Tapokopoko to South Saddle ‘Where is the Tapokopoko scree slope? The map shows it is right here.’ ‘The map lies. I reckon the cheeky aliens stole it out from under us and planted a whole forest of trees instead!’ Tony and I were standing on the edge of the supposed ‘scree slope’ that was marked … Read more
Six of us left the Catchpool carpark just after 9 am in slightly cool conditions. We were soon in the Orongorongo Valley and headed upstream to Goat Stream. At Goat Stream Hut we had morning tea. We didn’t see the person staying at Goat Stream Hut, but the door was unlocked and there were signs of habitation in … Read more
We set off on Friday evening together with the other group doing the Mukamuka. It is good to get to Paua hut Friday, so you can make an early start on Saturday. As the combined groups were 14 people, I asked a few that we should camp outside Paua Hut, which was taken up by … Read more
There are over 60 private/club/DOC huts in the Orongorongo valley. Our mission was to see how many we could find from out base at Paua hut.I had worried about the weather for the weekend as the forecast had predicted some rain. However, the Friday was warm and sunny and we had a pleasant tramp over … Read more
In early March WTMC got together with the Tararua Tramping Club to run a leadership course in the Orongorongo Valley. Although the WTMC runs its own leadership course each year, the two clubs were encouraged to run a joint course through an initiative from FMC to get clubs in a region to pool resources and … Read more
I spotted the Papatahi Crossing tramp on the schedule and signed up straight away. I’d always been keen to do this crossing but had never quite got around to it. The crossing is a good chance to explore a more isolated corner of the Remutaka Forest Park, visit a hut and also to get to … Read more
Long summery evenings are a most wonderful thing. It was still light as we bounded along the Orongorongo Valley track on Friday evening; dark only settling down upon us as we reached the river. Using a waypoint that Bram had marked on his gps we successfully navigated in the, suddenly rather dark darkness, to the … Read more