Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club
Enjoying the great outdoors since 1947
Route: Return trip from Kiwi Ranch Road carpark to Joe Gibbs HutWeather: Humid, no windDOC travel time: 8hrs Group time: 9hrs (with 3 stops). While others were at home no doubt preparing for the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III, a small group took to the hills on a hut bagging mission to find … 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
The Dobson Loop Track is located in one of the most southern points of Tararua Forest Park. The great thing about this walk is you get a good day out walking in what feels like a remote and very scenic back country area yet it’s only a 30 minute drive from downtown Petone – so … 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
For most of us the trip started on the rocks of Titahi Bay a week before learning canyon abseiling basics from Megan, David and Jay. Once we’d got the hang of hand signalling, figure of eights and locking off, we climbed the nearby ‘sheer cliffs’ (with only a handline) for some real descents. Megan and … 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
Before I get into the juicy facts, here’s a wordy summary of our Southern Crossing Medium tramp from Otaki Forks to Kaitoke. We headed up to Field Hut from Otaki Forks around 8pm on Friday night. It was a beautiful night, with an almost full moon. We set off from Field at 9am the next … Read more
Originally we were supposed to be picking up the Moonlight Southern Crossing (FE) group on Sunday at midday-ish, but as that trip was called off we had a lot more freedom on departure times and return times. We left the station at a very reasonable 9am on Saturday morning, a nice change from the typical … Read more
