Emily and I took an impromptu trip up to Tongariro, excited by the promise of clear sunny skies and Emily a chance to get moving again after a bout of illness. We decided Mangatepopo would be a good Friday destination, followed by a climb over Tongariro via Hardman’s Ridge, a full moon camp in the … Read more
“I think they’re looking for escaped rebel dinosaurs who are on the run from work…….” “I bet they were surprised to see all our tents in the middle of nowhere!” This was our conversation the next morning after an Airforce helicopter circled over our campsite the night before with search lights on, presumably doing a … Read more
Day 1: Poads Rd to Te Matawai Hut (31st Dec) Poads rd to Waiopehu: 5hWaiopehu to Te Matawai: 4h We met at 8am at Ōtaki Forks, left a car there and drove up to Poads Road. It was 9am and already pretty hot when we started heading up Waiopehu track, which was suspiciously dry. After … Read more
Our team of 9 club members gathered early on an overcast Saturday morning at the Woolshed in Belmont Regional Park. We were all excited to see what the weekend held and looking forward to gaining some new skills to make our tramping experiences safer. There was a wide range of people on the course. The … Read more
The five of us met at Wellington Train Station at 9am on Sunday morning and drove out to Kaitoke Regional Park. The Park is located in the foothills of the Tararua Ranges. The plan was to drive out to the Te Marua entrance of the Park (5km north of Upper Hutt) and walk the main … Read more
Five of us met at the Wellington Train Station at 8.30am on Sunday to catch the bus out to Paremata Train Station – where Elodie and Megan met us in their cars and where Valentina was also waiting for us. We then drove out to the main entrance of Whareroa Farm via Transmission Gully. The … Read more
Te ao Whekere and the discovery of the Sarahsaurus 🦕 An ascent of Te Ao Whekere in the Seaward Kaikoura Range, and the amazing sighting of what appeared to be a dinosaur sunning itself on a cliff face. ‘Kea. Kea’. Much to my surprise I was now staring up at two noisy kea calling out … Read more
Waiorongomai Hut An overnight hiking trip to the Waiorongomai Hut in the Remutaka Forest Park A leisurely 9am departure from platform 9, along with the Papatahi Crossing group. Our first stop was delivering that group to their start point, but because we had plenty of time and only a short walk to Waiorongomai hut, we … Read more
Papatahi Crossing was on Tash’s tramping check list for a long time. She decided to make her dream come true with five other people – Amy-Louise, Elisabeth, James, Maj-Britt and Tracey. Since I’m French Canadian and don’t know where things are in NZ, I decided to join this medium fit trip and to follow the … Read more
“Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.” This quote came to my mind as I approached the summit of Te Heuheu via Pinnacle Ridge, something I never dreamed I would be doing. I was once again chasing dinosaurs up the mountain on a … Read more