On a clear bright winter’s day with little breeze there are few places more fun and interesting for kids than the easy walk around the southern coastline to the seal colony at Sinclair Point in the Te Kopahou Reserve. A group of nearly 40 of all ages gathered on a Sunday afternoon for the 1 … Read more
After the usual Friday departure, a quick trip out of Wellington, and the regular Friday night stop for dinner we got to the road end for the EM group near Dannevirke at a reasonable time on Friday night. The next morning we drove to our road end, Kashmir Road, with a quick stop in Dannevirke … Read more
This trip was a merger of the Pell Stream (Easy) and Lake Daniell (Easy-Medium) trips. David’s original plan was to camp at Kawatiri Junction on Friday night, get to Pell Stream Hut on Saturday night, and continue to Manson-Nicholls Memorial Hut at Lake Daniell on Sunday night. In retrospect, it’s clear now that the Easy … Read more
On Friday night we ended up going to Waigongoro Hut, which was less than an hour from the road end to save us a chilly night camping. The track is reasonably straight forward with one creek crossing, which can be avoided by taking a slightly different track lower down from the carpark. It climbs gently … Read more
Eight of us set off from Wainuiomata Golf Course, keen to learn the ins and outs of possum and rat control from maestro Mike Phethean. Our other task was to do a bit of work on the track to make the job easier for the fortnightly checks. We successfully avoided getting clouted by golf balls … Read more
Two weeks out from the trip, leader Debbie emailed us two plans. Plan A would be Taranaki South Face ALP1 (M) – subject to the weather, snow conditions and avalanche risk. Should the weather, snow conditions and avalanche risk not be to Debbie’s liking, then Plan B – a tramp around the Pouakai Loop (M) … Read more
This trip shared the van with a group going to Howletts Hut. The Cattle Creek road end had a campsite and toilets, so it made sense to stay there on Friday night. It had been arranged that we had enough tents to use at the road end, but there was a fresh set of dry (and light) … Read more
Our plan had been relatively simple – walk to Angelus Hut via Speargrass Creek, climb the peak, then return via Robert Ridge. In the week before we set out, conditions looked more and more ominous, with south-easterly gales, heavy snowfall and the avalanche risk in the alpine zone rising from moderate to considerable. Dan decided … Read more
This trip was an EM tramp heading for Cupola Hut in the Travers Valley, Nelson Lakes, led by Richard. Six of us signed up for the trip and several of us had been on trips led by Richard before. We were to share the trip with a medium group led by Mike Moore, who were … Read more
On Friday 5th August we met at Wellington railway station with heavy rain showers passing overhead. There were two trips joined in one minibus for the weekend away. Ours was the Upper Travers, arranged by Mike Moore, a three-day excursion to Nelson Lakes National Park. The plan was to take the water taxi from St … Read more