The Wangapeka Track

 With husband.
Daughter Starts the Wangakepa

The first stage of Daughter of Moosey's North West Nelson Loop Trip was to walk the Wangapeka track, starting on the east end near Tapawera. This is Part One of my great couch-hiking adventure, enjoyed in the summer of 2012. You can guess what 'couch-hiking' is, hee hee...

'Tell me about the Wangapeka Track' I asked, sitting in my kitchen.

'The Little Wanganui River is not little' replied Daughter sternly, spreading red and yellow layers on the pizza for our evening meal. 'No, no - you have to start at the beginning!' I exclaimed. 'Moosey readers may be two-tooth ewes, spring lambs, or old rams - but they all expect to be shepherded slowly along a hiking route. Didn't you keep a daily diary?'

 Always the same, every day...
Lunch

Minimalist Diary

So the tramping diary was duly produced, full of rather terse, minimalist phrases: 'Stone Hut. Blue Ducks. Lunch salami crackers cheese.'

And a Wangapeka haiku, the poetic result of this five day trip. Daughter explained that she had written a haiku for each stage of the Loop Trip. Did the Moosey website readers like poetry?

'You're just going to have to tell me the ordinary things.' I said, fingers poised on the computer keyboard. 'In ordinary words.'

Tell me about the Wangapeka Track...

 A tributary of the Little Wanganui River.
Lawrence Stream

'Wait' I said, wanting more details. 'So far this is all about the rivers. It's like geography. I need more. What were the huts like?'

 A historic hut on the Wangapeka Track.
Cecil King's Hut

Daughter was keen to finish this trip of rivers, and like a flash she was back at the foot of the saddle, in filthy weather.

She showed me the Wangapeka Haiku, the first of four encapsulating the four stages of the Loop Trip, written in her diary amongst scribbly bullet-point notes about weather and meals.

Thus ended Daughter's first five day trip, from Rolling River car park through to the Wangapeka Road car park, on the Wangapeka Track. This is Part One of my great couch-hiking adventures in the summer of 2012.