Thursday (3h20)After the customary ferry delays and many dolphins, we drove to Rolling junction via a kebab shop in Richmond, arriving at the road end at 8.30pm after crossing the Dart Ford without issues. With head torches, we walked at a good pace along the great wall grade track for a few hours. Arriving at Kings … Read more
The mountain gods have spoken. There will be no covid problems this season, the mountain will not erupt, and the snow will continue to fall at night with intermittent periods of sunshine during the day. Car parking will be free for all if there is space. The start of the season has had an early … Read more
As usual, WTMC trampers met at the Wellington train station on Friday night to start the adventure north. With a full van and cheery disposition, driver Tony picked up two Kapiti Coast trampers along the way. While everyone had their dinner in Bulls, Tash had an impromptu date with DoC ranger “Dave” a lovely fellow … Read more
The forecast was for rain and wind in the Tararua but we had no unbridged river crossings and only a very short section of exposed tops so we set off on Plan A to reach Neill Forks hut from Waiohine Gorge road end, via Cone, Neill Peak and the unmarked spur NE down to the … Read more
The original plan of visiting Tableland Circuit in Kahurangi National Park didn’t eventuate because of a challenging road up to Flora Car park that was made worse by a heavy rain fall on the Thursday. But the team worked together to identify exciting alternatives that would leave the group with long positive memories of their … Read more
As is tradition when heading to the South Island, our trip began with a delayed ferry. Unfortunately this meant that our original plan of completing the Dragon’s Teeth crossing was rendered infeasible, so we took the time before our rescheduled crossing to brainstorm an alternative. Wanting to stay within the Kahurangi National Park, we formed … Read more
The last Friday of the school holidays was the closest the group could get to a Friday night at Turere Lodge, so we grabbed it. And we absolutely hit gold with the weather! Unlike friends who were in there in the 10 days before us, we had golden sunshine and light breezes all weekend – … Read more
After a busy Easter break, I was looking forward to an easy day walk with a lovely bunch of people. And Wellington certainly turned on the weather for us! We started at Oriental Parade, by the pedestrian crossing near Carlton Gore Road. After some huffing and puffing, we obtained the highest point on our trip … Read more
Tash was the original leader of this trip but caught covid leading up to it so handed over the reigns to me. Luckily for me she still did all the pre-trip organising, and what a thorough and excellent job she did! It was super easy for me to take over, and as a result things … Read more
A trademark Wellington day was in store as our group came together in front of the East by West ticket office. The early morning cloud cover was in full retreat as people scouted out a coffee shop and made introductions. It would turn out that we had ample time for both activities, due to a … Read more