Middle Hill Hut

Not‌ ‌the‌ ‌greatest‌ ‌start‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌trip…‌ ‌  Graeme‌ ‌from‌ ‌the‌ ‌AA‌ ‌was‌ ‌just‌ ‌as‌ ‌baffled‌ ‌as‌ ‌I‌ ‌was‌ ‌that‌ ‌neither‌ ‌the‌ ‌remote‌ ‌nor‌ ‌physical‌ ‌key‌ ‌would‌ ‌unlock‌ ‌the‌ ‌van.‌ ‌The‌ ‌van‌ ‌wouldn’t‌ ‌unlock‌ ‌because‌ ‌of‌ ‌a‌ ‌flat‌ ‌battery,‌ ‌but‌ ‌we‌ ‌would‌ ‌have‌ ‌to‌ ‌get‌ ‌into‌ ‌the‌ ‌van‌ ‌to open the bonnet to‌ ‌get‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌battery‌ ‌to‌ … Read more

Blue Lake

The trip started with the ferry crew handing out free boxes of chips to everyone on board – their way of compensation for the 2-hour delay to our departure. I bought some fish to go with my chips and the crew gave me even more free chips. Feeling fully carb-loaded, we set off for Lake Rotoroa and … Read more

Learning the Skills and Tools of Alpine Travel with Hillary Outdoors

A few weeks back I enjoyed a special opportunity to firm up some alpine skills with the support of a WTMC scholarship on a Hillary Outdoors alpine instruction course. The two days up at Ruapehu were a nice crash course in travelling in a mixed alpine environment practising the tools of the trade. Our first … Read more

Orongorongo Valley Hut Bagging

There are over 60 private/club/DOC huts in the Orongorongo valley. Our mission was to see how many we could find from out base at Paua hut.I had worried about the weather for the weekend as the forecast had predicted some rain. However, the Friday was warm and sunny and we had a pleasant tramp over … Read more

Hiking The Burtton Track

Up bright and early to start our day trip meeting at the Railway Station: 7AM. It was really great having two cars for this trip as the starting and finishing points are different. The road to the start of track is gravelly and potholed, take care when driving.  The start of the track is Scott’s … Read more

Committee Activity: September 2021

Greetings Readers, it’s National Lockdown 2 and your humble Newsletter Editor finds himself a bit bored and with (unsurprisingly) few trip reports coming in. What to do? I decided to canvass your committee about their lockdown exploits and to summarise them here. Interestingly, between us we’ve managed to photograph Wellington from almost every angle Maj-Britt, … Read more

Taming the Mud Monster on Stewart Island/Rakiura

“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” As I took my first few steps out of the backpackers in Oban on Stewart Island/Rakiura I kept reminding myself of this famous quote by mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary everytime the nerves threatened to overwhelm me. I was setting off on a continuous circumnavigation of Stewart … Read more

Want to upskill your tramping or mountaineering? A WTMC scholarship might be just the thing!

Rock climbing

Launched in 2018, the WTMC scholarship programme is about supporting club members to gain experience and skills.  We often think of the club’s courses in leadership, bushcraft and snowcraft or the local alpine club section courses. These are great courses and an excellent first step on your tramping and mountaineering journey, so be sure to … Read more

Annual Families Cookout

Families around a fire

Every year since 2016, the Families Group has spent a day at Battle Hill, cooking lunch on a fire, enjoying the jumbo swing, feeding eels, sometimes swimming in the stream, and generally having a wonderful time. This year we had a turnout not seen in several years, with nearly 30 people arriving to cook over … Read more

From the Editor, July 2021

Greetings, Readers. It is I, the Newsletter Editor, coming to you with information and requests The Request Please keep sending me trip reports! Without trip reports to publish I would have to find a job or something to occupy my time with, or worse, I’ll start making up my own trip reports and then you’ll … Read more