Tapuae – o – Uenuku – Inland Kaikōura Range

For a lengthier and much more creatively written report of this trip take a read of Sam’s account here: https://medium.com/engage/tapping-out-of-tappy-de5027b8a21b. We caught the ferry on Thursday afternoon after squishing five people’s alpine packs into the car, and then stayed the night at a Picton backpackers – which made for a very leisurely start to the … Read more

Tapuae-o-uenuku

Looking across the Cook Strait my eyes habitually fixate on one striking feature – the centerpiece and highest peak of the Kaikoura Ranges, Tapuae-o-uenuku, also affectionately known as ‘Tappy’. A couple years ago I started consolidating the skills and experience to attempt Tappy and enjoy its panoramic and lofty summit at 2885m.  Miraculously the stars … Read more

Happy on Tappy!

The 5pm Interislander is packed with familiar faces. We have the company of the WTMC, TTC and NZAC all heading for their long weekend objectives. After an uneventful crossing, we’re off on our own private adventure – to bag the summit of Mt Tapuae-o-Uenuku. Almost two hours after leaving Picton, we cross a suspension bridge … Read more

Tapuae-o-Uenuku. Well almost.

I had been looking forward to this trip for ages. The plan was to catch the Friday evening ferry—but which then got delayed due to a bit of a storm passing through. We were rebooked on to the Saturday morning ferry and despite getting up early we then spent an additional two hours waiting for … Read more