It’s been a beautiful weekend in Wellington. And judging by the view out the bedroom window, a beautiful weekend in the Tararuas as well. While appreciating the view, I feel that rueful opportunity cost of being at home rather than in the mountains; being sick and being on call not withstanding. The last few times I’ve been in that view, the weather was more on the typical winter side.
That really rainy weekend in July, Richard and I had gone through plans A and B, with plan C seeing us driving to Otaki Forks early on a misty Saturday morning. We were intending to go to Elder hut via an unmarked ridge in the Waiotauru. It’s hard to get excited about plan C. I was quite into plan A, which involved the Southern Crossing and Snowy river, and plan B, which involved the Waiotauru and Snowy rivers. But plan C was going to be characterised by wet bush bashing and a night in a hut at 1000m without heating. I hadn’t been along the Waiotauru track before, and was struck by the freshness of the slip action and the number of side streams along what was supposedly our wet-weather-friendly exit.
We got to Waiotauru forks and had a rest. “Are you having second thoughts?” I asked Richard in a relatively neutral tone of voice. “No, not really,” he said. But after I expounded on the reservations flowing through my head, his resolution quickly faltered.
By the time we got to Waiotauru Hut, which had become the destination of our newly emerged plan D for daywalk, it was getting torrential. We were surprised to find people in the hut, and surprised to find it wasn’t a hovel. No one has a kind word to say about Waiotauru, yet it appeared to be weather tight, was a lot bigger than I expected and was relatively clean. It also had a pot belly stove roaring away. The 4WDers in residence clearly took pride in the hut, talking about their regular trips and maintenance. While I had initially evaluated them as a somewhat intimidating group, I ate my mental words as they made us a cup of tea.
It’s great to see other people feeling a sense of ownership and pride in our outdoors. And to have your preconceptions of strangers overturned. Part of the intangible benefit of tramping is belonging to this community in the hills and stepping outside your usual insular circle.
And part of that challenge is stepping up to lead! It’s time to sign up for trips in our Spring Schedule. If you’re an existing leader, you will have received several emails already, and may well receive several more before our deadline of Wednesday 15 August. If you’re not a leader but would like to be, drop me an email at . I’ve just looked at the Google Doc and it’s a bit bare: I hope this weekend’s weather has inspired you!