Fears for UK hiker
Woman fails to return from tramp in Mt Aspiring park
Concern is growing for a British tramper who failed to turn up for work yesterday after telling friends she was heading into Mt Aspiring National Park over the weekend.
Stephanie Simpson told friends of plans to attempt the challenging fourhour hike to Brewster Hut and then move on to Blue Pools on Saturday.
But she failed to show up to her Wanaka landscaping job yesterday and none of her friends has heard from her since Friday.
Police said the 32-year-old was reported missing at 8.45am on Monday and a helicopter was out searching for her last night.
A team will be on the ground this morning to continue with the search. It was unclear if she was alone. A close friend told the Herald it would have just been “another weekend away tramping” for Simpson.
“She’s strong, she’s fit, she’s capable. She’s worked in the outdoors, she knows what she’s up to.”
She said Simpson arrived from Australia last year alone and has been living in Wanaka since July.
The friend, who didn’t want to be named, described the Brit as “outdoorsy, super friendly and super bubbly,” and said she would explore the area as much as possible. “She’s a really beautiful, kind-hearted person. She can make friends in an instant, she’s awesome. She’s just here to tramp and see the country.”
The friend hoped Simpson would turn up soon. “It wouldn’t surprise me if she did just rock up tonight and there’s been a little something that’s happened and she just needed to take an extra day,” she said.
Her disappearance comes after heavy rain battered areas of Southland and Otago last week with rising rivers inundating low-lying homes, businesses and farms.
A state of emergency was declared in flooded Southland, where roads were closed and a steady downpour left homes and farms sodden.
The swollen rivers may have also been responsible for the deaths of two trampers heading into the park.
Senior Sergeant Miriam Reddington said their bodies were found in the Makarora River, near the start of the Blue-Young link walking track and just upstream of the confluence of the Young River. “Inquiries indicate they were going for a hike,” she said.
One body was recovered on Friday afternoon by the Wanaka Search and Rescue river rescue team, and the second on Saturday.
Reddington said police were trying to establish when the trampers had left on their hike.
The deaths were not considered suspicious, she said. “We think they have just come unstuck.”
Reddington said police were working with the Department of Conservation to make sure it was safe for trampers to continue using the area.
Central Otago District operations manager Mike Tubbs said the Makarora River fluctuated “wildly” as a result of rainfall and snow melt and the nearest river level monitoring site showed the Wilkin River, which runs into the Makarora, went from 300 cumecs (cubic metres per second) to 900 cumecs and back to under 100 cumecs in the space of four days.
The steep hike to Brewster Hut can take up to four hours one way and is recommended for experienced hikers only. Trampers cross the Haast River and are advised to exercise caution after heavy rainfall.
MetService meteorologist Tuporo Marsters said the heavy rain that overwhelmed Southland would have begun to recede by the weekend and it was unlikely the Haast River would have been in flood.