Westward Hoooooooo.!
I was having a beer with a couple of horse riding mates at a back country hut on the last night of a multi day trek in which I had my pack horse as well as Mr Cons our Appolussa as this treks riding horse..
One of the guys had a very successful hiking business, in which he guided overseas visitors through our South Island trails on multi day walking treks, and pricked his ears up at finding out that I had worked on Mesopotamia Station, a station comprizing at the time of some 100,000 acres of mountain country..
Now this chap Dan, had been studying various Topo maps of proposed new routes that he could potentially use within his business itinary, and had been looking at a trek starting at Mesopotamia Station homestead, and finishing at Lake Tekapo
Over this evenings beer he asked all sorts of questions regarding this route, as the country, although beautiful is quite challenging ..
He asked about which route I would recomend, which huts to stay in, how long each days journey would be …….etc etc..!
He then asked if I had been over the Bullock bow and then the Stag saddle with the horses..? Yes several times while conducting my own horse trek guiding journeys..
The next question was how much would you charge to take all the six hikers luggage on your pack horses from Mesopotamia to Tekapo and then returning empty..
We agreed as a trial if he paid my fuel from home to Messe and back and fed me on route I would be happy to do it free of charge..
A few months had passed when the phone rang… Hi Dan here…I have six people from overseas interested next month in hiking the Mesopotamia to Lake Tekapo, would you still be interested in packing their gear for me….? Yes I guess so.! .Dan added… they will each carry day packs and have told them each will only be allowed a maximum bag weight of ten kilograms of clothes changes, personal items needed for the journey each as well as dans food bags..! Yep sounds ok to me and he rang off,,
On the agreed date I arrived up at the Station with my two horses, Shae which was to be the pack horse and Mr Cons my intended riding horse, where upon I was introduced to the six hikers….. seeing the horses, of which most of them had never experienced a real horse up close having lived a metropoliton lifestyle was quite a novelty…
That first night I asked everyone to bring their intended bags to the cook shop, and upon viewing the various sizes and shapes began scratching my head as to how all this was to be positioned for balance on one pack horse…three bags per side had to be weighed and end up with exactly the same weight..hmmmm it was funny, each of the new hikers didnt know one another and straight away we all had to shift items from one bag to someone elses to finally gain the correct balance needed..
The first day, after an early breakfast Dan and the hikers dropped the bags off at the stables for me then headed up across country towards the Moonlight valley where upon it was agreed that I would follow the vehicle track out via the high terrace then down to meet them for lunch at the Moon light Stream…
Man… what a job trying to secure these odd shaped bags for balance firstly,….. and secondly so they wouldnt fall off or be damaged, as some had expensive camera gear within etc…I finally manage to cover the load and tie it all off, then saddled Mr Cons..
Normally on the pack horse, everything would be in pack boxes or pannier bags making tying, easy, but not this lot..
We started out and immediately had trouble with things shifting, needing to be retied,,, hmmmmm… I was beginning to wish I hadnt volunteered for this three day journey, but alas, as we climbed towards the High Terrace, the load settled down, even though I kept an eye on it every thirty seconds it seemed,,
As usual with me once underway I let the pack horse, or horses go free and as long as I am riding an alpha horse, meaning a horse from our herd that is higher ranked than the packed generally they are happy to just follow, or even at times leading the way along trails..
As we topped the HIgh Terrace track I could see the others had already arrived away down in the Moonlight stream area below, and with Shae the pack horse in front of me we arrived to meet them all…I called out to Shae to Woo woo at the stream, however he just walked straight through and carried on walking along on the track.. I called out once again but he just kept walking…. Alarmed, Dan said he would run after him but I said Shae wont go far,…. as we watched Shae still walking.. calling a third time, caused Shae to start trotting, and O MY GOLLY I thought to myself,, trotting with this horrible load was not a good idea at all….
To everyone horror, ( including myself ) we all watched as Shae trotted up the hill and then out of sight…O CRIKEY Dan said.. I hope nothing happens to these hikers gear as several have expensive camera gear on your escaping horse…
I had got off Mr Cons when we first arrived and luckily I did for he became very agitated at the disappearance of his mate, and began calling out to him naying and naying frantically..
