I haven't been camping, except for back yard gear testing, in years. Last weekend I left work for two nights at the Kaniwhaniwha campsite with a colleague. You can read about my load out and how I dropped 10kgs from my first packing.
Friday
Arrived at carpark after dark. Hiked in for 45 minutes. Pitch tent, make dinner, talk a bit then go to bed. We made all but the last few hundred metres of the hike without lights. The night was quite dark and there were a lot of green tunnel sections, but you can just make out the track, hear a stream to the right and the crunch of crushed rock underfoot so navigating was possible with concentration. Such activities are good to challenge the senses.
Here is my tent setup. I placed dead fern fronds near the door to help mud control. On top of the tent is the sleeping bag sack I used for food and tools.
My colleague slept in this bivvy bag. The first night he slept amongst the trees. On the second night he slept here. The bivvy bag is apparently a Miltec copy of the MSS bag.
Saturday
My colleague went scouting with his hunting bow and I stayed at camp. I wanted to collect firewood for an evening fire, stack ferns under my tent and maybe go on a short hike. It turns out this campsite is very popular so there wasn't much wood around. It took me hours of gathering to get a small pile so I didn't really have time for much else.
Some scouts turned up mid afternoon and promptly took over the fire pit area. My colleague came back about an hour before dark. We spent some time repairing his bow and he had an early night. He'd covered some rough rough ground.
I figured I'd take my wood up to the main fire pit to share with the scouts so I could let my colleague sleep in peace. The scoutmaster used a hexamine tablet to start the fire and had two scouts one-sticking the fire. Different philosophy to mine. Once there's a base of flame you drop on bundles, esp with the marginal wet wood I had. Still, his scouts, his lesson so I didn't intervene. At least the fire got lit and the scouts roasted their marshmallows. And I got to watch the ol' bush TV while somebody else stoked it.
I cut through this 30cm (12 inch) log with a hachet. The other half of the log was given to the people I borrowed the hatchet from. In the end it was too big to burn. Next time I'll carry a saw - I couldn't find mine while I packed.
One hour with a hatchet and a defiant attitude meant I didn't realise I had a blister until too late. Oh well, carry on. This picture was taken the day after.
Sunday
Got up, had coffee, ate my remaining heavy food and went for a short hike. My colleague took his bow for target practice, which he must be at least 500m from public tracks. I took some photos and packed up. The hike out was uneventful - though I met a lot of dogs on the way. I'd love to bring Mor-mor (沫沫) here, but dogs are forbidden on Dept. of Conservation land - not that this bothered the locals. I wasn't hungry while camping, but during the drive back I got ravenous so we stopped and inhaled a burger.
More Photos
Steps to the stream to collect water. At the bottom of the steps, the stream level is still another metre or so down so you have to balance carefully on the rocks while you scoop. The stream water is probably potable, but we boiled it just in case. The scouts used purification tablets.
Sunday morning was very foggy - this photo was taken late morning. The fog didn't lift for the whole day. Here's the view across the campsite. The red tent had three brothers staying in it. They were locals whose dad spends summer living at the site. The fire pit area is past the red tent in the middle of the shot. The scouts camped to the right of this photo.
There were toilets here of the long-drop variety. When there were no women around, we normally used the female toilets since they were cleaner and smelt better. The red warning sign says the pre-school aged children must be supervised. Despite bars over the vault, there is risk of falling in.
This was typical of the path in. Crushed rock and wide. Easy as. The paths get wilder the further in you go.
This shot is more representative of the bush beyond the camp. Supplejack vine is easy to get tangled in. The scoutmaster, who is also a Search and Rescue volunteer, told me the some SAR people carry gardening secateurs on their belts to get through the vines. Supplejack has edible red berries, roots and tips.
Lessons
My tent is free standing, but I should still peg out the fly to maximise air flow and reduce condensation. I did this on the second night.
The place I pitched the tent got limited sun. That's okay for one night or summer, but in a foggy late autumn with passing sprinkles, it meant my tent got damp and didn't dry much during the day. I did take off the fly and put it over some bushes to dry off the condensation on Saturday.
The overnight lows were about 5°C (40°F) which was outside the range of my sleeping bag. I wasn't cold, but I wasn't warm either on the first night. By the second night I was so warm I slept in just the liner - I think much of that was my body just figuring out how to sleep in the gear I had.
Take a saw! Processing firewood with a knife alone takes time.
Wear gloves: you carried an work gloves but only used them once.
I'll have more from this camp in future posts. Over all good times, would recommend.
!steemitworldmap -37.9384224 lat 175.07480079 long Kaniwhaniwha Campsite d3scr