Hump Ridge Track

The Hump Ridge Track is located in the south east of Fiordland National Park, South Island, New Zealand. [http://www.humpridgetrack.co.nz Link to Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track website]

The Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track is 53 km, based in Waitutu Forest (part of Fiordland National Park). The closest town is Tuatapere, although people often stay in Te Anau and opt to drive south the morning of beginning the track. The track was established in November 2001, with the township of Tuatapere fund-raising around $3 million for the project. Fact|date=February 2007 The track crosses Māori land and much privately owned land. The Tuatapere Hump Track Trust owns the lodges and the over 20 km of board walk, although DOC maintains the track along the coast.

Route

The track starts from Bluecliffs Beach at the Rarakau Farm carpark. The first night is spent at Okaka Hut on the Hump Ridge, up on the hump ridge itself offers panoramic views of Fiordland and to Steward Island. Goes across three large viaducts including the impressive Percy Burn Viaduct. The second night at Port Craig, New Zealand Village, then returning via Bluecliffs Beach.

Between six to nine hours walking is required each day to complete the track. The direction of travel may change from time to time, depending on track and tidal conditions and management requirements. But Okaka is usually visited first, because it gets the steepest section over with.

Flora and Fauna

Near the coast are dense forests of rimu, miro, Hall's tōtara and rātā. The lower terraces are mainly podocarp and silver beech, while the higher terraces are dominated by yellow-silver pine.

Port Craig is immersed in history; the DOC hut is a 78 year old schoolhouse used in the logging days. One cannot walk off the track for more than 100 m at port craig without finding something remnant of the forestry days.

The track crosses three big viaducts, the largest, the Percy burn is thought to be the biggest wooden viaduct in the southern hemisphere and is referenced in Warren Birds book 'Viaducts to the Sky' as thought to be the largest Wooden viaduct remaining in the world.

History

The Waitutu area was visited by early māori in search of food from the sea, rivers and forests. Kaika or hunting camps were sited on the banks of the Waiau River, near Tuatapere, and the river crossed by mokihi or rafts. Tracks led along the terraces and beaches, probably very close to the track of today, providing access to Sandhill Point, the Wairaurahiri River and beyond.

The coastal track was first cut by government workers in 1896 to provide an alternative to the unreliable shipping service to Cromarty and Te Oneroa, gold mining settlements of Preservation Inlet.

In 1908 a telephone line was installed along the track linking the Puysegur Point lighthouse with Orepuki. Insulators, wire and old maintenance workers' huts can still be found today.

During the 1920s Port Craig, New Zealand was the site of the largest and most modern sawmill in New Zealand. The Marlborough Timber Company mill employed over 200 men and produced up to 1800 cubic metres of timber a month.

Logs were brought to the mill along a high class tramway from the terrace forests to the west, between Port Craig, New Zealand and the Wairaurahiri River. Large viaducts were constructed from Australian hardwood to carry the tramlines over ravines. The largest, the Percy Burn viaduct, is 125 metres long and 36 metres above the creek bed. It was fully repaired in 1994. The other viaducts were refurbished in 1999.

By the time milling ceased in 1929, about 14 square kilometres of forest had been logged, the timber being shipped directly from Port Craig, New Zealand. Old wharf piles remain, along with old building materials and the Port Craig school, which has been converted into a hut for trampers.