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Tramping to Dundas Hut with a medium/fit group for my first WTMC trip isn’t the best decision I’ve made in my life. I thought I was fit from running around hilly Wellington but the muddy, tree-root covered, relentless steep climbs and descents of the Tararuas made me feel like I’d never exercised in my life. … Read more
One of my favourite pieces of poetry is a prose poem by the great 19th century French poet Charles Baudelaire called Get Drunk. In English translation it goes like this: Get Drunk! It is essential to be drunk all the time. That’s all: there’s no other problem. If you do not want to feel the … Read more
Our group left Wellington first thing on Saturday morning and encountered a great snow scene driving over the Rimutakas. Luckily the weather was feeling friendly and we soon left the snow behind – a beautiful weekend was ahead. A stop at the Clareville Bakery, just north of Carterton, was a given for pre-tramp calories and … Read more
In the days building up to this weekend weather-watching became something of an obsession, and a welcome surprise. I say ‘surprise’ because the forecast was good and, well, it’s Mount Taranaki. Everyone knows that Mount Taranaki lures you in with that promise of a beautiful day, only to change his mind right at the last … Read more
Grant Newton judged the club photo competition last Wednesday night – to a full house attendance. The results are below. Note these are very low resolution copies to save space on our server – but the high quality copies will be forwarded to FMC for inclusion in their nation-wide competition to be judged October. Winners … Read more
The trip got off to a great start, with an uneventful 5 hour drive north on Friday evening. We dropped the hunters off at Masters Shelter for their own adventure and the rest of us continued another 10 minutes up the road. On arriving at the parking place for the beginning of the short 10 … Read more
We joined our fellow WTMC trampers on the evening ferry to the South Island followed by the very short ride to the Sequoia Lodge Backpackers for a comfortable night’s sleep. We were a mixed bunch of club newbies and seasoned trampers. The plan was to complete the linear Nydia Track, walking from Duncan Bay to … Read more
The weather forecast for this trip was pretty bad, and we debated whether it was a good idea, with a forecast of heavy rain and gales, to go into a hut where the only way out was via ridge or river. After some careful analysis of the weather maps, our leader, Richard, encouraged us to … Read more
Our tramp got underway at around 10:15am from Poads Road, with a 15 minute slog through a muddy field, then a steep uphill for about three quarters of an hour. After that, we followed a rolling ridge along a fairly good track, with some tricky patches of the famous Tararua sludge/mud (which Clinton simply plowed … Read more
As part of the WTMC mass migration to the South Island that took place on Queens Birthday weekend 2017 (35 from the Club on the ferry), the ‘easy-medium’ group was set to hike to Kiwi Saddle Hut and beyond in the Wangapeka valley region of Kahurangi National Park. One thing the ferry allows for is … Read more