One of the great things about New Zealand’s wilderness is the absence of obtrusive restaurants and hotels on mountain tops. Well-prepared trampers make sure they carry enough water for their celebratory drink upon reaching the summit. However, what if the last water supply is a long way away, and you are running low on fluids on a blisteringly hot summer’s day?
In some remote, high places, Kiwi ingenuity may come to the rescue. On my trips in Mt Richmond Forest Park, I have come across rainwater capturing and storage devices such as tins, barrels and even a rubbish bin! Despite of what you may think, generally the water in these containers is very clean. Typically the containers have some sort of a lid with a few holes and shaped in such a way to collect the rainwater.
Richmond Range water points
A rubbish bin, converted to capture rainwater, on the Richmond Range west of Old Man. In the distance you can see Little Rintoul (1643 m) with Mt Rintoul (1731 m) behind.
Water barrel on Old Man (1514 m).
Conical Knob water point
One water point that came in handy was the one I encountered on the saddle south of Conical Knob, along the Middy/Roebuck–Mt Fell route. It allowed me to break an eight-hour-plus tramp in half, and hammock camp the night on the saddle.
A 1986 New Zealand Forest Service pamphlet reads “…passing a galvanised iron water point (installed by the Nelson Tramping Club) attached to a tree just to the right of the track about a quarter of an hour from Conical Knob.”
Number eight wire does the trick and holds the tin up on a beech tree. The row of holes on the lid became apparent once I removed a pile of beech leaves.
Open it, and voilà!
Sign with some good advice above the water point.
My hammock camp at 1120 m, on the saddle south of Conical Knob.
Are there any other water points?
Water points deserve to be appropriately marked on park maps—what do you reckon? I wonder how many of them there are. Have you ever come across any “mountain top thirst quenchers” in New Zealand’s wilderness?
