Te Puia Lodge and Hot Springs – Kaweka Forest Park

The long weekend started with a Friday evening drive to Norsewood, to camp overnight. This allowed us to break up the long drive, along winding gravel roads, to the beginning of the track at Makahu Road road end – about 1.5 hours from Napier. It was sad to see some of the damage caused by … Read more

Kaweka Kaleidoscope – exploring the remote Manson Country in the Kaweka Forest Park

A 3-day hike through the Manson Country in the Kaweka Forest Park

Kaweka Kaleidoscope – exploring Manson Country in the Kaweka Forest Park A 3-day hiking trip through the Kaweka Range including the remote Manson Country It nearly makes the squatters weep, It takes five acres to a sheep, And each year sees these smaller flocks, For sheep don’t thrive on snow and rocks. (An anonymous poet … Read more

Matariki weekend trip to Kawekas

Our delightful bunch of 8 bubbly people departed from Platform 9 on Thursday night and made our way to the Makahu road end carpark. A stop was made to scoff burgers in Sanson. All this seemed promising until our headlights beamed on 4 other cars at the road end and realised we’ll have to set … Read more

Middle Hill Hut

Not‌ ‌the‌ ‌greatest‌ ‌start‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌trip…‌ ‌  Graeme‌ ‌from‌ ‌the‌ ‌AA‌ ‌was‌ ‌just‌ ‌as‌ ‌baffled‌ ‌as‌ ‌I‌ ‌was‌ ‌that‌ ‌neither‌ ‌the‌ ‌remote‌ ‌nor‌ ‌physical‌ ‌key‌ ‌would‌ ‌unlock‌ ‌the‌ ‌van.‌ ‌The‌ ‌van‌ ‌wouldn’t‌ ‌unlock‌ ‌because‌ ‌of‌ ‌a‌ ‌flat‌ ‌battery,‌ ‌but‌ ‌we‌ ‌would‌ ‌have‌ ‌to‌ ‌get‌ ‌into‌ ‌the‌ ‌van‌ ‌to open the bonnet to‌ ‌get‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌battery‌ ‌to‌ … Read more

Te Puia Tramp

Looking through past trip reports it seems the club has a tradition of organising Te Puia tramps over Queen’s birthday weekend. And it’s a great tradition; what’s better than soaking in hot pools on a winter tramp. So the 2021 tramp was organised to live up to the tradition and make the most of the … Read more

Kaweka Kaimanawa Traverse

Are we on the right track? Our journey began with a traffic jam at Kaimanawa Road end. Being Labour Weekend, every man and his dog (literally – we were joined by a gorgeous kelpie) was out tramping. After a skillful 100 point turn, our shuttle driver deposited us at the beginning of the Umukarikari track. … Read more

Te Puia Lodge: a beginners guide to leading tramps

The Te Puia Lodge is an Easy-ish tramp located in the Kaweka Ranges. It was my first tramp as a team leader, and it was a pain in the ass, literally, but I will get to that later on. This guide is structured as follows. Chapter 1 describes the first day and our long drive … Read more

More hut bagging in the Kawekas

On the Wednesday before our Wellington Anniversary long weekend trip up to the Kawekas, Megan gave a talk about a trip she did with Tony, Fons and Rohan at Labour Weekend last year, where they were able to visit seven huts over the three days. Not that we were into anything like competitive hut-bagging but … Read more

Hut bagging in the Kawekas

It was hot hot hot in the Kawekas on Wellington Anniversary Weekend! The Medium group commenced their trip into the Kawekas from Makahu Saddle. Ahead of us was the climb up Kaweka J. Minutes into the trip I was sweaty enough to pick up a fine dry coat of Kaweka dust all over my legs. … Read more

Studholme Saddle Hut

Labour weekend was a good chance to venture further afield so four of us set off from Wellington for the Kawekas on the Friday evening. Kuripapango campsite, on the Napier-Taihape road, is a long-way from Wellington and with holiday weekend traffic and a pizza stop in Carterton we didn’t arrive until 11.45 pm.  Kuripapango campsite … Read more