On Christmas Eve 2001, with a reasonable weather forecast, we tramped up Robert Ridge to Lake Angelus (elevation 1600 m). At first we were sweating from the steep climb and the hot sun, but near the bushline clouds blew in and on the ridge we were blasted by horizontal rain. Within an hour we'd gone from sweating in shorts to wearing full layers of polypro, polarfleece and wet weather gear and wishing we'd brought our gloves!



When the clouds lifted we had stunning views over the surrounding ranges and peaks. Other highlights were watching cloud shadows blow across rippling tussock and the many excellent vegetable sheep on the route.

The Lake Angelus hut was full that night (around 40 people) and deservedly so as it's a good hut in an utterly beautiful location.





The next day we went down Hukere Stream on the Cascade track, through fields of mountain daisies and buttercups to a sudden, near-vertical descent to the idyllic valley floor, where we meandered down through increasingly large beech trees to the Travers valley and on to the Lakehead hut. The day's descent inspired us to get walking poles and I would strongly recommend them for this route to save your knees from getting trashed.



There were kea (mountain parrot, pictured) and karearea (NZ native falcon) by the hut, and inside - guides preparing a surprise Christmas dinner for a tour group. The only drawback to the lower altitude was the clouds of sandflies which avidly followed our every move. Even bug repellent didn't stop them from idiotically flying into eyeballs or nostrils! They were misnamed by Captain Cook's men and are actually a kind of blackfly. The Maori call them Namu and tradition holds that that they were a cruel gift from the Goddess of Death to remind people of their mortality.

The walk back along the lake to St Arnaud is easy and beautiful. The track is flat and very well formed with many superb views across the lake and back up to the ranges. Near St Arnaud the track passes through an intensively predator-controlled area where stoats, rats and possums are trapped and wasp nests eradicated. In this area the vegetation is more luxuriant and there is a much higher density of birdlife because of the availability of food sources and the lower rate of predation. The increase in birdsong (compared to forest outside the area) is noticeable and there was even some mistletoe flowering profusely on the track.

A great tramp with stunning scenery, good huts and some challenging sections.

We drove from Auckland to Wellington on a Friday, caught the early ferry next morning to Picton, and by half past one on Saturday December 14th, we'd left the car behind the Yellow House in St Arnaud, walked down to the lake and started tramping. Our first afternoon was a few hour's stroll beside Lake Rotoiti, from Kerr Bay at St Arnaud to the Lakehead Hut, about 9 km. A lot of people take the water taxi. I like the tall beech forest beside the lake, and it's a gentle way to ease back into tramping. There were a couple of Danish trout fishermen at the hut, ecstatic about how cheap and beautiful it all was and how big the trout were. It was cold that night and we woke up to a dusting of snow well below the treeline.

We headed up the Travers Valley, across the floodplain flats and the excellent wire bridge over the river. We had glimpses of Mt Travers at the head of the valley and great views of ranges. It was a beautiful day, and we could see the snowfall melting back to above the bushline as we went up the valley. It's around 13 km from Lakehead to John Tait Hut (35 bunks, clean & modern). There were 4 people there, including someone I hadn't seen for ages (small country!). There were still a few sandflies around, but not nearly as many as at Lakehead.

The next day we meandered the 6 or 7 km up the valley to Upper Travers Hut. This day involves more climbing, so there are more alpine plants and flowers, including the magnificent mountain daisies and buttercups. The forest gets lower and more mossy and the mountains close in on either side. There's a very scenic waterfall just a few minutes off the trail, and you pass through the territories of cute, inquisitive robins. If you go slowly, they come down and check you out. One of them hopped around at our feet, catching the bugs we'd stirred up.

The Upper Travers Hut (16 bunks, elevation 1320 m) is in a wide, flat expanse of tussock, surrounded by the mountains, scree slopes and the last stands of mossy, gnarled old mountain beech. The hut is old, with lots of character and decades of accumulated grottiness in the cracks and corners. It's quite small (cosy) inside the sleeping area - if it were full, people would have to get up in shifts. When the sun went down, the temperature plummeted, so we stoked up the coal fire and left it smouldering through the night. A couple of Australian women camped nearby, but we had the hut to ourselves.

Day 4 dawned clear and blue. Mt Travers looked stunning from the hut. We climbed up to the last part of the valley behind the hut, and then sweated up a near-vertical rockfall to just below the saddle, where suddenly the clouds blew in, the view disappeared and it rained. At 1787 m, the saddle is about 450 m above the hut, and right beside Mt Travers (2338 m). I'm sure there'd be great views in fine weather. We didn't hang around for long. The track drops quickly through a kilometre or two of tussock and rockfalls to a huge scree slope in an eroding gully.

We must have descended at least 400 metres on the unstable scree slope - it's nasty, even with walking poles. It would be much easier to climb it. The West Sabine Hut is 8 or 9 kilometres from the saddle and a kilometre below it, so it's downhill all the way. It sounds good, but it's quite a bit of work with the scree slope to navigate and some steep bits nearer the hut where there are a lot of tree roots to concentrate on. The East Branch Sabine River has cut a deep, narrow gorge that you pass over. It's quite eerie to hear the river ten or fifteen metres below, but only catch glimpses of it. West Sabine Hut (32 bunks) has a great fire and excellent drying racks. We were alone in the hut.

