Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club
Enjoying the great outdoors since 1947
After many years of vigorously peeling any carrot that came within a co-eee of my cooking pot, I have recently found there is a strong movement of people who believe in a skin-on approach to culinary carrots. I therefore now feel more confident in writing this newsletter article about the lack of peel in our … Read more
Twelve eager punters gathered early at the usual meeting place on platform 9 at Wellington station on Saturday 17th February to head out on the weekend tramps to Herepai and Roaring Stag huts located in the Tararua Forest Park. Experienced driver Illona drove the flash club van both ways. There was a welcome pit stop … Read more
The phone rang. A voice from the past. Ruth Parnell, ex-Chief Guide. I hadn’t seen her for years. “Can I come on your trip down the UpperOtakiRiver?”, she asked. “Sure”, I said. “Who else is on it?” she asked, worried; “I hope they’re not too fit!” “Well, actually you’re the only one so far,” I … Read more
Illona’s memories I thought a flora and fauna appreciation trip would be a good first easy-medium trip to lead: I could take books and slow down to explain things to people. It would be a different type of trip to my usual medium fit tramp, but one that would keep my pace at a more … Read more
Friday 3rd February Fish and chips, pizza and Subway at Paraparaumu gave the group a foundation of reserves for the start of the long Waitangi day Weekend on Friday eve. We reached Mangaweka international airport around 9pm in time to check in for a flight to la la land, pitching our tents at the departure … Read more
A few weeks ago, in the process of hut bagging, I did one of my mind-shattering solo “well, that was exciting, how can we make it less so?” trips. This is not that story. This story is how, after having done that full-on trip recently, I was MORE than happy to sign up for … Read more
Ten of us left platform 9 soon after 5:30pm. We dined at Levin where the vast array of takeaway options were fully taken advantage of with all trampers conjuring up different kai, much to the envy of myself having purchased a couple of stale buns from countdown. Light rain on and off on the journey … Read more
We departed for Levin with the best possible weather forecast: a dying southerly with a sunny weekend on the cards. Having beaten the worst of the traffic, we made most of the approximate 50 minute Friday night walk into the old Ohau Hut site without the need of a torch where we bivvied among the … Read more
Saturday morning saw us heading off up the four wheel drive track leading to Temple Basin in the clag. The morning was misty and cool, with a chilly breeze but we hoped it would clear as the really bad stuff was not supposed to arrive until tonight. Sure enough, as we gained height the cloud … Read more
Planning any outdoor trip, especially a river activity around Wellington is dicey before you even set off. We managed to get a hot, sunny day with very strong winds. The recent rainfall caused a change of plan upon arriving at the river, which was three times its normal size and looking mighty turbulent at the … Read more