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Reports......DC3
Crash Site, Kaimais
Date: 7/4/09
Leader: Marlene Lynam
Fourteen trampers arrived at Roselands for an early start at 7am.
Luckily today it was fine weather and had been for several days, so
the tracks were quite dry. As the first part of the walk is up
Thompsons Track, a 4WD road, it can get very muddy at times! While
we were walking up this track, we had to give way to several passing
vehicles, including trail bikes and off-roaders, which we could hear
some distance away, roaring in the valley. At Thompsons Saddle, we
stopped for a break on a peak where we had good views out east and
west.
The next stage of the trip, we headed south on the North South
Track, a bush track which was reasonably cleared. Some of us had
taken trimming tools but rarely needed to use them on this track.
After 30 minutes, we reached the track intersection to Kauritatahi
Hut, the old North-South Track. We were very surprised to see that
this track had recently been cleared, with the dead clippings
(mostly cutty grass and toetoe) still visible on the side of the
track. This has made a huge difference to how the overgrown track
was the last time our club tramped here. With no need for bush
crashing, we saved time and soon reached the saddle and the
deviation off to the crash site. With the help of Richard’s GPS and
with Tony leading the way, we initially headed uphill on mostly
un-marked, un-cleared tracks, then descended down a slip into the
gully towards the plane wreckage. After a bit of searching, we
discovered the rope that led us down to the actual wreckage. Not
much of the plane remains today, as the majority got buried on the
hill, but we did see the wing with the ZK-AYZ registration. A plaque
was fixed to a rock next to this in remembrance of the 23 people who
died in the crash. At the time, it was New Zealand’s worst aviation
accident (3 July, 1963).
We climbed back up the rope and had lunch in the cool bush. After
lunch we climbed out of the gully, attaching orange markers to trees
and clearing the track, although we got slightly disorientated
trying to find our way back up the slip to the saddle. Once on
track, we headed north back to Thompsons Track and had another break
here while being entertained by more 4WD vehicles driving up the
rough track to the top, some of them only just managing to get up.
It took another 90 minutes to get back to the car park, again having
to give way to passing vehicles, and there were a lot more this
time!
I would like to see the club plan another trip up to the DC3 crash
site, especially with the track section now clear through to
Kauritatahi Hut. Unfortunately, we did not have time to continue on
to the Hut on this trip as we calculated that it was still another
30 minutes away. Thanks to Tony and Richard for their navigation
skills!
Shane Lynam
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