Transitions…from CBD to backcountry within a few hours, from a toasty van into the pleasantly cool evening air, from road end car park onto a rooty track, and then into an overly toasty Atiwhakatu hut with windows wide open. Changing from a horizontal mattress to breakfast, to a vertical position while going up a steep … Read more
No one can say that it was an ‘early’ start at 10am, but then that is what the City to Sea day walk was offering us, an easy ramble with some sightseeing and chatter for five hours, on a Saturday. This is a very well known walk, described as a walkway that starts in the … Read more
As usual we met at the train station on Friday night for our trip to the Ruahines. We stopped for kebabs on the way and then in what seemed like no time at all were at the road end. We had a few hours to walk on the first night to get to Parks Peak … Read more
The closer it gets to a long weekend the more often the weather forecast pages are up on my Internet browsers. No different for this years Easter weekend. The weather patterns coming up over the West Coast of the South Island and over Arthur’s Pass were changing every time new data was uploaded, but had … Read more
Easter this year starts with rushing out of the office on Good Friday to meet the Easy/medium tramping crew at the station. On schedule, the caravan packed with eager trampers and heaps of backpacks starts towards Turangi. Just before 10pm we arrive at the backpackers and it takes less than 20 minutes until all of … Read more
I have never spent much time in the Ruahines. Too far from home. Too difficult to get to. You have to read a map just to work out where the road end is. Too similar to the Tararuas. Why would anyone go that far just to get away from a bit of wind? But after … Read more
Mt Holdsworth Day Walk A day walk on the Mt Holdsworth summit track as far as the Mountain House Shelter. On a slightly overcast Sunday, we set out for a day on the tracks of Mt Holdsworth. We got out of bed in uncivilised hours (7:30am) for a Sunday morning, packed lunch and left home … Read more
It was an offer I could not refuse! It included free accommodation and food at the club lodge for the weekend. There would be no sleeping under a fly at a shitty road end, no grovelling through Tararua mud, and I probably would not get my boots wet. Of course there was a catch! It … Read more
Do you know a place within 30 minutes from a city where you can walk amongst predominantly pristine podocarp forest? Yes – from Wellington! Just go past the Petone waterfront and over the hill into the Wainuiomata Water Collection area! The Wainuiomata Water Collection area has stayed almost completely intact, except for a little logging … Read more
Thursday Thursday 5.30pm found Amanda and I corralling punters into our respective vans at a very busy platform 9 on a warm and overcast evening. We were headed for the club lodge for the night; the other van was headed for somewhere north of Taupo. Unusually, we encountered no traffic issues; we were all the … Read more