After heavy overnight thunderstorms at the Lodge, this route was predicted to be a wet one underfoot. The initial section from the top end of Whakapapa Village (09:40 hrs) South West to the Whakapapaiti track junction (11:25hrs) contoured around the lower slopes for Mt Ruapehu. Undulating, but a good track through the big gulleys (The … Read more
This was a day trip as part of a lodge weekend over 6-8 March 2015. About 20 minutes from the Lodge, we crossed the railway line near the station in National Park village on to Fishers Road. The gravel road took us to a small car park at the start of the track. The local community … Read more
The Bushcraft course was a great opportunity to gain or refresh tramping skills and find out about how the club trips operate. The group was a mixture of people wanting to get into tramping for the first time, others wanting to get back into it after time away, and some who have tramping experience – … Read more
A late arrival to the north Egmont visitor centre saw us setting up a free camp in the car park area. …nice and easy, although a tad busy in the early hours as all the summit climbers arrived in the dark. It was a clear and mild night, 3 of us under the club fly … Read more
We met at the Wellington Railway Station and caught the 7:05 am train to Upper Hutt. It was our first experience of the new rail carriages – very smart indeed. We discovered that cyclists have priority over passengers for up 3 bikes per car utilising dedicated fold back seating. Arriving at 8:00 am we set … Read more
Patuna Chasm A wonderful short day walk down the spectacular Patuna Chasm with an optional swim at the end. On a grey Wellington Saturday, we jumped in our cars and headed through the Rimutakas to Patuna Chasm. We were all excited about the walk, some because it had been on their to-do list for quite … Read more
U Pass – Fiordland National Park National Park A 2 day hike crossing from Mistake Creek to Hut Creek via U Pass in Fiordland National Park After hunkering down at Homer Hut waiting for a break in the weather we finally got a window of a couple of days and decided to head out to … Read more
It had been a beautiful week of weather. Of course the forecast for this, the following week is also primo! However, in-between, we would be tramping in horizontal rain with a southerly bringing a wind chill and a not-so-balmy minus 5 degrees. Most of us had what we needed and other put a little more … Read more
My hopes of Wellington being the sort of city that can be escaped in matter of minutes in favour of the great outdoors were dashed as we discovered the state highway choc-a-bloc with others making the same assumption. Spirits stayed high though for the long drive north. Our initial delays meant we couldn’t get as … Read more
What you need to ken… There was a Scotsman, an English Lass and a Kiwi – probably the only time in history that a Burn’s supper celebration has had such a composition! For those of you who are not familiar with the traditions of Burn’s celebrations, I’ll give you a rundown. The 25th January is … Read more