Ten of us (4 M and 6 EM trampers) met at 1pm on Waitangi Day (a Thursday) for the drive to Kaweka Forest Park. After stopping for leg stretches in Shannon and Woodville, and a meal in Hastings. We arrived just before dark at the road end campsite and pitched our tents for the night. We then took a 10-minute walk to the Mangatutu Hot Pools, where we had a good soak by torchlight, punctuated by flashes of “heat lightning” – essentially lightning without thunder (which periodically lit up the sky).
On Friday morning we packed up our tents and had a pleasant campsite breakfast picnic. The M group were driven to the start of their hike and then the 6 EM trampers drove to the start of the track to Te Puia Hut.
We set off on the track at about 9am and reached Te Puia Hut in about 3 hours, taking an easy pace with a few water stops on the way. The track was challenging in places with some rocky and gnarly climbs and descents. It was a beautiful track, with the sun shining through the trees and the Mohaka River often in sight or ear shot. The dense Kanuka/Manuka at the start of the track turned into Rimu and bigger podocarps further up.
At the Hut we made a call to keep our packs on and walk a further 45 mins up to the Mangatainoka Springs, where we would came for the night. This would maximise our time in the hot pools. The campsite is next to the river and right by the pools, so we enjoyed an afternoon and evening of soaking in the hot springs, interspersed with cold plunges in the river – a true wellbeing experience, right in the bush.
Interestingly, after having seen lightning without thunder on the previous night, we heard some loud thunder claps throughout the afternoon, but saw no lightning.
Elizabeth supervised the creation of a shared meal, which likely drove the other campers mad with the delicious aromas – particularly the smell of frying bacon.
On Saturday morning we had another soak and plunge before packing up and heading back to Te Puia Hut.
After snacks, we left for our day walk to Makino Hut, uncertain if we would make it the whole way, as the elevation was steep and the day was hot. Two of our party opted to head back to the campsite and the river, while the rest of us climbed on. We scaled some fairly steep rock faces before reaching the ridge and enjoyed an easy walk through tall trees with moss covered roots to Makino Hut. All in all the walk from Te Puia Hut to Makino Hut took about 2.5 hours. We caught up with the medium group at the hut, and we had lunch there before hiking back to the river and Te Puia Hut for the night.
The rest of Saturday was spent hanging out by the river, swimming, reading and yarning. Our party of 10 was reunited for a shared meal, with the EM trampers taking care of the mains and the M trampers responsible for dessert. Te Puia Hut is a comfortable older serviced hut, with the bonus of having 2 two-burner gas cookers.
On Sunday both groups rose early and left Te Puia Hut shortly after 7am. Despite the early start, it was already getting hot and sunny, making for a sweaty walk. We followed the same track we had walked in on on Friday – following the Mohaka River with some ups and downs. With a few short stops along the way, we arrived back at the road end at around 10am.
We quickly changed into swimwear and drove the van down to the hot pools for a final brief soak before setting off in the van with the M group back to Wellington.