Sometimes trips I lead are a bit chaotic. This one was no exception! High winds forecast for the Sunday afternoon ruled out camping anywhere along the ridge, so our crazy plan was to summit Te Ao Whekere and return in one VERY long day. After a booking fail (my fault) with the ferry, we ended … Read more
On Friday night we walked into Paua Hut with Tony S’s Mt Matthews group. Their group had fun practicing a linked up river crossing in the Orongorongo River while our group zoomed on towards Paua hut to see how far we could get without using our headlamps. Finding the toilet at Paua hut that night … Read more
Any trip worth its salt has an epic long drive and it seems this one was no different – it involved Matt having to do a superb job navigating around a pack of farm dogs that seemed intent on stopping the club van progressing up the road – I think they got the club van … Read more
With Wellington returning to Level 1, and club life starting back up again, I was very keen to get out into the bush on a proper club trip. As the week progressed, the forecast dampened my enthusiasm. Not only was there going to be extremely high winds (between 40 and 90km/h on the Saturday and … Read more
We left Wellington on the Friday evening with a small medium-fit group and had the Konini Lodge at Dawson Falls, Egmont National Park to ourselves. With our expected walking time of 3-4 hours to Lake Dive on Saturday, we had ample time to explore the Dawson Falls and Wilkies Pools loop tracks (30-60 minutes each). … Read more
Akatarawa Forest – the Secret Seven and the quest to find 73 A fun day walk in the Akatarawa Forest to find the checkpoint No 73 from a previous rogaine orienteering event Way back in 2010 Tony and Jackie entered the Akatarawa 24 hour rogaine with the idea of being totally non-competitive and just cruise … Read more
After failing to badger various acquaintances into taking me on a tramping trip, Tony took pity on me and said I could come with him to attempt a Southern Main Range. Tony’s favourite camping spot at Otaki Forks was closed, so I showed him my favourite camping spot, which happened to be inside Parawai Lodge! … Read more
Via Totara Flats and return via Cone Ridge. Tramping club was finally back after the long break due to COVID-19 and I had a rare weekend off work so I was super keen to lead a trip to ensure I got out tramping … We were straight into winter tramping – cold and rainy – … Read more
Walking from Powell Hut to Jumbo Hut in winter [Aimee] Tony said it was time for another trip. We all agreed. Outside of working hours, the best weather window was between Friday evening and Saturday mid-morning. Because of this, Tony suggested we go for a day walk, but at night. Recalling the last time we … Read more
Hemi Matenga has been on my walking list for some time, with Covid-19 Level 2 seeming like the perfect time to do this as an urban tramp. Jane and I met at Wellington station with 10+ kg tramping packs weighted with water and books, keen to explore some different local tracks. We had an … Read more