Summerlike conditions with bright sunshine and highs of early 20’s were promised and delivered for the weekend, and a couple of keen lads were ready to go. The track up to the Holdsworth/Totara Flats junction seems to have been continuously upgraded towards a metalled highway of constant gradient. In the warm weather, a break at … Read more
The sun shone strong on our transit as we wound along the highway north oh Featherston. The unseasonably warm and almost cloudless sky illuminated the countryside’s early spring greens. So marvelously distracting was the prospect of a golden weekend, that navigator couldn’t be blamed for the missing the first turn off, but perhaps he should … Read more
Editor’s note: Since 1997 some keen WTMC members led by Lindsay Cuthbertson have been publishing a little know guide called “Accounts of week-end, two-day and 24-hour Schormann – Kaitoke (or Putara-Kaitoke) traverses of the Tararuas, North Island, New Zealand, via the Main Range, Tarn Ridge, the rivers and in reverse!” I’ll be looking to update … Read more
Broken Axe Pinnacles The Not Tappy, Light and Fast Daywalk A day hike loop from Holdsworth carpark over the Broken Axe Pinnacles “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.” And so they did. What was to be a three day trip to climb Tappy became a furtive dash in the Tararuas … Read more
After Ngauruhoe high camp was cancelled, I decided I needed a weekend of tramping to keep my fitness for Tappy in a few weeks. For family reasons, Spencer was about to enter a period of tramping abstinence and wanted a good solid tramp. As well as keeping tramping fit, Elizabeth needed an excuse to avoid … Read more
There are all kinds of hard yakka trips, but to qualify they must test you to breaking point and beyond. A recent trip back in to the sunny Tararuas cracked me. Not so I couldn’t be put back together again, but I definitely did lose it. Hard yakka trips come from my husband Robert. There … Read more
There were 3 in our happy band. After many days of beautiful, calm, sunny weather, there were howling gales and lashing rain forecasted for the weekend. Driving from Wellington on the Friday night, the worst of it did not arrive until we actually parked the van at Otaki Forks about 9pm. We opened the van … Read more
There’s no point in roughing it until you have to, so Saturday morning breakfast was not cold muesli with reconstituted milk, but salmon on sourdough and espresso from the French patisserie in Greytown. I couldn’t resist slipping a tuna mayo roll from there into my pocket too. Mangatarere Roadend is a place less travelled. It’s … Read more
The long range forecast for rain morphed into a promise of a beautiful warm sunny weekend and with a nice hut at the end of an easy walk, a great weekend out was on hand. Ella and I had a rough start to our morning as we received a call from home advising us that … Read more