Fri 11 Oct – Waiohine Road End to Totora Flats Hut
We 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 a medium-fit trip, especially in the Tararuas! It was also the first club tramp with the Chief Guide’s dog, Sophie (although an experienced tramping dog, it would be her first medium-fit tramp)
We said goodbye to the medium group just after 7pm – as they were heading to Cone Hut.
We had a slightly longer walk ahead of us, to Totara Flats Hut, to make our weekend a loop walk. For the first hour or so we had the setting sun, then it was time for our headtorches. We encountered a fair bit of mud and lots of scrambling up and down, but it was a beautiful clear starry night. We also saw a huge freshwater koura (crayfish) when we were crossing a stream.
We arrived at Totara Flats Hut at around 10.30pm to find everyone already in bed. Isabella slept on the deck for a bit to watch the stars, but moved into the hut sometime during the night, as it was quite chilly.
Day 1 stats:
• 10.2km,
• 3 hours 29 mins elapsed time, 2 hours 51 mins moving time
• 292m Ascent, 193m Descent
Sat 12 Oct – Totara Flats Hut – Neill Forks Hut – Maungahuka Hut (return)
We were up and moving around by 7.15am and went straight into a slog up Cone Ridge to the Neill Forks Hut turn off. We had morning tea there at around 10 am. The sign at the turn off said it was 1 hour 30 mins to Neill Forks Hut, but it took us a little bit longer, as Isabella wasn’t used to such steep downhills. You couldn’t get much steeper in all honesty!
It was a lovely day, so we had a leisurely 30 mins break for lunch on the grass outside the Neill Forks Hut, before re-packing our gear – as we would only be taking essential items to Maungahuka Hut. I had decided the night before that we wouldn’t be staying at Maungahuka Hut due to the poor weather forecast for Sunday afternoon – I didn’t want us to be walking 10+ hours, with the last few hours in the rain. Nor did we want to hold up the medium group.
We left Neill Forks Hut to head to Maungahuka Hut at around 12.30pm. It was a relentless climb of around 750m up to Maungahuka (1330m) and we reached Maungahuka Hut at around 3.15pm. Once we exited the bush line there was a crisp wind, despite it being a clear sunny day. It was great to finally make it to this iconic hut, after several previous trips had been aborted due to bad weather. Both of us wished that we could have stayed the night at the hut! It is such a serene and stunning location next to a picturesque tarn.
We reluctantly left just after 3.30pm and Isabella quickly got into a rhythm with the downhill. We were back at Neill Forks at around 6.45pm. We had only seen 3 people all day and only a handful of additional people had been at Maungahuka the night before. It had been a big day for all the girls, but especially Sophie, who promptly curled up on a bunk and went to sleep! After a quick dinner, the other girls were both fast asleep by 8pm!
Day 2 stats:
• 16.7km
• 10 hours 34 mins elapsed time, 6 hours 10 mins moving time
• 1935m Ascent, 891m Descent
Sunday 13 Oct – Neill Forks Hut – Waiohine Road End (via Cone Ridge and Cone Saddle)
The day dawned clear, and once again we were off and moving by around 7.15am. It was back up the steep track to Cone Ridge (which we reached at around 8.45am). We were quicker going up the Ridge than going down! The track up to Cone Ridge was a lot gentler and at around 10am we came out of the bush into an open area just before “Cone” (a high point feature marked on the topomap at 1080m).
Much to our surprise we spotted 4 deer. They seemed as surprised as us, but ambled off when Sophie took chase! We wondered what she thought she was going to do if she caught them!
The rest of the track was easy going, comparatively, and mainly downhill. A light drizzle started at around 1pm as per the forecast, so we were glad that we had done the extra kilometers the day before.
We arrived back at the van at around 1.50pm and were half expecting the medium group to already be back. Much to our surprise, we had beat them! But wasn’t long before they arrived, and we all headed back to Wellington with the obligatory stop in Greytown for snacks and drinks.
Sophie was straight into her doggie bed for the rest of the journey home, dreaming of deer!
Overall, a splendid trip of 40.2 km and 3195m vertical metres. And a great effort for Isabella’s first tramp in NZ – welcome to the Tararuas!
Day 3 stats:
• 13.3km,
• 6 hours 35 mins elapsed time, 4hours 35 mins moving time
• 968m Ascent, 1147m Descent