After a sleep-in the next morning, we headed up the beautiful West Branch of the Sabine River to Blue Lake and back. As you go up the valley, the mountains get closer, and parts of the track pass through avalanche zones cleared of trees. In one place we had to carefully climb over a huge deposit of hard snow and debris that had wiped out the track in late winter. It was about 20 metres wide, 50 or 60 metres long, and had obviously swept across the river and up the other side a ways. The river had cut through the underside so it formed an ice bridge. Blue Lake is about 6 or 7 kilometres from West Sabine, with a fair bit of uphill. The lake and surroundings are also utterly wild, isolated and beautiful. I'd love to stay at the hut there for a day or two and explore. We just visited for lunch and then had to turn around and head back to West Sabine. That night there were another seven people in the hut, including two people on a guided walk up to Blue Lake and their guides. Their food was fresher than ours, and they didn't have to carry it!

On our sixth day we covered the 16 kilometres from West Sabine Hut to Sabine Hut on the shores of Lake Rotoroa. It's a straightforward walk through mature beech forest, with occasional river flats and fans of scree. We saw lots of tiny native orchids, and some colourful moths, but also increasing numbers of sandflies. Two or three kilometres before the Sabine Hut, the river goes through a gorge that shows off the spectacular clarity and beauty of the water. Sabine Hut (32 bunks) is excellent - modern, clean and spacious with great views and mesh screens to keep out the sandflies. It could do with an atrium/drying room, but it's nicer than most places I've flatted in. There's a radio to call a water taxi if you want to head out of the park quickly and/or easily. It's 18 kilometres on foot (Rotoroa means 'long lake'). We were the first at the hut and were welcomed by clouds of hungry sandflies. There were six other people in the hut that night, including two who had come all the way from Upper Travers (they were knackered).

We planned to climb up Mt Cedric to Lake Angelus, and wanted to catch the views of scenic grandeur before the clouds built up, so we got up and left at 4:30 am. The sandflies swarmed on us in the darkness as we put our boots on and we fled into the forest and up the hill with our headlights dimly lighting the way. It's almost straight up until you clear the bushline - up 900 metres in less than four kilometres of trail. By the time we reached the tussock, I was just putting one foot in front of the other - also because you have to carry your day's water with you. However, we'd beaten the clouds and the view made it all worthwhile. From the bushline to the top of Mt Cedric is a couple of kilometres, with expansive views down the length of the Sabine Valley, Lake Rotoroa and the surrounding ranges. There were lots of interesting alpine plants and a kea called out and sailed by overhead.

From Mt Cedric, the trail heads east, up and along a ridge towards the spine of the Travers Range. Then it drops over the other side, and sidles along down into the Lake Angelus basin. There was quite a bit of snow on the trail, but no ice. Where the ridge joins the main Travers Range, we met a ranger who told us they were pumping out the sewage from the toilets at Lake Angelus and helicoptering it in huge loads back to St Arnaud. Apparently they do this every year or two, carrying tens of thousands of litres of the stuff out to keep the environment pristine. It was about 1:30, and the helicopter had been going since early in the morning - it would take a lot of hut tickets to even come close to that kind of money, and manning the pump would not be a nice job. We hung out on the ridgeline for an hour, and got to the hut just as the helicopter was hauling away the last load of poos (pictured). It sure didn't smell good!

The Lake Angelus Hut is at about 1600 metres in an extremely beautiful location and is very popular. It pays to get there early to nab a strip of bunkspace. It's rated as having 36 bunks, but more usually manage to squeeze in. Even then there were people sleeping on the kitchen benches. At least the bodyheat keeps it warm at night. The hut was just about out of water, and what was left in the tank tasted nastily smoky, so we had to filter water out of the lake. After 7 days with very few people (sometimes none at all), it was a bit of a shock.

Just after 4 am, we left the hut and scrambled up a ridge above the lake to see the dawn. It was bitingly cold, but exquisitely beautiful, especially with a sea of cloud rafted up against the western side of the ranges (pictured) and the full moon in a sky tinged pink and yellow. The sun rose over the St Arnaud Range and lit the mist in the Travers Valley. We had a rest day, and just meandered around the lake and surroundings. We even had afternoon naps in the sun. Most people headed out and there was a peaceful spell for a few hours before more arrived.

We got up very early again on our last day, but we were wrapped in clouds and there was no dawn to see. Walking out along Robert Ridge, clouds blew up the valleys and streamed across the trail in front us. The world consisted of shattered rock and clouds until we reached the waving tussocks on top of Mt Robert and the sky opened up. It's only about 10 kilometres or so from Lake Angelus to the carpark halfway down Mt Robert, but there's a lot of rockhopping and concentration involved, so we were quite delighted when the shuttle came to take us back to St Arnaud, the motel, showers, fresh food and a cushy double bed. The driver told us that he'd been working in Wellington as a stunt double for Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) in 'The Lord of the Rings' and had just moved back to St Arnaud - nice guy.

We spent nine days doing the walk up the Travers Vallley, over to Sabine Valley and up to Blue Lake, then down to Lake Rotoroa, up to Lake Angelus (with a rest day there) and out along Robert Ridge. Keen trampers often do this in 6 or 7 days or cut it to 5 by using the water taxi on Lake Rotoiti. I'd like to have spent a night or two at Blue Lake, as it was very beautiful, otherwise no regrets. Some of the climbs and descents were tough going, but it was great.