Mt Starveall to Mt Taranaki

A number of expeditions had taken us to Nelson, then on to Nelson Lakes, Abel Tasman and in particular, Kahurangi National Parks and I had often looked up at the Richmond Range and wondered what it was like in "them Thar hills". This was our chance to find out, and again we opted for the helicopter drop off to avoid a lot of up-hill early in the tramp.

Mount Richmond Forest Park is the second largest forest park in New Zealand at 166,000 ha. It includes most of the steep native forest-covered mountain country between Nelson and Blenheim. The Wairau River and Fault (part of the Alpine Fault) mark the southern boundry of the park with a distinctive change from forest covered hills to a wide river valley. We stay in the centre, eventually following the Pelorus River renouned for it's crystal clear blue-green water.

Access & accommodation: Our team came from UK and NZ with Roger aleady in Nelson and so able to bring the gas. Four of us flew in from New Plymouth, where we met up with the Helipro people before being choppered to our 1st hut. Ian arranged a shuttle to collect us at the end and most of us stayed in Nelson overnight before flying out again.

TRAMPERS: Ian Bardsley (Carterton, ex Hawera): Camera = Canon Ixus 80 digital [8MP] - photo ID=Ian John Barrell (New Plymouth): No camera Nick Adderley (New Plymouth, ex UK): No camera Alan Rogers (Hawera): Camera = Panasonic DMC LC40 digital [5.1MP] - photo ID=Alan Roger Clegg (UK): Camera = Leica D-LUX 4 digital [10MP] - photo ID=Roger John Sutton (New Plymouth): Camera = Canon Ixus 80 digital [8MP] - photo ID=JohnS Keith Blayney [yours truly] (Hawera): Camera = Nikon D60 SLR digital [10.2MP] with a Sigma DC 18-200 OS zoom lens (f3.5-6.3) - photo ID=Keith All photographs © - media reproduction requires permission

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