Poteriteri Track Cut Report
Trip Report: Poteriteri Track Cut
On the 9th of November 2020 five Permolat Southland people took the Wairaurahiri jet water taxi into Teal Bay Hut on Lake Hauroko to cut the Poteriteri track. Alastair Macdonald, Naomi Brooks, John McDonald, Gavin Sinclair and Les Scown started cutting the track that day and were joined by Ross Mason the following day.
Gavin and Les tramped in and camped at the first major river past the Rata Burn and cut towards Lake Poteriteri while the rest of us walked in each day from Teal Bay Hut and cut towards Gavin and Les’s camp.
The track was well overgrown with crown ferns, sometimes to the extent that they hid the track and the orange triangle track markers from view, and there were a few wind falls crossing the track as well. The track is now well cut and marked and easy to follow on the well defined track.
Between the 6 people over 5 days we did 158 man hours cutting on the track and 75 man hours tramping along the track to and from the work site. We cleared approximately 14 Km of track.
Permolat Southland would like to thank DoC Te Anau for allowing us to cut this remote track in this fantastic terrain, Johan and Joyce from Wairaurahiri Jet for the water taxi on Lake Hauroko, Back Country Trust for financing this project, and finally the hard workers on the track, Alastair Macdonald, Naomi Brooks, John McDonald, Ross Mason, Gavin Sinclair and Les Scown.
A note for DoC Te Anau: the side stabilizer wires on the Wairaurahiri and the Rata Burn swing bridges need tightening and the two top main wires on the Rata Burn swing bridge need tightening also.
It was a great five days with fantastic weather and beautiful terrain to be volunteering in.
