Paua Hut for Guy Fawkes in 36 lines

What happens if you take a whole lot of comments from everyone on the trip and just mash them together? There were so many favourite parts: fireworks having left over pudding for breakfast everyone gathered round the bonfire roasting marshmallows and damper fireworks display and sparklers sleeping in the tent jelly beans the company kids … Read more

Rimutaka Incline MTB

Mark and Amelia did an excellent job of arranging perfect weather for this lovely excursion over the Rimutaka Incline and down the other side to Cross Creek. The ride up is fairly cruisy, even for a rider with no stamina like me. We stopped at the summit to ponder about life in general and have … Read more

Korokoro Dam

A group of 16 set out in good weather for the popular Cornish St to Korokoro Dam walk, a 3 hour return trip. The track follows Korokoro stream all the way to the dam, which was built in 1903 to supply Petone. Remnants of the water pipeline remain. Our group had a good number of … Read more

WTMC Annual Journal 2011 – stories needed – December 2011-January 2012

Author: Tony Gazley (soon-to-be Journal editor) Do you have an interesting story to tell? Have you been on an interesting trip in the last year and took amazing photographs to match? Send your story and photographs to for inclusion in the next WTMC journal. Deadline for submissions is 25 February 2012.

Congratulations to Amanda and Megan for running The Goat!

The Goat (http://www.thegoat.co.nz/) is an exhilarating adventure run from Whakapapa to Turoa Ski Fields on the Round the Mountain track, traversing the western slopes of Mount Ruapehu.  The 21 kilometre course has over 1000 metres of vertical ascent and covers a whole bunch of amazing terrain. It is a demanding yet achievable run that is … Read more

The second best mountain range for tramping

What better way to spend the long Labour weekend of the 2011 Rugby World Cup Final than isolated in the second best mountain range for tramping in the world? I certainly couldn’t think of a better way: it was easy to wing my way back to New Zealand and head into the Ruahines! I stapled … Read more

Nelson mountain bike trip

On Friday November 25th, two Canucks and a Kiwi assembled together for the first time in the parking lot of the Interislander. Their mission: to “sail to the other side” and do some mountain biking in the Nelson area. Anna had decided to take an open-ended approach to the cycling itinerary: after a fine feed … Read more

Totara Flats family tramp

So what is it that children like most about tramping? A sense of adventure? Staying in a cool hut? Enjoying nature? Nah – it seems it is the one time in their lives that their parents let them eat whatever yummy food they like. Our trip to Totara Flats was no different. Our group kept … Read more

Tongariro in the mist – peak bagging for 8 year olds – November 2011

Everyone knows the Ruapehu Lodge is where you go for winter weekends; for snowboarding, alpine adventures and the like.  Summer?  What’s there in Summer?  Well, that was our mission: to find out. I well know that the lodge is very comfortable for regular punters and families alike. It needs to be because snowboarding at Mt … Read more