More photos from Mike McGavin Six of us departed from platform 9 Friday night with a windy but rainless weekend predicted for our attempt to do a fairly involved navigational effort from near paua hut over the main range to the southern coast for a saturday night camp, returning Sunday via south saddle. I considered … Read more
What a weekend! I would say 4 seasons in two days, but really, it was a spring blast of winter for most of the weekend. This trip was a special one – my first overnight away without the toddler. As an added bonus, I was talking 4 other mums with me, for a night away … Read more
Both Sharron and Marie have written up their experiences of the race Marie’s running adventures The Aorangi Undulator is a ‘run’ taking in some 30km of Aorangis over a series of bumps. Our trip leader decided to truly lead the way by doing the Aorangi 100 Ultra – a three day event taking in 100km … Read more
Our South Island jaunt to Lewis Pass was initially a bit stop-start due to the usual vagaries of Inter-islander Ferries. This time they managed to load too many passengers and cargo. ‘Fortunately’ the captain noticed before we entered the Cook Straight (7m swell) and we headed back to unload the trains! Handy tip number 1, … Read more
Where am I?? Wandering aimlessly & exasperatedly for hours. Worries turn into desperation. Add thirst, fatigue and darkness into the equation – and you are in danger! Believe me. It’s not a nice feeling! Our Haukura Ridge Nav trip with Amanda was to practice some off track nav skills to avoid such situations. Knowing the … Read more
On Friday night at the Holdsworth roadend our group decided not to bother setting up a tent and a fly. As it was fairly gusty but reasonably warm and only lightly drizzling, it seemed simpler to set up mats and sleeping bags in the semi-open shelter by the carpark (including underneath the picnic table), and … Read more
Our journey to Holdsworth road end was more eventful than usual, with a few van issues to contend with. Let’s just say that Mark had a very warm bum from a and there may have been a tiny bit of ! Anyway, we arrived safely and set off to Atiwhakatu hut in the rain, arriving about 1hr … Read more
Off we set into the Tararuas, ably skirting the rock fall on the access road and fording the Waiohine via an outlandishly large swing bridge. Our amble along the tops via Cone was a rare treat of good visibility and only the lightest zephyr of a breeze. Views from Cone extended from the Tararua Peaks … Read more
Two Akatarawa Daywalks Two easy daywalks in the Akatarawa Forest close to Wellington City Karapoti Road The starting point of this walk is a short way down Karapoti Road, which is accessed from Akatarawa Road a few kilometres from Upper Hutt. From the carpark, the walk is through Karapoti Gorge which has really nice native … Read more
Our drive up on Saturday morning involved lots of discussion about the weather. Were we doing the right thing? Should we maybe go to Rangiwahia instead, avoiding any potentially nasty creek crossings? The severe weather warning was pretty vague as to when exactly to expect the forecast gales and rain. Hmmmm. At Shannon it was … Read more