Mud, sweat and sour squirms: Waiopehu Hut – Gable End Ridge Loop – Tararua Forest Park

I was slouching up against the wall of an Indian takeaways on Kent Terrace when I made the call. A weather bomb had hit the Tararuas, swelling rivers and drowning my dreams of taking my troop of ‘easy-medium’ punters to Mangahao Flats Hut. Instead, I spent the time waiting for my butter chicken pondering an … Read more

Pukeamoamo/ Mitre via Mitre Flats Hut – Tararua Forest Park

Friday 14th Feb  We combined resources with the MF trip group who were heading to Holdsworth trailhead. We all set off in the club van from Wellington Railway Station at 4.30 pm. We had decided on this earlier meet up time to give us more time for the walk into Mitre Flats Hut on the … Read more

A Baldy – South King – Mitre Flats Hut adventure – Tararua Forest Park

The original plan for this trip was to head into Atiwhakatu Hut on Friday night, climb Baldy Peak and then go on to the Broken Axe Pinnacles and McGregor Biv on Saturday and then back to Holdsworth Lodge via Angle Knob and Jumbo on Sunday. While Saturday’s weather looked pretty good, Sunday’s forecast was for … Read more

Pack floating down the Waiohine Gorge – Tararua Forest Park

After 6 months of casual day trips and regular wine and cheese tasting overseas, I wondered what the best way would be to get back into tramping in NZ…  and the answer appeared on the trip schedule listed as a Emily’s MF trip “Waiohine Pack Float via Jacs Biv”: good company, some tops travel, another … Read more

McGregor Biv – Tararua Forest Park

As many a good trip began, our group assembled at Wellington Train Station at 4.30 pm on Friday, along with the group of 3 people who planned to head up Mitre Peak on Saturday. Our plan was to head into Atiwhakatu Hut on Friday night. On Saturday we would make our way onto the tops … Read more

Mangahao Flats Hut – Tararua Forest Park

We met at Wellington Train Station at 6:30 am on a sunny Saturday and piled into the club van. After dropping off the Medium group at Poads Road, we carried on up to the Managahao Top No 1 Reservoir dam. I was a bit nervous about driving the van, but had been reassured by others … Read more

Penn Creek Hut – Tararua Forest Park

The group assembled at Platform 10 (basically 9 ¾ for WTMC) for what would end up being a wet, but enjoyable, weekend in the Tararuas. The plan originally was to head to Winchcombe Biv. However, the weather forecast was not in our favour, with winds from 35-40km/h and gusts up to 100km/h predicted for Saturday … Read more

Herepai Hut – Tararua Forest Park

We met at the Wellington Train Station carpark for an 8am departure. We were sharing the club van with the medium group of four who were planning to go to Cattle Ridge Hut via Roaring Stag Hut. With heavy rain forecast for later in the afternoon and for much of the following morning, we were … Read more

Maungahuka Hut – Tararua Forest Park

Fri 11 Oct – Waiohine Road End to Totora Flats HutWe joined the medium group in the van on Friday after work and headed over the hill to Waiohine Gorge road end, via the supermarket and takeaways in Greytown. This was to be Isabella’s first tramp in New Zealand! – very gutsy going straight for … Read more

A beautiful weekend for Blue Range Hut – Tararua Forest Park

On this beautiful sunny Saturday morning our group left Wellington Railway Station at 9am. Lizzy was having her first overnight tramp and we couldn’t have hoped for a better day for it. In Featherston we stopped for coffee and when we arrived at the Kiriwhakapapa road end the day was still looking great. As we … Read more