Pizzas and Powell Hut – Tararua Forest Park

The first stop on this trip was the mysterious Mount Holdsworth Pizza restaurant. This joint – a Canadian Rockies style log building located close to the Mount Holdsworth camping area – is only open on Friday nights during summer. It’s a full-blown pizza restaurant however, serving delicious pizzas to an enthusiastic clientele. I can recommend … Read more

Lockett Range Loop – Kahurangi National Park

Day 1 Cobb Hut to Fenella Hut (with a side trip from Fenella Hut back to Lake Cobb)Total time: 6 hours, 20 minutesTotal moving time: 4 hours, 45 minutesDistance: 18.9km After packing up at the Motueka Top Ten after four hours of sleep we all jumped in the van and drove the two and a … Read more

Aborted Southern Crossing; Alpha Hut via Marchant Ridge. Return to Kaitoke via Omega Track and Tutuwai Hut

I have been keen to complete the Southern Crossing after visiting Kime Hut in the snow last year. We had two groups completing the Southern Crossing; one from Otaki Forks to Kaitoke starting Friday afternoon, the other from Kaitoke to Otaki Forks starting first thing Saturday morning. I liked the concept of an early start … Read more

Angelus Hut – Nelson Lakes National Park

photo of 6 WTMC trampers at DOC forest park entrance sign at Nelson Lakes

We arrived at 2.30pm at Wellington Railway Station, for a 2.45pm get away. We had a quick gear check and food item sound-off to make sure we had all brought our ingredients for a shared meal on Saturday Night.Mon kindly picked up the club van, and then us, and off we went to catch the … Read more

Shingle Slip Knob (plane wreck) – Tararua Forest Park

Friday This trip was all about the pizza. The plane wreck as well, but mostly the pizza. The pizza can be found at the secret Mill Bakery, just near Holdsworth Road End on Friday nights. We’d pre-ordered bases and had a table for 7pm. The traffic up the Hutt Valley on SH2 was crawling even … Read more

Tauwharenīkau River – Tararua Forest Park

Trains, Tubes, Bikes and Boots ‘The 9.55 am train to Masterton has been delayed’ boomed the loudspeaker at Wellington Railway Station. Harry was unfazed. ‘This always happens to me’ he sighed. With a tight timeframe, we planned to train to Woodside, cycle to Bucks Road, tramp to the Tauwharenīkau River, tube the gorge and then … Read more

Rangitikei River Packrafting 

A club packraft trip down the grade 1 and 2 sections of the Rangitikei River. Perfect conditions. 51 cumecs on Saturday, 40 on Sunday. Sunny and no wind!

Mount Reeves – Tararua Forest Park

Due to poor weather, the plan for this trip ended up changing quite a bit. Originally, this was meant to be a Howletts Hut overnight trip in the Ruahine Ranges, but due to this walk having a decent portion of ridge travel and river crossings, we decided to do a loop walk a little closer … Read more

Maungahuka Hut – a tramp with a different purpose

Maungahuka Hut – a tramp to fix a long-broken water supply tap A hike to Mungahuka Hut to replace a broken tap and deliver a new log book and enjoy one of the favourite Tararua huts. Maungahuka Hut is my favourite Tararua hut, and the hut that inspired my tramping journey. So when Tony and … Read more

Seaward Kaikoura Range

View over Mt Fyffe to Kaikoura peninsula from Snowflake summit. Photo credit: Mathew D

Thursday We piled onto the Thursday afternoon ferry, and the group started to get to know each other. We had a good mix of new and more experienced group members, including Harry and Paul, who had both attempted Snowflake via this route before – notably before the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake https://wtmc.org.nz/trip-report/slippery-snowflake/. We had a good … Read more