Burkes Pass To Becks

Great New Zealand Trek… Stage 12.

- Frances Harrison

Beginning at Cape Reinga twelve years ago, this awesome con-cept of trekking from North Cape to the Bluff in yearly stages, has developed into something of a tenacious hikoi.

This year almost 200 trekkers and over ninety volunteer crew met at Bauchops Hill near Burkes Pass in the Mackenzie country deep in the South Island. The lure of Bluff pulls strong.

People came from as far as Wales, Japan and France to either help or participate. The Australian contingent grows each year.

With ‘Camp Kids’ ranging in age from baby size to eight years, plus their bikes and strollers, trekkers had all sorts of obstacles to avoid, before even setting out for the day.

The route through the Mackenzie country and into Otago was a challenging one this year in both planning logistics and execution. The rocks were hard, the hills steep, the rivers cold and the high tops even colder.

Yet the sun shone daily, and the stars lit the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve by night. This is the Southern Hemisphere’s only dark sky reserve, created in 2012 and one of only eight in the world. Although the Aurora Australis has been seen in this area, sadly its magic didn’t happen for us.

But we didn’t have time to star gaze. We had approximately 30 kms to cover each day following dusty back roads, lumpy farm tracks, 4wheel drive routes and straight across ankle deep rivers.

From Bauchops Hill the fluttering trail ribbons led to Grays Hills, then on to Glenbrook Station and on to Omarama.