Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club
Enjoying the great outdoors since 1947
This trip started with a long hot wait on a Friday afternoon to get on the ferry to Picton. After several sailing time changes, we were glad to see the ship arrive in Wellington Harbour, and even gladder to get on and get settled. I made good use of the wait time, however, signing up … Read more
Our group met at Wellington Railway Station at 8am on Saturday morning. We drove to Shannon, and then into the hills behind the Mangahao Power Station. Opened in 1924, this was New Zealand’s first large hydro power station. The road is very windy and it seemed to take a very long time to reach the … Read more
We’ve regrouped at the top of a 300m long stretch of steep scoria on the way down the north ridge of Mount Taranaki. The sun blazes from a cloudless sky, there’s no wind and it’s hot – a heat haze shimmers off the dusty slope. Having climbed over 1500m today our legs are tired and … 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
We left Wellington on the Friday evening with a small medium-fit group and had the Konini Lodge at Dawson Falls, Egmont National Park to ourselves. With our expected walking time of 3-4 hours to Lake Dive on Saturday, we had ample time to explore the Dawson Falls and Wilkies Pools loop tracks (30-60 minutes each). … Read more
The Totara Flats tramping crew was a mixture of more experienced trampers and complete newbies (myself included!). The tramp was graded an easy-medium trip, with around 4-5 hours walking to our destination of Totara Flats hut. After a very early and groggy start to Saturday morning for some of us, we met at Wellington Train … Read more
On Friday we stayed at Triplex Hut before our group had a very relaxed start, while the medium group took off by 7am. The climb up to Sunrise Hut was interspersed with interesting little info signs about the surrounding bush (such as mistletoe) and bird life. At Sunrise Hut we left our overnight gear behind, … Read more
As a city bloke through and through, who loves his cocktail bars and having a wealth of restaurants to dine at, I can’t quite put my finger on why I have a yearning to get exposed to the elements on a wind-ravaged hillside. Maybe getting out in the elements is my way of restoring balance … Read more
A full 24 of us piled into both vans to drive to the Lodge and scale Mt. Ruapehu, the highest peak on the North Island. We got there in time to catch the tail end of the “Tasman Tempest,” and thus were unable to ascend the peak. We did still, however, have a great weekend … Read more
Condensed version. The trip plan as submitted on the intentions sheet was: Friday evening – ferry and travel to Murchison. Saturday – drive to Mataki Lodge and walk up the valley to Mole Hut. Sunday – walk up to Mole Saddle and Mole Tops. If the weather is OK camp at Mole Saddle, otherwise Mole … Read more