1 Night on St James
Fighting the stigma of St James…
I’ve been told the St James walkway is a great route for families and beginners, but also that it’s boring and lacks anything spectacular. Well I say… wrong!
A quick stop at New World for a cheeky steak and cheese pie and a 2hr drive from Ōtautahi was all it took to reach Boyle campsite. I pondered which end of the St James Walkway we should attempt. I’ve heard the Cannibal Gorge end is known for car theft and frankly a smashed window while out tramping in January was enough for me to protect Caroll at all costs. Boyle campsite has a big whopping camera watching over the ngā motokā so it felt safe. Our plan was to walk a bit, soak up the ngahere, hang out with the birdies, eat a sh*t tonne of salami and cheese and decide what hut we’d like to stay in.
The first section was about 3 hours. We wandered through beautiful beech, while numerous pīwakawaka, ngirungiru (south island tomtit) and toutouwai (south island robin) kept us company. The track has some gradual climbs and descents, nothing strenuous. This section certainly had some quite muddy and boggy sections that some thoughtful manoeuvres could avoid, in my case, well, maybe not so much. After crossing the Boyle river a few times via suspension bridges we made it to Magdalen Hut, a standard 5-bunk hut built in 2008. It’s double glazed, has a nice deck and great to spend the night if you’re looking for a short mission. There’s heaps of land around the hut to tent in summer too.
After eating half a log of salami we kept on trotting. The next section was same same with slightly more climbing. We came across a wee wash out but a fairly worn track had been made further up and then, after some more climbing, bammm!!! We had made it up to an awesome clearing, an extensive sight of the valley ahead, the mighty awa, the snowy peaks, and nestled in the bush, old wee Boyle Flat Hut. As we sat in the hut with a Hummingbird coffee in hand we contemplated whether we stay put or mish up to Rokeby Hut for the night. The inner hut bag psycho in me was really pushing for the mish but after adding some things up we decided to conquer it the next morning. We had Boyle Flat Hut, a serviced 12-bunk hut built in 1980 all to ourselves. Indi managed to keep the fire going for a solid 4 hours which was a massive feat considering most of the wood was damp. Something so special about chatting for hours to candle light in the bush, all cosy and warm by the fire.
The next day, after a 12 hour sleep… we mished it up to Rokeby hut, a basic 3-bunk hut. When they say basic, they um, kind of mean basic. This gem had canvas bunks, and no mattresses. We were SUPER PLEASED we chose to stay at Boyle Flat Hut, all the more cosy. Rokeby is definitely more of a last resort or maybe one to enjoy with a lot of whiskey. The section from Rokeby Hut back to Boyle Flat Hut crosses some minor side channels and tussocklands which were a nice change from the beech. I cooked up some porridge and we then headed back to the car park where we came from, a 6.5 hour journey according to DOC times, which took us about 4.5. We saw some pūtangitangi (paradise shelduck) in the valley and unfortunately flocks and flocks of canada geese, which came with tonnes of poop.
The trapping in this section of St James was of note, tonnes of automatic traps, big ups whānau, keeping the manu happy!! Some of the land near Magdalen Hut is private land… farm land… cows… which left big pats on the trail. Pretty uh lame, but we dodged them, well… all but one. Besides that, epic tramp, awesome company, beautiful bird sound, 3 bad boiis bagged and some time to rejuvenate, reflect and contemplate whether I should spend by 20s studying, working, travelling, having babies, or something else extraordinary or if I should just chill out because life doesn’t end when you turn 30. WOAH sorry for the big sentence.
Hit me up if you have any questions. Love roro xx
Casey-Binser Saddle Route
Tramp Summary: Frozen boots, snow, white capped peaks, beautiful bustling bird sound, toasty fire, big climbs and rubbish?
The Casey-Binser saddle route is about a 40km trek after having to retrieve the car. It’s no easy feat, long days and plenty of climbing. Nothing too tricky to traverse and super awesome to do in winter with lots of snow on the surrounding peaks. The DOC website tells you to start at Andrews Shelter, with casey saddle followed by binser saddle the next day. We did it in the opposite direction to have the best chance of good weather as we crossed the saddle. Luckily the weather was great with really no rain at all. We all agreed this was the best direction regardless of the conditions. This way the more difficult sections are at the beginning of the day.
We had to tackle a super brutal climb at the very beginning of the tramp which had us all puffing hard, and me, well, I was having secret “hell yeah I feel so alive, i love uphills so much” moments. Bird sound was just gorgeous, super abundant and each pit stop saw us have greater views which helped with motivation. I was pretty grateful we didn’t have to go back down this way. It’s pretty steep in places and I can imagine it would be very slippery when wet.
After this we were rewarded with a lovely snow section at the top which was so so gorgeous. We stopped to eat our Sheffield pies for lunch which were glorious and then sent it down. The descent felt quite safe with plenty of tree roots and rocks for security and didn’t take us too long. I struggled a wee bit with a short rocky section just before we got to river level. Some of the rocks were quite loose and I was scared I might slip as we really only had matagouri to hold on to, ouch! Was great to finish this section, I HATE DOWNHILLS XOXO
When you’re at the bottom there’s quite a nice spot for camping. After this there’s a large fairly flat 4wd section with lots of POO and weirdly rubbish? We picked up quite a few pieces of rubbish, mainly food related, and wondered if it had been left by trail runners or trampers… a bit disappointing to see. We passed through some small terraces and pretty springs with clear water and even saw a lil fishy!! We then made it to the hut, three of us with wet feet and one who managed to keep dry, rumour has it a little parkour was involved.
