Outrageous Otago mountain biking Some of thee best mountain biking in Central Otago including the ????? areas. Toward the end of summer in past years Paul and I have always tried to fit in a multi-day MTB’ing trip—but this time we planned to change that idea and try a number of single-day rides instead. This … Read more
Before I get into the juicy facts, here’s a wordy summary of our Southern Crossing Medium tramp from Otaki Forks to Kaitoke. We headed up to Field Hut from Otaki Forks around 8pm on Friday night. It was a beautiful night, with an almost full moon. We set off from Field at 9am the next … Read more
Keep Paua Hut Clean – Leave the Soap at Home Paua Hut is another one of our great assets. It’s pretty easy to find, just 30 minutes drive from Wellington in Orongorongos. Unfortunately, rats have also found the hut thanks to the enticing smell of soap left behind. There’s plenty of fat in soap to keep … Read more
Our April presentations are staying closer to home this month with: 9 April – our Annual General Meeting. Don’t think that you needn’t attend as everyone else will. This is an important night for the club so please do come along; 16 April – Illona Keenan is taking us down to the Sub-Antarctic islands and will share … Read more
The extended Waitangi Day weekend afforded the perfect opportunity for WTMC members to take in the delights of the top of the South. So along with a ‘fit’ group tackling the Leslie-Karamea track and others defying gravity in the Nelson Lakes area, a select group of three ‘easy-mediums’ took on the less strenuous, less technical, … Read more
To the South Island with racks and ropes and heavy packs. We started out early on Thursday with a water taxi across Lake Rotoiti to Coldwater hut, weather calm and sunny, couldn’t ask for more for the 8-9 hour trudge up the Travers valley. Lunched at John Tait in fairly good time and continued up … Read more
We set off to Hawkes Bay via a takeaway stop at Carterton, where we scattered in about five different directions to explore the smorgasbord of culinary options there. We eventually got to the road end, at around 10pm. After a splash through the river, and taking a wrong turn, the GPS was consulted and we … Read more
New Zealand is a new country geographically speaking. The Southern Alps grow every year, and Aoraki has a go at shrinking every year. For a NZ rock climber, the primary goal is to find “good rock”. Not to seek out nice “starred” routes with lovely outlooks and beautiful sequences. No, the goal is to find … Read more
It was going to be a great weekend with light winds and sun shine for Weimen’s trip to Tarn Ridge hut. I had been in that area many times, so I asked Weimen what he had planned and I gave him the times I thought the different options would take. After he had studied the … Read more
It had been five years since I’d last been to Maungahuka, so I signed up to lead the southern main range, a physically demanding trip which takes you across the tops between Bridge peak and Crawford. Friday night: Tramped to Field hut. Saturday: We arose with some hunters at 5:30 am and were away by … Read more