Mt Holdsworth Day Walk

On a slightly overcast Sunday, we set out for a day on the tracks of Mt Holdsworth.  We got out of bed in uncivilised hours (7:30am) for a Sunday morning, packed lunch and left home around 9:00am.  My wife would have rather enjoyed a traditional Mothers’ Day, tucked up in bed ‘till 11am pampered by … Read more

Not your usual weekend trip

It was an offer I could not refuse!   It included free accommodation and food at the club lodge for the weekend.  There would be no sleeping under a fly at a shitty road end, no grovelling through Tararua mud, and I probably would not get my boots wet.  Of course there was a catch!  It … Read more

Wainuiomata Catchment Day Walk

Do you know a place within 30 minutes from a city where you can walk amongst predominantly pristine podocarp forest?  Yes – from Wellington! Just go past the Petone waterfront and over the hill into the Wainuiomata Water Collection area! The Wainuiomata Water Collection area has stayed almost completely intact, except for a little logging … Read more

Ruapehu Round-the-Mountain

Thursday Thursday 5.30pm found Amanda and I corralling punters into our respective vans at a very busy platform 9 on a warm and overcast evening. We were headed for the club lodge for the night; the other van was headed for somewhere north of Taupo. Unusually, we encountered no traffic issues; we were all the … Read more

Waterfall Hut

I left the car just after 5:00pm Friday night & headed off to Purity Hut, the first half an hour or so up the farmland is a steep haul but once you get into the bush this is a another good route on to the tops. Daylight saving had just finished, so once in the … Read more

Whirinaki

Five years ago at Easter I had to bail on a club trip to Whirinaki because of a cold. Despite multiple sneezes on the day we departed, this time I decided to take a “kill or cure” approach. We don’t often go to Whirinaki because of the distance: seven hours driving under the best possible … Read more

Ruahine – Sunrise Hut

This was my third overnight trip with the WTMC and I must say also the best because of the great scenery, the nice track and the time we had for exploring and relaxing. We left on Friday evening from the station with another group (medium) led by Kate Cushing. Jo Boyle was driving the van, … Read more

Queen Charlotte Mountain Biking

It looked like being one of those trips when before you set sail on the ferry on Friday night, they announce that the crossing will be pretty bad, then you feel sick even before you’ve got past Evens bay, its an ominous sign. Then despite having a rather flat crossing in the stright, the backpackers … Read more

Crooked

Just the name seemed to be a good enough reason for two part-time trampers, who we will call J and T, to go and visit the spur and its crooked hut. So with weekend flights already booked it really wasn’t a difficult decision for them to make. Their usual late Friday night arrival in Christchurch … Read more

Arthurs Pass

“Arthur’s Pass. Arthur’s Pass. This is Goat Pass Hut, Goat Pass Hut” “Go ahead Goat Pass Hut” “Arthur’s Pass, we were wondering if we could get an up to date weather forecast for tomorrow?” (Sounding slightly irritated that anybody would be foolish enough to go into the outdoors based on yesterday’s forecast) “It’s much the … Read more