KAHURANGI LIGHTHOUSE
By Graeme Nicholls

Photos here

Kahurangi Lighthouse on a trip with the club organized by Kooze, or stay at home so that an evening with Dame Kiri at the Opera In The Park could be enjoyed?  After a bit of “will I or wont I”, the decision was made to go to the lighthouse, and it wasn’t really a very difficult decision as this is one of my favorite trips for a weekend of relaxing and doing nothing much in particular.

After collecting my navigator Chris, we set off to Motueka for a fuel stop and meet up with some of the other club members.  Lex was waiting for Harald at the gas station, and he was spotted coming down the road towards us, but then he turned off and disappeared. In spite of Lex calling him on the radio, Harald continued on his merry way, so Lex had to pursue him and bring him back into the fold, and also to tell him to turn on his radio.  I can’t really understand why he is not doing this trip report!!!

On our way again, and my navigator sent me down a wrong road in Riwaka, which caused a bit of chatter on the radio, but onwards we continued, over the hill and on to our meeting spot at Patarau.  Here, once again my completely unreliable navigator got it absolutely wrong again, and sent me down the wrong side of the Patarau River. Once again, this stirred the radio into life again, until we were finally united with the rest of the group.  I was then informed that I would have the pleasure of doing the trip report, even though I went to a great deal of trouble explaining how it was my navigator who had led me astray, and that he should be the one to do it. I think there was a conspiracy against me, as Kooze wouldn’t be swayed, bribed or threatened.

The weather gods were obviously displeased with the harsh treatment that had been meted out to me, so sent down lots of wind and a few showers, and sent the waves crashing up onto the beach, thus ensuring that when our procession of nine trucks left Patarau to travel via the beach to the lighthouse, we only got about half a kilometer before it became obvious that we would not be able to get past the rocks because of the waves, and we were forced to backtrack, and travel to Anatori along the road.

Crossing the Anatori was no drama, and we spotted Bruce Cooke (a foundation member of the club who still participates on a few trips) ute parked by the river.  Carrying on towards the Turamawiwi River, we were soon joined by Cookie, who was tearing around on his 4-wheel bike.  Over the river, and on to the beach for our trip down to Big River.  This part of the trip was pretty uneventful, although the waves were quite high and the sand seemed to be particularly soft this trip, which was causing a few worried glances at the rapidly descending fuel gauge, and wishing that I had fuelled up in Collingwood, rather than Motueka.    Over the Anaweka river and, although the bottom was very soft, we crossed without any incidents. This river has caught a few vehicles this year with its quicksand. 

We arrived at Big River shortly before high tide, and noticed a group of trampers on the other side wait waiting for the water to drop so that they could cross over.  We waited for about an hour, but because of the waves pounding into the mouth of the river (the weather gods had obviously still not been appeased) combined with an onshore wind, it was obvious that the lagoon was not going to drain far enough to allow us to cross.  The trampers on the other side decided to have a go at crossing at the mouth, but before they had gone ten steps they were up to their necks in water, and had to make a hasty retreat.  As some of our group knew where there was a small dingy not too far away, we yelled out to them to stay put, and we would collect them.  Cookie took off on the bike to drag the dingy up to us, and our hero Scotty rowed across to affect the rescue, for which they were quite grateful.

As it was quite apparent that we would not be going to be able to carry on to the lighthouse, a decision was made to return to the old Mangarakau School, (Mangarakua Outpost) which is now a backpackers, and stay the night there.  Here we said farewell to one of our group who had elected to travel back, and the rest of us set up camp for the night.  After we had had a meal and a few drinks, our very own Mountain Man (Dave Haycock) announced that it was his 60th birthday, and that he would put on a shout for us.  Out of the back of the Landcruiser, came boxes and boxes of savories, pies, sandwiches, a few beers, and even a nicely made and iced birthday cake!  This all went down rather well, and now we know why the back of the cruiser seemed to be so low on the way in.  Thanks a lot for all that Dave.

The next morning dawned nice and clear, so we had a very leisurely breakfast, and then some went for a walk to have a look at the tree above the school, and as low tide wasn’t until 2:00pm, we just took our time packing up, until Don and Scotty decided that there were some sand dunes that needed to by conquered on the way.  Traveled up to the Turamawiwi river, were the main group waited, and then Don and Scotty went around to the other side of the of the dunes to have a go at them.  As it turned out, they had no problem at all with them, although it looked quite dramatic watching them on the steep faces coming down the dunes.
Mountain Man had to return to Nelson that day, so he turned around and left us, and we then traveled down to Big River again, arriving there just before low tide.  Once again we waited for the lagoon to drain, and once again it wasn’t being very co-operative, although it did drain a lot more than the previous day. As Chris Beard wanted to have a swim, we sent him walking across the lagoon to see how deep it was, and it didn’t appear to be too bad.  This encouraged Don to have a go at getting across, which he did reasonably easily, but once over to the track through the rocks on the other side it was apparent that the water was to high to go that way, so back he came. He now has the task of draining half of Big River from his headlights!  Being determined to find a way to the lighthouse, we sent Chris across at the mouth of the river to test that. While it wasn’t particularly deep, the sand was very soft, but Don and Scotty decided to throw all caution to the wind. And across they went without any trouble at all, so like good little sheep, across we all went.  As Don and Scotty were not going on down to the lighthouse, they then turned around and re-crossed the river and headed for home, while the rest of us carried on to the lighthouse, which was only a few minutes away.

Upon arrival, all the vehicles parked in front of the house to unload, and the taking of photographs to prove that we had been there and done that.  Several of the group then went to do a bit of fishing (unsuccessfully), and another group drove up the hill behind the house to admire the views.  I then had to talk nicely to Kooze, and convince him that he didn’t really need that 10 litres of diesel that was in a jerry can on the back of his truck.  A few dollars changing hands soon had him convinced, and they were mine.  The fire was then lit for hot water and cooking, a few beers were enjoyed, and the day came to an end.

The next morning dawned nice and fine, so after a leisurely breakfast, most went for a walk around the beach or up the hill, and then the whole group walked overland to the lighthouse, and this turned out to be no mean feat with several small hills to be conquered.  This sorted out the fit from the unfit, with quite a few stops to catch the breath needed by quite a few of the group.  Coming back was much easier, as the tide had dropped sufficiently for us to return via the beach.

After packing up our gear and cleaning the hut, we then set off to have a look at the waterfall, which is south of the house, just up the Kahurangi River.  This is a relatively small waterfall that falls into a small lake, and is well worth the trip to view it.

As it was now nearly low tide, it was time to head back down the coast to Big River, which was crossed without incident, and onwards to Anatori.  As the tide was still a fair way put, we the decided to continue traveling down the beach to Patarau.  No problem until we got past Sandhill Creek and discovered the tide was in further than we had realized, and there was no way around the rocks on the beach.  After walking around the area for a while and thinking we were going to have to turn back, Kooze suddenly said “give me your spare wheel”.  Not being one to argue, I complied, so he then proceeded to put it on the ground in front of a biggish rock and then invited everyone to drive over it!!! (I have to admit that he also put his on the other side of the rock to form a bridge)  Top marks for lateral thinking.

After giving the trucks a good washing down to get rid of the salt water, it was off to Collingwood to fill up the truck, and also our tummies and head for home.

Thanks to Kooze for organizing the weekend, Dave for his generous shout for his birthday, and all the trip participants for a great weekend.