11-12 February 2020

Leader: Chris Keating

We were intending to walk the Greenstone/Caples track(s) but a recent storm had caused massive flooding and DOC had closed these tracks along with the Milford, Routeburn, Hollyford and Dart/Rees tracks. So we spent more time mixing with family members at gathering at Wanaka before heading north over the Haast Pass and seeking advice from the well resourced DOC office in Haast regarding overnight trips.

Doc's first recommendation was Welcome Flat Hut in the Copeland River valley. However this is a bookable hut and there were no spare bunks - it is a very popular hut because of nearby hot pools. Their second suggestion was Stafford Hut at Stafford Bay just south of Jackson Bay.

We opted for the Stafford Hut trip and drove 50km south to Jackson Bay, about as far south as you can drive on the West Coast. The trip is a very pleasant medium overnight trip with magnificent west coast bush reaching all the way to the coast. DOC's notes and signs indicate a 4 hour trip from Jackson Bay to Stafford Hut but it took us 5 hours excluding breaks - the trip down from Stafford Saddle in particular was slow going, involving stream travel with lots of fallen trees over the stream.

We shared the hut with one of 3 DOC workers who had very kindly cleared a lot of the track over the last few days. When we arrived they made sure the hut was free of sandflies by spraying inside before letting us in - they had just spent the day painting the interior of the hut. They then kindly supplied us with large pieces of fruit cake to have with cups of tea. About 9:30pm that night we were joined by two young French/American women who had started walking from Jackson Bay late afternoon.

The following morning we explored Stafford Bay and found some very distinct penguin tracks in the sand - probably made by Fiordland crested penguins who would have been ashore at that time while their feathers were moulting. We then headed back over the inland track and again enjoyed the river and bush travel.

This trip can be done as a round trip, going in via the coast and returning via the inland track. The coastal section needs to be timed so that you are at the north end at around low tide.

Those on the trip were:

Chris Keating, Glenda Robb