Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club
enjoying the great outdoors since 1947
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
“Is anyone alarmed that I’m still considering the original plan?” This question came on Friday night from our trip leader James after consulting the weather forecast to see that not only did we have a severe weather warning for the Tararua Range due to heavy rain rolling through, there were also gale force winds forecasted … Read more
I have been determinedly Tararua hut-bagging for a couple of years now, having realised I’d haphazardly visited about three quarters of them. Carkeek Hut is one of the most difficult to get to being right in the middle of the range with no DoC-maintained tracks to it. I was waiting for a good weather weekend … Read more
With Wellington returning to Level 1, and club life starting back up again, I was very keen to get out into the bush on a proper club trip. As the week progressed, the forecast dampened my enthusiasm. Not only was there going to be extremely high winds (between 40 and 90km/h on the Saturday and … Read more
After failing to badger various acquaintances into taking me on a tramping trip, Tony took pity on me and said I could come with him to attempt a Southern Main Range. Tony’s favourite camping spot at Otaki Forks was closed, so I showed him my favourite camping spot, which happened to be inside Parawai Lodge! … Read more
I first learned about Punga Hut a few years ago at a WTMC social night talk on the best huts and tracks not on the map. Ever since, it has been on my adventure wishlist. When we did the number 1 canyon, I tried to convince the guys to make the short jaunt to visit … Read more
Trampers were offered up one last golden weekend at the end of March, before being plunged into the darkness of daylight savings. Tereza, Mike M, Tom, Fain and I used this opportunity to bag perhaps the most famous of the “secret huts” in the Tararua Ranges – Snowy Hut. After some rental car difficulties, which … Read more
I first heard about this challenge a year or so ago when I found out about the book full of all the previous trip reports, most recently updated and published by Tony and Megan from our club. The challenge itself started out with the simple rule that you need to work until closing time Friday, … Read more
