The call went out for Mt Owen and Luna Tops leaders. When Luna Tops was cancelled, nine of us planned to head south. Planning got tricky when weather bombs and uncrossable fords scuppered our South island plan B’s. North island plans C, D, Es were banded around. Given we had a long weekend, we decided, … Read more
Ten of us (4 M and 6 EM trampers) met at 1pm on Waitangi Day (a Thursday) for the drive to Kaweka Forest Park. After stopping for leg stretches in Shannon and Woodville, and a meal in Hastings. We arrived just before dark at the road end campsite and pitched our tents for the night. … Read more
Day One: Travel Day – Wellington to Mangatutu Hot Springs campsite Day Two: Makahu Road to Ballard Hut Day 3: Ballard Hut to Te Puia Hut and hot springs Day 4: Te Puia Hut to Wellington
Thursday 6th Feb Making the most of a 4-day weekend, we set off early from Wellington and enjoyed a scenic drive up to Helisika (Poronui Station) on Taharua Rd, off SH5. This location is in Hawke’s Bay, near Taupo. With the Desert Road closed for maintenance, we made detoured through Tongariro National Park and enjoyed the … Read more
A club trip to Lewis Pass in Canterbury was initially scheduled for Matariki Weekend. That changed on 21 June, when the ferry, Aratere, ran aground – so our sailing to Picton was cancelled and we were unable to secure another booking at a suitable time. We scouted around for other trip ideas for the weekend … Read more
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
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
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
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
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