Plan A was an overnight loop to Alpha Hut – starting at Kaitoke road end: taking Marchant Ridge to Alpha Hut and then returning via the Omega Track (with the return involving fording the Tauwharenikau River [formerly called the “Tauherenikau” River] and taking the track on the true left of the River back to the … Read more
Friday 10 February The Southern Crossing in the Tararuas has been on my to-do list for the last few years and when I saw it on the trip schedule for February, I did not hesitate to sign up for the walk. The plan was to have two groups of trampers do the Southern Crossing, with … Read more
I have been keen to complete the Southern Crossing after visiting Kime Hut in the snow last year. We had two groups completing the Southern Crossing; one from Otaki Forks to Kaitoke starting Friday afternoon, the other from Kaitoke to Otaki Forks starting first thing Saturday morning. I liked the concept of an early start … Read more
Friday 18 March – The night walk in We had a stunning Southern Crossing adventure, enjoying one of the classic Tararua tramps! On the Friday, seven of us met up at the Wellington Railway station at 3pm, ready for an early departure to Otaki Forks. Arriving at the “new” Otaki Forks carpark at 4.30pm, we … Read more
I was very nervous before this tramp. The trip leader was well known for being lighting quick, very strong and a great navigator. How was I ever going to keep up?! Of course there was never any need to be nervous. Tereza took most of the group gear leaving me with a light pack, set … Read more
Alpha Hut was our plan B, as we could not make the Southern Crossing happen due to the closing of the Otaki Forks road. We met on Saturday bright and early at 6:30am at the train station, before driving to Kaitoke carpark (Kiwi Road end). We left around 7:45am and started walking in the beautiful … Read more
I first heard about this challenge a year or so ago when I found out about the book full of all the previous trip reports, most recently updated and published by Tony and Megan from our club. The challenge itself started out with the simple rule that you need to work until closing time Friday, … Read more
We headed into Cone Hut from the Waiohine roadend on Friday night (after getting Chinese takeaways in Greytown – recommended!), and got to Cone at 9.45 that night. Cone is a great little hut and is renowned in arachnologist circles for having some of the hugest spiders in the Tararuas. We crashed almost as soon … Read more
(Featured image: Sumudu) This one had been on the to-do list for a while, and after chatting with my workmate and fellow WTMC member Sumudu, we decided to co-lead a trip together over the Tararua Southern Crossing. After chatting to the chief guide, the trip was added to the Sep 17 – Feb 18 Trip … Read more
The Southern Crossing is described by DoC as one of the “four classic tramps of the Tararua Range”, and is a trip that any Wellington-based tramper should tackle at least once. However, in the leadup to our trip the weather looked like it was going to spoil the plans, with gale winds forecast for the … Read more