Sunrise Hut – Ruahine Forest Park

On Friday evening the five of us met at the traditional WTMC meet up point at Wellington Train Station for a weekend getaway to Ruahine Forest Park, located in Hawke’s Bay. We were joined by the Medium-Fit group, who were travelling in the van with us. Our group was a mix of new and more … Read more

Mangahao Flats Hut – Tararua Forest Park

We met at Wellington Train Station at 6:30 am on a sunny Saturday and piled into the club van. After dropping off the Medium group at Poads Road, we carried on up to the Managahao Top No 1 Reservoir dam. I was a bit nervous about driving the van, but had been reassured by others … Read more

Te Atuaoparapara peak – Ruahine Forest Park

It was timely that the Wilderness magazine had an article on negotiating scree, given that our descent from Te Atuaoparapara peak involved just that! We left Wellington train station at 5.30 pm on Friday and arrived at the road end (North Block road) at around 9.30 pm. It was then a 10 min walk to … Read more

A tale of two Aorangi Crossings – Aorangi Forest Park

We had an extraordinary number of sign-ups for the Aorangi Crossing trip, originally graded Medium, which was very encouraging to see. We were keen to accommodate as many trampers as possible, as the club had signed up to support the Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC) ‘Love our Huts’ campaign (unbeknown to those who had signed up). … Read more

Mangatoetoe Hut and Kawakawa Hut – Aorangi Forest Park

Friday: We met at 4 pm at Wellington Train Station in the carpark by platform 9. After a 2 1/2 hr drive we arrived at Aorangi crossing carpark, Cape Palliser road. It took an easy-paced 1 hr 10 min hike along Mangatoetoe Stream to reach Mangatoetoe Hut -just as the light started to fade. This … Read more

Penn Creek Hut – Tararua Forest Park

The group assembled at Platform 10 (basically 9 ¾ for WTMC) for what would end up being a wet, but enjoyable, weekend in the Tararuas. The plan originally was to head to Winchcombe Biv. However, the weather forecast was not in our favour, with winds from 35-40km/h and gusts up to 100km/h predicted for Saturday … Read more

Minimum effort, maximum gain: Sentry Box, Parks Peak and Upper Makaroro Huts – Ruahine Forest Park

Unfortunately, our original plan to do a return trip to Triangle Hut from the western side of the Ruahine Range was not to be, owing to the high winds and soggy weather forecast for the weekend. However, it looked like the Eastern side of the Range would have a better weather profile, so we opted … Read more

Tapuae – o – Uenuku – Inland Kaikōura Range

For a lengthier and much more creatively written report of this trip take a read of Sam’s account here: https://medium.com/engage/tapping-out-of-tappy-de5027b8a21b. We caught the ferry on Thursday afternoon after squishing five people’s alpine packs into the car, and then stayed the night at a Picton backpackers – which made for a very leisurely start to the … Read more

Herepai Hut – Tararua Forest Park

We met at the Wellington Train Station carpark for an 8am departure. We were sharing the club van with the medium group of four who were planning to go to Cattle Ridge Hut via Roaring Stag Hut. With heavy rain forecast for later in the afternoon and for much of the following morning, we were … Read more

Finding Tin Hut – Belmont Regional Park

The five of us met at Wellington Railway Station and caught a bus at around 8.30am to Petone. At Petone Station we crossed over SH2 and headed to the Cornish St entrance of Belmont Regional Park, to start walking the Korokoro Stream Track. Belmont Regional Park walks and map https://www.gw.govt.nz/parks/belmont-regional-park/ After a quick check of … Read more