Time passed from my first bush bash and I was keen to do the next one. I also wanted to stay true to my New Year’s Resolution, which was to bush bash on a regular basis in 2023.
I decided that my next venture would involve following a creek to its beginning. I also knew that the bush would be a bit more open around a creek as the previous bush bash adventure had shown. I was also curious where rivers came from. Yes they are fed by creeks and creeks from streams. Where do streams come from then? The sky right? But I don’t ever remember seeing the beginning of a river or stream or even a photo for that matter. So now was the time to investigate.
I walked along Gums Loop Track and headed past the valley where Nikau Creek Track is located (the old Whakanui Track). The next gully along, before the Tana Umaga Track, I saw a small unnamed creek coming out of the bush and it looked like the perfect place to venture. I reasoned that the source of the creek couldn’t be that far away as the mountain peak whilst high, was in view.
The terrain was slightly sloped to begin with and it was easy to traverse. It gradually got steeper and I strategically hopped across the creek bed multiple times to choose the side of the creek that offered the easier passage. The bush was getting thicker and then I came to my first real hurdle, a small but steep waterfall. If I climbed up it I would get soaked, so I navigated the steep slope around the waterfall. Back at the creek again, the bush became an almost impenetrable jungle with vines everywhere. I resorted to crawling under the huge layer of growth before coming out and walking again only to repeat the process over and over. But the crawling parts were getting longer and it looked like it would get progressively worse.
At this point my claustrophobia kicked in as I felt like the jungle was swallowing me up. As I sensed the onset of panic, I proactively sought to exit. Instead of heading back down the creek requiring further crawling, I reasoned that it would be quicker to just climb up the ravine wall, yes I was in a ravine at this point. I climbed out in a short amount of time as the wall was quite steep. I could now see some light flickering through some beech trees further up the hill. The light made me feel more comfortable, so I headed for that. Once I was up there however, I saw some pig shit on the ground and realised, I wasn’t the only one up here.
What to do next? Either continue up to the top of the mountain, but in the general direction of the creek, then join the creek again if and when the bush opened up a bit. Or I could just call it a day and head back down, albeit a different way because I wasn’t at the creek anymore. I did the latter. I followed a small ridge back down and found the creek again and followed the creek till I was back to civilisation or Gums Loop Walk if you prefer.
Did I fail? I don’t think so. Because I felt like I had been walking all day. I was sweating profusely when I got out. I had put in a shift.
Anyway, I still don’t know what the beginning of a creek looks like, so I failed there, but perhaps humans aren’t meant to know such things. It might glitch the matrix or something. Regardless, I think this is what progress looks like. What to do next?
