“On a Mish” #242 Which Area in Nz Gets the Most Rainfall? (Part Two). Camping in the Upper Borland. Fiordland National Park. 30.1.2017. If you love the wilderness then you will love Fiordland National Park. The place oozes excellence and its visual appeal and remoteness makes it a truly one-of-a-kind location. Along with the mountains, there are many rivers and lakes, and these are topped up often by the frequently falling rain. If you can get there on a dry day, I highly recommend you take the opportunity, for this is the area of Aotearoa which gets the most rainfall…
My afternoon outing had taken me from the Humpridge Track office to the Upper Borland Valley. From South Fiordland to Central Fiordland. From one epic place to another. However I was now in a place out of reach of phone and radio coverage.
After adding a few more battle scars to my legs I finally reached the open meadows decorated with golden tussock at the valley’s head. Camping sites were bountiful so after a careful look around I found an epic spot next to the relaxing trickle of the Borland Burn (River). It would appear that someone else also lived here, I had awoken a blood thirsty Fiordland predator. So, to keep the sandflies that I had disturbed from eating me alive me I began setting up camp immediately.
It was just before I finished pitching my tent that I felt the first drops of rain not mentioned in any forecast I’d looked at. I didn’t pay much attention to it at first, but then drips became drops and very soon my sunny afternoon turned into a heavy dose of the wet stuff. It was a good thing I had pitched my tent because I was forced back into it and could only laugh at the fact that Fiordland was living up to its damp reputation.
As I sat out the rain I noticed and familiar object on the ground near my tent. I found a Speights beer bottle cap which I instantly recognised as one that comes with a question printed on the underside. I had to laugh at the irony as the question was: Which part of New Zealand receives the most rain? Where else but the place I was, the place that was wet when the weatherman said it would be dry!
As the evening rolled on, I was in and out of the tent in between spats of rain. By no means was I upset with my situation, and as the sun made spontaneous appearances, I managed to get so cool photos. I’ll take a night in wet Fiordland over most things these days, so I was living it up in the upper reaches of the Borland Burn Valley.
I was up early-ish the next day, as reality was calling and I had to get back to work. I decided that I didn’t want to add to my collection of scars by pushing through the scratchy scrub again, so my route back was to scramble my way down via the river. This route was far quicker, and it was enjoyable, eventually. Once I got used to the icy water in my boots it was a great hike out and drive back to work in Tuatapere.
As my boots began to dry out during the drive back, I thought about the odds of finding the bottle cap with the Fiordland Question, and then the odds of finding it in the place I did during the conditions I encountered. But then I realised, it was a situation in Fiordland which involved rain, so it probably wasn’t as amazing as first thought!
