King of the Hill

Bleary eyed I emerged from my car at Takapu Rd Station. Here I encountered my first obstacle: getting into the WTMC van. This was was far too difficult for half past six in the morning, taking a swift blow from Richard’s boot to finally dislodge the door from its jammed state. At Wellington Station we … Read more

Mitre Flats Waingawa River

Mitre Flats Waingawa River

What better way to spend a fine weather Sunday than an easy WTMC day walk into Mitre Flats Hut via the Barra Track and then back to the roadend via the Waingawa River. Four of us enjoyed the perfect conditions for an approximately 8 hour round trip. Here is a 3 minute video of some … Read more

Mitre Flats

Mitre Flats

Organising and leading an easy club trip can often be a bit fraught. It usually starts with a full trip list at closing date but by payment time people suddenly have other plans, admit they had forgotten they actually signed up at all and now don’t have time to get themselves organised, or they just … Read more

Tramping with Science at Mitre Flats

Tramping with Science

For the tramping with science trip we wandered into Mitre Flats observing stuff on the way – such as rainbows disappearing when you wear polaroid sunglasses (a rainbow was obligingly at hand), the changing clouds in the sky and what it meant, the surface trace of the Wellington Fault, holes in putaputaweta trunks made by … Read more

Solo Adventurer – to Mid-King Biv and Beyond

This is the soggy tail of an overnighter-turned day trip. The plan: Donnelly Flats, Pinnacle Ridge, Baldy, South and Middle Kings, Mid King Biv, South Mitre Stream, the Pines and over the ridge to Holdsworth Lodge. The weather is glum for a 7.25am kick off. I’ve picked a handy looking spur below the first marked … Read more

Mitre Flats Hut navigation

Ten WTMC members set off on Saturday 3 December to do an EM navigation trip to Mitre Flats Hut via Blue Range. It was such a beautiful, sunny day that we wondered if it would be better to just head to the beach rather than go tramping. However, the first stop at Wild Oats in … Read more

Mitre Flats

Some people don’t like the track into Mitre Flats—named on maps as the Barra Track after the bushman that first cut it. But it isn’t really all that bad—and anyway once there it will have been worth it for it is a delightful area of open grass among the forest, and there is plenty of … Read more

Mitre Flats Hut

  The tramp began at 8.35 pm on Friday evening at the end of Mt Holdsworth Road, reached via Carterton. Although we set out for Atiwhakatu Hut when it was still light, it quickly turned dark while we were walking and we had to get the head torches out. The gravel track is in good … Read more

5-bar Tararua tramping

Some people, particularly trampers, rejoice when heading into our wilderness while others have a fearful attitude towards these areas that they believe should be completely avoided—for they are places that they consider are hideous, desolate and uncomfortable—where people suffer and sometimes die. However, nowadays it seems that many of those who do actually want to … Read more