The forecast for our 3 day Tararua based tramp over Queen’s birthday was excellent. So, we tramped in Friday night from the Waiohine Gorge road end to Cone Hut on the south eastern Tararuas with real optimism for nailing what looked like a substantial medium trip. Saturday morning was magnificent: neither wind nor clouds. We … Read more
On a dreary Saturday morning we contemplated alternative routes as we made our way to Levin. A southerly was forecast and there was already snow on the coastal foothills of the Kapiti coast. As we ascended the windy road to Mangahao Dam 2, the sunny calm weather convinced us to stick with our planned trip … Read more
Friday night we made the long drive from Levin to the Mangahou road end. The evening was cold but very still at the tail end of the miserable southerly which had blown hard all week. Morning saw a cold and very light drizzle, we donned coats and warms and made haste round the lake, getting … Read more
Renata Hut has loads of ambience. Ambience of a basic tin shed with some paint slapped on about 100 years ago with a collection of critters and the special indoor garden found in all continually damp locations. But I have never yet been sad to see it. All routes in I have taken so far … Read more
We left Wellington on Friday evening, so that the Medium Fits we were travelling with could hit the trail early the following morning. Parking up at the trail head we put on our head torches and made the short walk out to Parawai Hut. For Jo and I this was the first time tramping with … Read more
Weather Fine start on Saturday, overcast developing with a couple of light showers in the afternoon cloud breaking for a clear Sunday. No wind. Track conditions The track appears to be infrequently maintained; so although generally pretty easy to follow, there are quite a few tree falls which haven’t been cleared so there is a … Read more
In November 2010 I did a great trip to Elder Hut in fine sunny weather (yes, this was the Tararuas). The views from the hut were brilliant, and it got the sun until late in the evening. So when the trip was put on the proposed WTMC summer schedule for March 2012, begging for a … Read more
Out tramping again with WTMC for my second weekend in a row, we met at the station on a sunny Saturday morning for the 2.5 hour drive up to Mangahao Dam road end. The trip along the gravel road to the Upper Mangahao Dam is a long, bumpy ride in, taking about 50 minutes. We … Read more
The tramp started really well for me: I hadn’t been tramping in a number of years but thought I had all my gear together in one place since I had recently done a trip to cycle and camp the Otago Rail trail. So, I decided that I could leave packing my bag until 11pm on … Read more
On the weekend of March 10/11th, I went for my first overnight tramp with Dad. We were in a large party of 5 families. The youngest was only 6 months old! We set off on Saturday from Holdsworth carpark for Atiwhakatu hut – a distance of 5 kilometres. It was a beautiful sunny day, but … Read more