Over Easter weekend I was on a climbing holiday in Takaka and having a very excellent time; and looking forward to a tramping trip over the ANZAC weekend up to the summit of Faerie Queene (a mountain in the Spenser range, just south of the Nelson Lakes). The plan was simple, head down the St … Read more
The plan: a two day traverse via an interesting looking spur from Bannister to the Ruamahanga. 4.30am Saturday – the cell phone buzzes. Mike has dragged himself out of bed and is heading my way. It’s pleasant to have company for the trip to Poads Road and good to be walking by 7am under lights. … Read more
On Friday we stayed at Triplex Hut before our group had a very relaxed start, while the medium group took off by 7am. The climb up to Sunrise Hut was interspersed with interesting little info signs about the surrounding bush (such as mistletoe) and bird life. At Sunrise Hut we left our overnight gear behind, … Read more
Organising and leading an easy club trip can often be a bit fraught. It usually starts with a full trip list at closing date but by payment time people suddenly have other plans, admit they had forgotten they actually signed up at all and now don’t have time to get themselves organised, or they just … Read more
If you go off track in the Tararuas, beware of the enchanting goblin forests. The morning started with my favourite way to start a tramp, taking photos of amazing mushrooms before crossing a nice swing bridge. About an hour in we met a couple of veteran club members coming out of the bush to get … Read more
When I put an “SK” on the schedule for Easter weekend, I envisaged four glorious sunny windless days on the tops of the Tararua Ranges. More than one fellow club member laughed at me for such an ambitious trip over a typically mixed bag weather weekend. However, right up until the week before, I was … Read more
5.45am. Platform 9. A large bus load of passengers disembarks their Auckland bus, presumably arriving for that evening’s Eminem concert. It was a little earlier than usual to be meeting for an overnight tramp. We were expecting a hot day and decided to tackle the uphill section in the cool of morning. At 7.35am we … Read more
The usual trio of Elisabet, Nick and myself had been talking about Aspiring for at least a year, and plans finally came together for Christmas 2018. It was on. We’d had the helicopter booked for months, I’d be in Wanaka on the 26th, Nick and Elisabet would fly down to meet me, we’d have a … Read more
Taranaki West Side Story – the missing chapter An attempt to climb Mt Taranaki via the seldom visited western side of the mountain. The policeman standing at the end of the track asked me, “did you see any pink ribbons?” And then immediately said, “I hope you didn’t try to climb to the summit from … Read more
Trampers were offered up one last golden weekend at the end of March, before being plunged into the darkness of daylight savings. Tereza, Mike M, Tom, Fain and I used this opportunity to bag perhaps the most famous of the “secret huts” in the Tararua Ranges – Snowy Hut. After some rental car difficulties, which … Read more