Day 0 – Fly Camping at Mangahao Dam After Megan skilfully negotiated the windy road from Shannon to the top Mangahao Dam, we fly camped at the face of the dams. The recent rain had meant that the spillway was open and a little noisy. Day 1 – Mangahao Dams to Te Matawai Hut via … Read more
Having scheduled a couple of trips to the Kaimanawas only to see them founder from a lack of interest I was getting pretty desperate to explore this unknown Forest Park. It was fortunate therefore that it now appeared on the schedule as both medium and easy medium trips, so I keenly signed up. Following … Read more
Thanks to Paul and the 5 other punters, for a great trip into the Ruahine tops…a first for most of us. It was a delayed start from the Railway station due to a spill on the motorway, leaving after 6 instead of after 5…with great relief we made good time after having dinner before we … Read more
Like the best laid plans of mice and men going astray, the bad weather predicted for Nelson Lakes National Park meant that our proposed Mole Tops tenting trip had to be altered. The new trip would be the Moss Pass route going via Sabine and over into the D’Urville. Day One – Sabine Hut to Blue … Read more
Off we set into the Tararuas, ably skirting the rock fall on the access road and fording the Waiohine via an outlandishly large swing bridge. Our amble along the tops via Cone was a rare treat of good visibility and only the lightest zephyr of a breeze. Views from Cone extended from the Tararua Peaks … Read more
Friday night departure went smoothly. But things slowed to a halt when two of us ordered dinner at the Thai slow-food takeaway in Levin. Eventually our dinner arrived and we set off again. Our driver safely manoeuvred around the many roundabouts in Fielding, and after a bit of exploratory detouring we arrived at the busy … Read more
We left platform 9 on a cold Friday night with the promise of clearing skies and a warmer end to what had been an extremely cold month. The 40 odd minute drive through Wainuiomata, down coast road to the Orongorongos, sped by. We had boots on the ground before 6:30pm. Night tramping over the five … Read more
Three keen punters (we picked Richard up from the Junction Hotel in Spring Creek) assembled at Wellington train station on Tuesday evening, before embarking on the 5 minute drive to the Interislander ferry terminal. John and his group were also aboard for the van and ferry ride. The ferry ride to Picton was fairly uneventful … Read more
Seven keen folk explored Kahurangi Tablelands for four days in exceptionally fine weather and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. We arrived at the road end, where we dossed for the night in the shelter, around 12:30am Friday morning, after a three hour ferry crossing and about a three hour drive. Another WTMC trip group arrived … Read more
After many years of vigorously peeling any carrot that came within a co-eee of my cooking pot, I have recently found there is a strong movement of people who believe in a skin-on approach to culinary carrots. I therefore now feel more confident in writing this newsletter article about the lack of peel in our … Read more