The team of six left Wellington Railway Station at 8.20am on Saturday morning and headed north. After a coffee stop in Shannon, complete with a questionable pie, we arrived at Renfrew Road carpark and set off for the Rangiwahia Hut at midday.
We were treated to a beautiful clear winter day with views across to Mt Ruapehu. After lunch overlooking the wooden arched bridge, we continued towards the hut. Beyond the waterfall we encountered a particularly icy section of track. Matt was briefly seen on the ground, although he later clarified this was an intentional slide! After collecting several impressive icicles, we arrived at the hut after about 1 hour 45 minutes of walking.
After some relaxing and enjoying the views, we got started on the main objective of the weekend: painting and sipping. Inspired by Mt Ruapehu and the flora and fauna, the team got to work. Deciding to embrace the cold, we set ourselves up on the outside benches in the sunshine. A cheeseboard kept everyone motivated before the wind and dropping temperature eventually drove us inside to light the fire.
The evening provided plenty of entertainment when a fellow hut occupant revealed the consequences of forgetting a belt whilst lighting the fire. In Matt’s words, a “full moon” was sighted, much to the amusement of the group.
Encouraged by this early astronomical success, we headed outside after dinner for some stargazing. Paris’s phone produced remarkably professional looking night photographs, while the rest of us succeeded mainly in taking blurry pictures of darkness with the occasional star.
The next morning we posed for a group photo with our paintings, the group felt like schoolchildren proudly presenting our work! With potentially poorer weather on the way, we opted to return via the same route in. We left the hut at 10am, with talks of sliding down the ice on our return, we made a speedy descent, reaching the carpark in 1 hour 20 minutes.
We stopped at Flat Hills Cafe for lunch before we returned to Wellington Railway Station at 3.15pm.