The hut was well located with 360 views of snowy mountains and beautiful bush. It had a sexy deck looking out at the river valley. It’s a standard 12-bunk hut and there were 11 of us there for the night. Most of us had packed tents just in case and there were definitely some good spots. A midnight trip to the toilet blessed me with a beautiful site of the stars, a matariki must have. We were pretty lucky to stay in the hut as the temperatures were very low and a massive frost appeared overnight. We woke up to frozen boots and socks that we’d left outside, silly us, we know, we’ve learnt our lesson. The hut is a short 1.5hr walk from Trust/Poulter hut if you wanted to stay there instead, or chuck on another night.
The second day started off pretty chill, we took it easy as the taps froze overnight so our water storages were low. We then started another big climb. The ascent was much more gradual then the day before which was a relief as some of us had sore legs. We found a nice stream to fill our bottles and had a wee break. Then more climbing with lots of boggie sections, a few stream crossings, meandering our way from sub-alpine ridges, through bush to tussock flats until we made it to the saddle. It was beautiful, nice and wide with great views all around. We stopped there for lunch, although we agreed it was maybe a little windy. Still glad we did as the temperatures started to drop and clouds turned grey.
We then wandered back into the bush, and had some small ascents and descents. We came across quite a cool grove of old and quite large beech trees which was nice. The last section was down, down, down and we took that slow and steady to ensure we didn’t make mistakes while we were tired. At Andrews Shelter we dropped our packs and walked along the gravel road for 30mins to the car.
A great 2-day trail that can be made into a 4-5 day or even longer route with plenty of little huts, bivvies and campsites after reaching Casey Hut. Important to check the weather carefully before embarking on the saddles, especially in winter and spring. It took us 7hrs to get from the car park to Casey Hut via Binser Saddle and about 8.5hrs from Casey Hut to Andrews Shelter. These are long days so prepare well and leave early. Highly recommend this trip, gorgeous views and some of the best bird sound I’ve experienced while tramping.
Hit me up if you have any questions. Love roro xx
Mt Brown Hut Track
Ohhh Mt Brown you beautiful little orange box full of rats!!!
If you’ve been tramping with me you’ll know I’m an absolute fiend for uphills and curse the entire way down. This track was a decent climb which made it an epic first day, but the second day was a relentless downhill which made me a bit cranky.
We arrived at the carpark around 1pm, after a 3hr 40 min drive from Ōtautahi, Christchurch. On the way we took the opportunity to have a West Coast pie on the Hokitika beach front before checking out the Hokitika gorge walk. It’s a decent mish from Ōtautahi so well worth the early wakeup to check out some other spots on the way. The car park is super close to Lake Kaniere and Dorothy falls too, highly recommend checking them out. There were four other cars parked when we arrived, and the hut has four bunks so we expected a crowded party at the top. To our surprise, everyone we passed was heading up and down in the day so we ended up having the hut all to ourselves. The sign says 4 hours in both directions and online we read 3-4 hours. It took us 3 hours up with plenty of breaks and view stops, and 2.5 hours down. If you just had a day pack you could definitely head up and down fairly quickly.
The track isn’t maintained by DOC, but all things considered was in pretty good nick thanks to the Permolat Trust. It starts off flat and wanders straight into gorgeous bush. There were a few fallen trees that my short legs couldn’t get over so I had to get all primal and crawled underneath on my hands and knees, felt very in touch with the whenua. It then crosses a wee little creek which was gorgeous. This is the only water body you have to cross which is gangsta and means you can do this track at any time of the year, a bit of a rare case for the wet and wooly west coast!! After this it’s a hectic climb up so I was in heaven. There was a cute and very friendly lil pīwakawaka that followed us most of the way up. Heaps of ferns at the beginning and cool shelf fungi and moss everywhere. Some of the roots on the trail seemed so perfect as hand holds to help you get up which made things easy.
As you climb up you get a more extensive view of Lake Kaniere and the coastline as well as the surrounding bush covered foothills. There were tonnes of horopito bushes and trees about half way up and they were so pretty and pink. The second half of the track was super fricken boggy which was honestly pretty fun. The mud had a good clay composition so if you got the right footing you could avoid being knee deep in mud. Just before you’re above the tree line there are tonnes of mountain neinei that look like truffula trees from the lorax, which are so funky. By the time we got to the alpine zone it started to really cloud over so visibility was pretty poor. It evens out a lot at the top and that’s when you know the hut is very close. Unfortunately there wasn’t much of a view at the hut because of the cloud but we got to see glimpses of the view on our way up.
The hut was very cute, 4 bunks, a little table with two stools for about 4 people, a bit of room on the floor to pop sleeping mats if there were more of you wanting to stay. A nice fireplace called ‘little cracker’ which made me laugh. There isn’t any supply of firewood for about 30 minutes so if you want to have the fire going I suggest collecting some wood before you ascend the alpine section or lugging some up in your pack. There was water outside the hut but the tap gets frozen in some parts of the year so make sure you boil some water before bed so you’ve got some to wake up to in the morning. The hut has a gorgeous deck so we had a few west coast hazys while we watched the west coast hazzzee. We were told rats hangout in the hut lining and well when we shut our eyes and all was quiet the rats decided it was party time. They had a bloody heck of a time dancing about, couldn’t see them and they weren’t in the hut but knowing they were in the ceiling was kinda feral.
The hut’s pretty exposed and can get real windy so make sure you check for high winds before you trek and maybe avoid it during those times. The hut is bookable so give poor ol DOC some money and book ahead of time to avoid getting caught out without a place to sleep. There’s def room to tent but it gets pretty frosty and cold so I'd only really do this in summer.
Any questions, hit me up. Love roro xxx
Create Your Own Website With Webador