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
Snow on Powell!Our journey began with a drive on the winding road to the Wairarapa, we eventually arrived at our first stop, the Clareville Bakery, for a last minute coffee and pastry. Once satiated with morning tea, we began our journey to the Tararuas, with a radiant sun shining, the snow was glittering off the … Read more
I saw this trip on the schedule and thought ‘that could be fun’. I know of several people who have done this trip before – both heading up High Ridge and going down High Ridge – and I was keen to give it a go too. The following report outlines Saturday’s adventure, as Sunday was … Read more
Friday (Road end to Powell Hut – 2h 45min) As we hopped into the van with the EM group on Friday, the vision for the trip was clear: there would be pizzas. How we would justify it as a club trip and what the tramping would actually involve was not as clear, however… The trip … Read more
Maungahuka Hut – a tramp to fix a long-broken water supply tap A hike to Mungahuka Hut to replace a broken tap and deliver a new log book and enjoy one of the favourite Tararua huts. Maungahuka Hut is my favourite Tararua hut, and the hut that inspired my tramping journey. So when Tony and … Read more
We met at the train station at 7am except for Hugo who met us at the trail head before setting out on our adventure at 8:50. The weather was looking good as the winds had changed to a southerly and the rain stopped. We forded a small river in our SUV that was fairly high … Read more
Our group of four decided to take advantage of the long Wellington Anniversary weekend to get up onto the Main Range of the Tararuas. Starting (and finishing) at Holdsworth carpark, we’d gain the Main Range via Powell Hut, Mid Waiohine Hut and finally a climb up onto Aokaparangi, before traversing the Main Range to Maungahuka … Read more
The Totara Flats tramping crew was a mixture of more experienced trampers and complete newbies (myself included!). The tramp was graded an easy-medium trip, with around 4-5 hours walking to our destination of Totara Flats hut. After a very early and groggy start to Saturday morning for some of us, we met at Wellington Train … Read more
I was keen for an overnight tramp despite the horrendous Tararua weather forecast. We’d decided that given the forecast for heavy rain and gales, our best bet was a trip in the valley that avoided any major stream or river crossings. We’d settled on Totara Flats as neither Kate or Emily had done the walk … Read more
INTRODUCTION This route is one of the few opportunities to make a weekend loop from Holdsworth that gets you onto the stunning middle range of the Tararua Ranges. It does, however, require quite a bit of effort to make it work, with multiple steep climbs and descents, and with Powell Hut currently out of commission … Read more