I could see the distressed level upon the faces of the hikers growing by the minute as we watched and waited…
Seeming like a long time had past, we heard from a top of the hill a faint return Nay from Shae calling out, then another…. next from up on the track came Shae cantering back down the track….. Night mere thoughts ran through my mind that if the load slips over I think I will quickly dig a hole in the ground and climb in… but alas the culprit duely came to a halt next to Mr Cons and immediately as if nothing had happened put his head down and started eating grass…
Timidly, I said to Dan I think I might put a lead rope on Shae from now on…… GOOD IDEA CAME DANS REPLY…!
After a lunch in which not a lot was said, the hikers once again headed off across country, leaving my trouble makers and myself to follow the track down the Moonlight valley and around and up to the Felt hut, nestled, in a small beech forest clearing on the side of a hill ..
I arrived first, so unpacked the bags, unsaddled the horses, and walked them up the hill to their overnight horse paddock, returning, lite a fire and popped the billy swinging for a cuppa tea when the hikers arrived..
This basic mountain country hut was quite a novelty to the hikers, as I had previously mentioned having all come from a city life where accommodation in their world was ranked by the number of stars as luxury increased…lol
Some asked why no electric lights, no running water… no internal loo..no internet coverage etc..
Dan soon had them all sorted, and after a cuppa, created a sumptuous evening meal followed by a can each of bourbon and coke..yummy..!
Next morning while the hikers were given breakfast I went up and bought the horses down to the hut, and this time the visitors really enjoyed a close hands on in saddling both horses and helping to pack Shae for todays hard journey straight out from the hut climbing to the top of the Bullock bow saddle, some 5500 feet above sea level, then down the other side to our second night stop over at the Royal hut, again Dan took the party across country to the top of the neutral stream then across to the hut… The third morning just after leaving the Royal hut as we started on yet a harder ascent away up to the top of the Stag Saddle which is the highest pass that horses travel over in New Zealand at 6250 feet above sea level , disaster struck… We were climbing up beside a narrow stream in a ruggered, rocky section when Shae behind me slipped as he went to cross this stream causing the pack load to lean away over and at this very spot it was very difficult with the stream and steep rocky uphill pack track to have to unload all the bags then straighten the saddle, then reload and retie it all on…man I asked myself WHY DID I SAY YES TO THIS>>!
With the help of the others we got poor Shae going once again and had no further problem for the ten hour journey this day up and over the Stag saddle where at the top we could see over Lake Tekapo and away south on this clear day, with me pointing out far below, the 9 kilometre long descending Snake ridge, and then further down our end point at Mount Gerald Station..
We had made it… and yes made it in one piece late in the day…By now I was enjoying our new found friends company as we travelled over this trail together and was sad to say our good byes as next morning saddling Shae with an empty load of just his pack saddle and after saddling Mr Cons climbed aboard, heading back up the long snake ridge to the top of the stag saddle once more then down to the royal hut, next day travelling back up and over the Bullock Bow saddle and back down to the Felt hut….I decided to have a day off riding the next day, and after a long sleep in went down below the hut in the beech trees beside the stream where some of the lads working on Messy had bought out and rigged up an old cast iron bath, supported by a large rock at either end, leaving the middle section open in which one fills the bath from a tap connected to a long length of alkathene pipe running uphill and into the stream, then under the middle setting a small fire to warm the water… it takes around 25 minutes until the right full bath is at a nice temperature, then stripping off climbed in lying on a narrow but long section of wooden trellis so not to burn ones posterior on the hot bath where the fire is….
Opening my last can of bourbon and coke and sinking right up to my shoulders in this delicious bath, what more could one want…. fresh air, the birds singing, a can of bourbon saluting my horses for a job well done once again, as I reached over the side, grabbing a stick of firewood and throwing it on the fire just to keep the status que water temp just right…!
Main top photo, Saddling Mr Cons at the Felt hut..
Below photos.. top left the Felt hut Bath, top right the hikers at the Royal hut as we arrived
Middle left.. the Felt Hut, middle right Looking up towards the top of the Bullock bow saddle
Bottom left descending the Moonlight track.. bottom right Shae with his odd load walking in front on the first day.
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