A Snowy Sojourn at Lake Dive

On Friday night we ended up going to Waigongoro Hut, which was less than an hour from the road end to save us a chilly night camping. The track is reasonably straight forward with one creek crossing, which can be avoided by taking a slightly different track lower down from the carpark. It climbs gently … Read more

Tuneful Taranaki Tramping

INTRODUCTION Breaking historical ground (as far as we know), Frances led the first WTMC Musical Tramp with expert skill and agility. The ‘genius’ behind this trip was in the detail: if either of the tramping or musical components had not been achievable – due to adverse weather, broken strings (including hamstrings), or an overcrowded hut … Read more

“Where’s Sarah?”

The eight of us met at platform nine at 5 pm in an attempt to get away for a slightly early departure for the long drive up to Taranaki. Despite our best efforts, including Dan sneaking out of the office while his boss wasn’t looking, a crash on SH2 and then roadworks on SH1 meant … Read more

Taranaki, A Loop Walk

A late arrival to the north Egmont visitor centre saw us setting up a free camp in the car park area. …nice and easy, although a tad busy in the early hours as all the summit climbers arrived in the dark. It was a clear and mild night, 3 of us under the club fly … Read more

Syme Hut and Mt Taranaki – a Sherpa assisted ascent

Syme Hut and Mt Taranaki

Syme Hut and Mt Taranaki – a Sherpa assisted ascent An attempt to climb Mt Taranaki with two trampers acting as Sherpas and carrying all the shared camping gear We met at Wellington Railway Station at 1730 on Friday night: Tony, Illona, Rachel, Becky, Meena, Dave and I. We were very interested to meet the Sherpas … Read more

Pouakai Circuit, Egmont National Park

Most of my tramping gear is kept in the attic, to be fished out every month or two. There are several pairs of everything up there, which can lead to mix-ups on occasions. One of those occasions was when I agreed to lead the Pouakai Range circuit trip in Egmont National Park in May. The … Read more

Syme Hut

We left Syme Hut at 10.30am and stepped straight into a howling gale and horizontal hail. Visibility suddenly vanished and we were forced to quickly don sunglasses to avoid squinting into a near white-out. I looked back at the hut into the teeth of the storm and was rewarded with a painful pelting of hail, … Read more