Matemateaonga Track to Pouri Hut

The one line summary: long drive for an overnighter in an old nurses’ home with a damp tramp to a hilltop hut sauna for fine dining, escaping the worst of the weekend weather. While Wellington was being lashed by weekend gales and rain, a group of trampers escaped the worst of the weather in the … Read more

Girdlestone Alp 2 – Meeting Friends

Planning mountaineering trips like this in advance you hope for at least one goodish day out of two so that you can get to the summit. This time was different – the forecast was brilliant 5 days before and fell to a little windy by Friday. The only problem with weather like this is the … Read more

There’s No Business like Snow Business – The Snowcraft Course Production and the (near) Ascent of Mt Minger

Featuring Assembled Cast Members: Ye Enlightened and Wise Instructors: Sharron Came, Mike Phethean, Marie Henderson Keen Bean Students: Sam Thorndon, Fiona Elliot, Emily Shrosbee, Doug Jones, Adam Threlkeld, Inky Hickey, Nicky Shields, Megan Sety, James Skeggs First of all, if you’ve never done the snowcraft course or been on trips in the snow, I would … Read more

Four Degrees and Gales

If that was the forecast for Auckland what was the rest of the country going to get that weekend? I was in now in Plan B mode and instead of packing a sarong, sunblock and fly swat I was packing a down jacket, over trousers, merino jumpers and extra plastic bags for a four day … Read more

North and East Ridge Taranaki

Some work weeks can be quite nice, some are ok, but this one just had sucked from the very beginning. However, knowing that there are some great outdoorsy activities waiting at the end made the week a lot easier to endure, especially when it is a really scenic destination such as Mt. Egmont. As usual, … Read more

Holly Hut

We headed off for Egmont National Park on Friday night in good weather and good spirits and, after a hefty drive, were lucky enough to catch a view of the mighty Mt Taranaki as we drove past in the dark. After a good rest overnight at the local backpackers, we set off from the North Visitor centre … Read more

Neither Howletts nor Cow Creek…

The original plan for this trip was to go to Howletts Hut in the Ruahines via a Friday night stay at Longview. This would be a great plan for a dry and moonlit Friday night, but that wasn’t the way the weather was shaping up. Instead, the forecast was for strong winds and heavy rain … Read more

Southern Walkway Day Walk

Doing this walk reminded me how lucky we are to live in Wellington. The Southern Walkway between Oriental Bay and Island Bay is an 11 km track through the town belt, across ridge tops and along a short section of coast. It is easy to access and very easy walking (it took us about four … Read more

Some interesting presentations coming up

We’ve had an amazing array of presenters for July and there were many highlights, however I think my personal favourite was from Wednesday 24 July when Sue Keall from Victoria University brought out Spike the Tuatara. The looks of excitement, sheer delight and wonder on everyone’s faces was magical to see. You couldn’t tell the … Read more

Editor’s Choice – Aug 2013

For my first edition of the newsletter, I was overwhelmed by the number of great photos accompanying all the trip reports. I squeezed in as many as I could, but there is an unlimited amount of room on the WTMC Facebook fanpage. You can share your photos with the WTMC fanpage or send your photos … Read more