Red Hills traverse

December 2010

Dad, Alice and I decided to take the longer way to Nelson and traverse the Red Hills range and across Ben Nevis to the Wairoa Valley. After a morning drive from Christchurch Jo dropped us off on SH 63, just by where the Rainbow Road joins. A gentle 4WD drive track led us up to Red Hills Hut in an easy 2 hours. The landscape was amazing as it turned from typical beech forest to a scrubby red rock landscape. We had a pleasant night at the hut with beautiful views up Maitland Creek and the company of a lone Weka.

The view out from Red Hills Hut

Setting off the next morning in beautiful clear weather a short climb soon led us to The Plateau, a large flat expanse of scrub land dotted with tarns. 

Crossing The Plateau

We crossed the plateau and continued along the main ridge with the first aim being Chrome peak.  The going was very pleasant with a gentle gradient and a few large red rocks to negotiate. 

Heading towards Chrome

As we got further along the ground underfoot turned even more barren and red – like nothing I had seen before. It was stunning and reminded me of what I would think some areas of Australia would look like!

The terrain turns to harsh red rock

Looking up to the head of Motueka River (right branch)

Chrome Peak called for a lunch stop to admire the views out to Nelson Lakes National Park and across to Marlborough. Unfortunately by this stage Alice was developing a pain in her leg with every step she took. We decided to push on further and just watch how it developed.

Lunch on Chrome

Continuing along the ridge we were aiming to camp at the tarn below Red Hill or further along at 1374 saddle before Mt Ellis. We reached a flat space on the ridge just below 1706 and after much deliberation decided we would stop here for the night as Alice’s leg was not improving. As Alice and I erected the tents, Dad went on a mission to collect water supplies by dropping down to the sound of running water below us. With an ever increasing wind the tents battled to stay upright, being blown so hard they were almost flattened. On Dad’s return, weighing up the chances of Alice’s leg improving overnight and the safety and comfort of our current campspot, we made the tough decision to turn back.

Given the ever increasing gale wind we would have ideally made it back to the Plateau to camp or even better back to the hut, but unfortunately after x hours of walking and x hours of that on a painful leg for Alice we had to bunk down for the night at about 1300m.

Unfortunately campsites free of rock were hard to come by and we ended up camped among large tussocks and a few sneaky boulders that missed our clearing efforts. This combined with the continued gale winds resulted in not the most comfortable night’s sleep (despite our best efforts to make a shelter wall of rocks)! On the plus side we were treated with the most amazing sunset light casting a deep red over the landscape. 

Camping among the rocks and tussocks

Sunset at our campsite

Surprisingly we woke up to a completely calm day the next morning. Despite this good news we continued back down the hill as Alice’s leg had not improved.

View out to Nelson Lakes National Park on the decent

A quick phone call (sometimes cellphones are good in the hills!) the previous afternoon meant Jo was expecting us back at our starting point around lunchtime. So we retraced our steps back to Red Hills Hut and down the 4WD track to the waiting car. Alice did really well despite her injury and hardly even murmured a whisper of complaint!

Back at Red Hills Hut for a second time

Even though we didn't complete our intended route we all still thoroughly enjoyed this trip and experiencing such an amazing landscape. This is one unfinished adventure which I will definitely be back to complete!