We set off bright and early from Wellington on Saturday morning in the club van, after some convenient door-to-door pickups by our glorious leader Bryan. We then enjoyed a windy, motion sickness-inducing drive over the Remutaka Hill to Featherston, where we enjoyed a wee pastry and a coffee at the Baker before setting off.
Once we were on the forestry road heading for the road-end, it was rough going with potholes and bulls to dodge, plus lots of gravel and the occasional puddle. A high clearance vehicle is definitely advised, although a 4WD vehicle isn’t necessary in good conditions.
It isn’t clear exactly where the route to Tauanui Hut starts, but it is about 7 km along the forestry road, just before the road veers up a steep hill. There were a few spots where we could park and a truck was already parked up there, so we knew we were at about the right spot.
From here we set off along Tauanui River. Although the walking route is unmarked, there is a fairly obvious 4WD track that we followed most of the way, only losing it twice for brief periods. We had to cross the River about 20 times, but the water level was never more than knee height. Prepare for wet feet as there is no way to avoid these crossings! This section of the walk became more and more beautiful as we left the pine trees behind and entered native forest, and the River ‘showed off’ with the occasional mossy cliff and deep green pools. It was good fun splashing away, and in no time at all (literally – it only took us 1 hour), we reached Tauanui Hut (a bright orange hut), which we would call ‘home’ for the night.
Tauanui Hut is a lovely wee Forest Service hut, built back in 1966 and it is quite cosy thanks to Backcountry Trust volunteers who did it up back in 2022! Although the Hut is close to the road end and is accessible by off-road vehicles (ATVs), it is still in reasonably good nick. (See: https://www.backcountrytrust.org.nz/).
When we arrived, an ATV was parked outside, but the hut was empty. Bryan, Raj, and Maj-Britt claimed their bunks, while Jess and I set up our tents under some nearby trees.
I decided that after a busy week at work I deserved a bit of relaxing, so I decided to stay at the hut while the rest of the group ventured on up to Te Maunga (a nearby peak at 1193 m elevation), which would involve some bush-bashing. We attempted to set up Bryan’s new tent for the fun of it before they all set off, but it turned out to be quite challenging so it was left half-erected.
Compasses in hand, the fearless foursome (Bryan, Raj, Maj-Britt and Jess) set off up a spur behind the hut at about 12 pm. Meanwhile, I ate my lunch in the sun and chatted to a few day walkers who had come for a womble up the valley.
Raj returned after about 30 minutes, as he’d decided the uphill climb wasn’t for him. So I had some company.
Tauanui Hut seemed to be a surprisingly popular place for a day walk, as we spoke to about 4 different lots of people throughout the afternoon.
I faffed around at the Hut doing a bit of tidying, snacking, and reading of hut material. I had big plans to stock up the firewood, as I’d brought my brand new silky saw with me. But the sun disappeared behind some clouds and the temperature seemed to drop about 10 degrees, so I hopped into my sleeping bag ‘just for a few minutes’ and accidentally fell asleep for three hours. Within that time, two teenagers from Wellington joined us at the Hut. They were very polite young lads and demonstrated excellent hut etiquette, some of the best I’ve ever experienced.
As the sun set, Raj and I cracked on with cooking dinner, hoping the others would make it back soon and that we wouldn’t have to go on a rescue mission in the dark. Thankfully, they arrived back just as we finished cooking their dinner (a veggie curry with canned chicken for the non-vegans). What an excellent service Raj and I provided!
And how did their adventure up the hill go? – Maj-Britt explains:
At 12.15 pm, 4 of us started our climb up to Te Maunga, following what looked like the start of a track. Any sign of track markers or a path then completely disappeared within minutes. After about 15 minutes of bush and no sun, Raj turned back – tempted by an afternoon in the sun at Tauanui Hut.
Bryan, Jess and I (Maj-Britt) continued on, bush-bashing at points through thick scrub, although trying to pick out semblances of track where we could.
At one point we reached a small rock wall (about 6-10 m high) and Jess found a way around it (to the left). This led on to a bush clad scree slope.
While navigation isn’t a strength of mine, I took the prize for spotting pink ribbons at random points along the way (which we presumed were pseudo-trail markers, rather than bait line indicators). The pink ribbons provided periodical respite on our way through the bush, rather than any clear trail, apart from at one point, where they indicated a turn on the trail.
I spotted a marker at a knob at 720 m elevation, which saved us a sharp decline towards the valley and a steep walk up to correct.
We reached Te Maunga summit just under 10 minutes shy of our 3.30 pm turn-around time. There was little to distinguish the summit from the rest of the trail. However, we broke through the bush to some random road-to-nowhere and the trig at the top.
Bryan and Jess navigated for us on the way back down to Tauanui Hut. I saw some pink markers, but after following them for about 30 mins, it turned out we had veered off the route we had followed on the way up – and this is when our real adventure began!
We had lost elevation too soon (on the wrong side of the knob at 720 m elevation), and then we over-corrected when we back-tracked up the hill. Somewhere at this point Jess lost her phone. Despite only needing to search for her phone in a 10 m area, we had no success finding it in the thick scrub and ground cover. Jess very graciously made the call for the group to continue on back down to the Hut without her phone, to ensure we’d be able to return before nightfall.
We continued on downhill, making some more corrections, and re-corrections of the route we were taking, but we never quite reached the top of the spur we had come up on and were aiming for.
As the daylight faded, Jess and I suggested that we drop down to Tauanui River and walk beside it to get back to he Hut.
Unfortunately, we were one valley out from where we thought we were. Bryan then sensibly talked us into going back up towards the spur that we should have been on much earlier.
Near the end of our return trip to the Hut, we did opt to follow the Tauanui River. Any major obstacles (such as waterfalls) would be unlikely given the flat contours on the map for this area.
When we finally spotted light from the Hut it was a very welcome sight! – and a beacon to guide us for our final 5-10 minutes of a very memorable and rewarding trip.
It had been a lesson in paying attention and a good reminder that the trip is only over when you’re back at the hut (not when you reach the summit!).
Tauanui Hut: at 198 m elevation
Te Maunga summit: 979 m elevation
Back at the hut… We had a pretty sad fire that night, as most of the wood near the hut was rotten. We all shared some stick-bread (made over the fire), which was a 10/10.
After a very tough day, it was time for an early night. Despite the wind howling, we all slept quite well.
We set off along Tauanui River, back to the van, just as it started to rain at around 9 am. We barely noticed our wet feet this time as we were largely sodden from head to toe.
At this point we were in dire need of a warm drink. Bryan knows a guy whose cousin owns a café (the Land Girl) in Pirinoa, so we stopped on the way back to Wellington to check it out. We were very grateful for the warmth of the café’s fireplace. All that was left of the trip now was to try not to vomit on the way back over the Remutaka Hill. Thank you to Raj for his solid van-driving skills!
Directions:
Getting there – from Lake Ferry road turn left onto Whakatomotomo Rd. Approx 5 km along this road, turn left onto an unmarked/un-signposted forestry road. Drive along this forestry road for 6-7km (the DOC website actually states it is a 3 km distance)
Timings:
Road end to Tauanui Hut – 1 hr 5 mins (approx 3.5km)
Tauanui Hut to Te Maunga summit – 3 hrs 5 mins
Te Maunga summit to Tauanui Hut – 3 hrs 30 mins
Tauanui Hut to Road end – 55 mins