So lucky with the traffic on Friday night! We got to the Urchin campsite at the end of Kaimanawa Road at around 10.15pm. Urchin campsite has ample grassy sites (compared with gravelly Waitaha Valley/Waikoko campsite); it’s about a 10-minute drive between the two. So lucky with the weather, too – a clear sky and no … Read more
The weather forecast promised one day of good weather over the long weekend, and when combined with the fact that only the very upper parts of the mountain had skiable snow, the families group opted to do the day walk to Tama Lakes. Only one of the adults had made the trip before, and that … Read more
When I mentioned to my friends that the plan for weekend was to go to Waterfall hut, they all talked about the speargrass misery and challenging access, so I put my gaiters close to the top and my expectations close to bottom. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I felt my GCSB style background vetting … Read more
Not the greatest start to the trip… Graeme from the AA was just as baffled as I was that neither the remote nor physical key would unlock the van. The van wouldn’t unlock because of a flat battery, but we would have to get into the van to open the bonnet to get to the battery to … Read more
The trip started with the ferry crew handing out free boxes of chips to everyone on board – their way of compensation for the 2-hour delay to our departure. I bought some fish to go with my chips and the crew gave me even more free chips. Feeling fully carb-loaded, we set off for Lake Rotoroa and … Read more
A few weeks back I enjoyed a special opportunity to firm up some alpine skills with the support of a WTMC scholarship on a Hillary Outdoors alpine instruction course. The two days up at Ruapehu were a nice crash course in travelling in a mixed alpine environment practising the tools of the trade. Our first … Read more
There are over 60 private/club/DOC huts in the Orongorongo valley. Our mission was to see how many we could find from out base at Paua hut.I had worried about the weather for the weekend as the forecast had predicted some rain. However, the Friday was warm and sunny and we had a pleasant tramp over … Read more
Up bright and early to start our day trip meeting at the Railway Station: 7AM. It was really great having two cars for this trip as the starting and finishing points are different. The road to the start of track is gravelly and potholed, take care when driving. The start of the track is Scott’s … Read more
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” As I took my first few steps out of the backpackers in Oban on Stewart Island/Rakiura I kept reminding myself of this famous quote by mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary everytime the nerves threatened to overwhelm me. I was setting off on a continuous circumnavigation of Stewart … Read more
Every year since 2016, the Families Group has spent a day at Battle Hill, cooking lunch on a fire, enjoying the jumbo swing, feeding eels, sometimes swimming in the stream, and generally having a wonderful time. This year we had a turnout not seen in several years, with nearly 30 people arriving to cook over … Read more