The secret society of Central Whirinaki Hut left no evidence behind of their esoteric full moon ritual. While the Waikato vegan tramping club did catch a glimpse of our trip leader yodelling a particular song, no suspicion was raised as that group was busy fishing – catch and release, of course – or were they conducting fishy business?
Our group was blessed with fine weather over the Easter break. On the morning of Good Friday, we met at Wellington Railway Station and began our trip slowly navigating through traffic up towards the Whirinaki Adventures camp ground. We passed by much farm land and many a rural town while trying to get the wipers to clean the van windscreen, blaming an empty windshield water tank.
Upon arrival at the camp ground, tents were set up and the group shared a dinner of beans, salad, minced beef and tortilla wraps. David, the trip leader and chef architect, upon praise of his delicious food, responded that ‘a well fed tramper is a happy tramper’. We agreed unanimously. The campground owner’s dog kept us company until we turned in, insisting we play fetch.
On Saturday we set off in the shuttle at 8:30am and completed 16km in 5 hours. The track ‘was like a highway’ and on the way we stopped to admire a tree that David introduced us to as being Charles and took a short break to look out at the waterfall. Lunch was had at Verns Camp, a lovely meadow with a very nice and large shelter. Some of us saw a whio.
Central Whirinaki Hut was well populated by fellow trampers, though not as heavily occupied as in the previous nights. Both Amy and Tania slept in the hut while the rest camped out by the river. We enjoyed a delicious Moroccan chickpea tagine with honey, raisins and delicious spices. In the night some members heard ruru, whio and kiwi.
On Sunday the group set out to embark on a muddy river crossing adventure. Slips were cautiously traversed, fallen trees were scrambled across, and boots were drenched. Some felt it was like trekking through the Amazon rainforest, minus the dangerous animals! Others experienced it as a beautiful meandering wander through amazing podocarp forest, criss-crossing a stream which was mostly ankle to mid-calf deep. When the group paused to take a group photo and posed with arms around each other’s shoulders, Matt said we can pretend that we were all friends.
The final push uphill took us to a serene and cosy Mangamate Hut, tucked away in a little meadow overlooking forest, with a magnificent sunset view. This time, the only other campers were a couple from Whanganui. Mushroom risotto and trail tiramisu was on the dinner menu and in such quantity we were able to feed the other campers as well (though they missed out on the pudding). The other campers lit a fire and we assisted by finding mostly damp fuel and then stood around the fire trying to avoid the smoke that seemed to follow us.
We woke up early and set off on Monday morning at 7:30am, arriving at the carpark an hour before shuttle pick up. The track followed the river downhill and was similar to Sunday; slips were cautiously traversed, fallen trees were scrambled across, and boots were drenched, plus a new hazard – ongaonga – was carefully avoided. Matt said the track was more challenging than expected with having to clamber over and under things, and rolling his ankle at the start of the track didn’t help. Tiffany thought the track became more interesting as it became more challenging and varied.
On the drive home we stopped for nourishment at Taihape. The windshield water tank was full after all – it turned out the control just needed a very firm push – so we enjoyed a clean windscreen all the way to Wellington. Matt admitted in the van on the way home that he thought we no longer had to pretend to be friends. Thank you David for your leadership, organisation and delicious meals – we had fun and made new friends.
