Irongate Hut (via Tunupō)

Irongate Hut in the Ruahine Forest Park

The Ruahine Ranges pulled out all the stops for this tramp, with varied terrain, the opportunity to use the gear for every weather in our packs, breathtaking views, and sounds of the rare Whio and rushing water. Taking the long way round via Tunupō loop we were well rewarded for our 8 hour tramping effort, … Read more

Iron Gate Hut

We went up to Alice Nash Memorial Heritage Lodge for the night. Very nice and tidy hut about half an hour from the road end. We were joined by two hunters who camped outside on the deck and carried in a full load of beers! On Saturday occasional fine breaks with high clouds and clagged … Read more

Iron Gate Hut

Our drive up on Saturday morning involved lots of discussion about the weather. Were we doing the right thing? Should we maybe go to Rangiwahia instead, avoiding any potentially nasty creek crossings? The severe weather warning was pretty vague as to when exactly to expect the forecast gales and rain. Hmmmm. At Shannon it was … Read more

Rangiwahia Hut via Deadmans Track

Leaving platform 9 an hour later than usual turned out to be a smart decision, with most of the Friday afternoon traffic already gone it was a smooth drive to Levin where we stopped for some food and to check out the public toilets with background music… really weird. Back on the road again we … Read more

Heritage to Tunupo

Around the 3rd to 5th of September Bernie, Richard, Mike and I had plans to do some exploring around the southern Ruahines. We bailed out a day early with too much snow for the gear we’d brought, not to mention an extended mountain forecast of 120km/h galeforce nor-westerlies in exposed mountain areas on Sunday. Okay, … Read more