Check out the latest news and trips reports below or view the archives using the menu on the left. If you want to know more about the newsletter including submitting stories, see Newsletter>Publication Details. To learn more about the club, check the top menu. Some links will take you to the old website, but content will eventually move to this site.
First of all, we want to say, “Congratulations to Allen Higgins, Doreen Quirke and Dianne Aitken on their 50 years membership of WTMC … they have been with the club since 1961.” Secondly, look out for your 2011/12 FMC card and June FMC bulletin arriving in your letterbox, you should receive them by middle of … Read more
Federated Mountain Clubs conference The 80th conference for the Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC) is taking place on the weekend of 11 and 12 June at Te Papa, Wellington. What will the future for public conservation land look like? How do we protect what we value? Do go along and be part of debate and dialogue … Read more
By Aunty Rata Kia ora fellow trampers Snacks are very important on tramps and when engaging in other outdoor activities where shops are not close at hand. Nobody gets very far on an empty stomach. There are a few obvious things to take into account when choosing tramping snacks. Snacks need to be tasty, nutritious, … Read more
By llona Keenan and Megan Banks Jane started tramping when she was eleven, after being invited by her friend Dianne Tipene’s family to do the Milford Track. She must have been hooked, as a couple of days after finishing the Milford, she did the Hollyford. Many adventures followed, including in 1984 when her Dunedin flatmates … Read more
Transitions…from CBD to backcountry within a few hours, from a toasty van into the pleasantly cool evening air, from road end car park onto a rooty track, and then into an overly toasty Atiwhakatu hut with windows wide open. Changing from a horizontal mattress to breakfast, to a vertical position while going up a steep … Read more
No one can say that it was an ‘early’ start at 10am, but then that is what the City to Sea day walk was offering us, an easy ramble with some sightseeing and chatter for five hours, on a Saturday. This is a very well known walk, described as a walkway that starts in the … Read more
As usual we met at the train station on Friday night for our trip to the Ruahines. We stopped for kebabs on the way and then in what seemed like no time at all were at the road end. We had a few hours to walk on the first night to get to Parks Peak … Read more
The closer it gets to a long weekend the more often the weather forecast pages are up on my Internet browsers. No different for this years Easter weekend. The weather patterns coming up over the West Coast of the South Island and over Arthur’s Pass were changing every time new data was uploaded, but had … Read more
Easter this year starts with rushing out of the office on Good Friday to meet the Easy/medium tramping crew at the station. On schedule, the caravan packed with eager trampers and heaps of backpacks starts towards Turangi. Just before 10pm we arrive at the backpackers and it takes less than 20 minutes until all of … Read more
I have never spent much time in the Ruahines. Too far from home. Too difficult to get to. You have to read a map just to work out where the road end is. Too similar to the Tararuas. Why would anyone go that far just to get away from a bit of wind? But after … Read more