“On a Mish” #127 Back to Paradise (Part Two). Rees Dart Track / Beans Burn Confluence. Mt Aspiring National Park. 3.7.2020. Paradise; an ideal or idyllic place or state. Many locations around Aotearoa could easily fit this description, however only one place has been bold enough to take the name, and with a visit you can see that calling it paradise is a perfect fit. Many years and an injury later and it was time to gather a crew and head back to paradise for some mountain motivation, and relaxing recreation…
This was my first hike in the hills after many, many months recovering from my back & hip injury. Luckily, I had found a way to keep myself sane-ish by retelling my adventures. If you can’t be there, then project yourself there in your mind. But with all that positive stuff out of the way I was extremely excited to get back into the mountains, and the mountains around paradise were a very good place to start.
We followed the well-formed and constructed Rees Dart Track around a huge series of cliffs called Chinamans Bluff, and we were all amazed how low the water was in the usually swift and mighty Dart River. We had just seen what the river can do when angry, but now it was only a quiet meander, trickling south into Lake Wakatipu. Mother Nature has many moods.
After arriving at the first open flats, we turned away from the river and searched for a rock bivvy hidden away in the trees on the western side of Chinamans Bluff that the boys knew about. Visiting a location with people with prior knowledge is always very helpful. The multi-room Rock Bivvy is very impressive and would be a safe and comfortable shelter if trapped by a storm. We hoped to return one day to spend a night in the natural shelter.
The next part of the mission was over to the true left of Te Awa Whakatipu Dart River. Normally this would be a treacherous trek, but with the river so low we managed to cross over most of it until the last braid, which was a bit much to deal with while injured. Mark took the polar plunge and braved the water to get to the other side. Once over he was able to check out the entrance to the Beans Burn Valley, which is usually so much more difficult to access, so some folks choose to cross by boat. After some photos and much needed mountain vibes it was time to head back to Paradise, and then back on to reality.
Even though the hike was just a glimpse of the area and we didn’t exactly cover a huge distance, it was so good to finally find that fix of meditation you can only get when hiking in a special place like Paradise. We are lucky to have so much paradise available, and if you want the ‘real deal’ then we even have a little place north of Lake Wakatipu where you can say you have been to Paradise and back again…
