper Torrent Hut
see the Routes section on the Scamper web page.
To get to County Hut requires a traverse of
Mts. Neville and Barry, and as there is a bit of permanent snow on these two peaks,
it pays to have an iceaxe.
When descending Clearview Spur from Mt. Barry there is a steep exposed section between
points 1945m and 1690m that
needs down-climbing.
Drop off Clearview Spur into County via the creek catchment just below point 1690m.
It is good travel once you get into the creek itself,
with a small
band of scrub to negotiate at the bottom where it meets the County.
It's worth having a look at the mouth of the Morgan
Gorge from the swingbridge at the bottom of Kiwi
Flat. It was recently done up by DOC and will be
minimally maintained. Nothing
remains of an old Forest Service track on the TR up to onto Urquhart's
Knob on the Hitchen Range. River travel from here down the TR of the Waitaha to the
road end on the North Bank is not particularly easy or pleasant according to a recent report from
someone who attempted it.
Repairs
Some sealing work needs to be carried out on fireplace and roof. More
major chimney repairs are probably required in the longer term. The louvre handle on the end window is
broken and needs replacing. A new toilet hole needs to be dug yesterday.
Provisions on Site
Two camp ovens, two billies, a broom, two aluminium buckets, a plastic wash basin,
and two axes.