Monique kindly offered to be the designated driver for the club’s Tongariro Alpine Crossing by Moonlight weekend – foregoing the Crossing to drop off and collect the groups of trampers throughout the weekend. However there was still sufficient time between shuttling for her to explore the area…
Ten Man Hut
This hut, located in the Tongariro Forest, is accessible from Ohinetonga Road, Owango. About 40 minutes drive from Iwikau Village, there is ample parking at the Whakapapa River bridge or across the bridge at the Pumice Pit. A 4WD could continue several kilometres further to meet the 42 Traverse Track without much fuss, and it is clear that experienced operators visit the hut.
Debbie and I opted to walk and on reaching the first fork took the right branch. The forest abounds with many unmarked 4WD tracks, and track deviations around rain filled bogs and pools. There are no DOC markers and it is very easy to take the wrong route or direction, so we checked our GPS frequently.
The terrain is fairly flat and the bush pleasant, with some birdlife, but the track was frequently a mud-fest.
Ten Man Hut was spacious, clean and dry with plenty of firewood. Taking an alternative track back to the 42 Traverse Track, we hitched a lift with a hunter to shave 3km off the walk. The round trip took 6 hours, with a good stop for lunch at the hut.
Dear reader, you may, looking at the map above think “why don’t we take this shorter marked track, the one that starts on the right of the highway, about 2.5 km south of Owhango?” I have it on the very best authority that this route, which passes through land clearly marked “private”, starts with a barely discernible, wildly overgrown, bush-lawyer infested steep slide to the the river, which appears impassible. The bridge is blocked in the centre by a high corrugated iron fence and should you manage to overcome these obstacles the walker is met with a short but steep ascent and a myriad of unmarked tracks. I’ve heard that progress can be as slow as 1 km per hour, at least that’s the word on the track…
Historic Kaikawaka Villa
Drive through Raurimu, about 25 mins from Iwikau Village, and at Top Mill Road you’ll find the start of a publicly accessible track on private farmland to the charming Kaikawaka Villa. See: https://www.heritage.org.nz/list-details/7620/Kaikawaka%20Villa
Six of us followed the DOC markers on gently undulating grassland to the historic hut built in 1933 by hand from four kaikawaka trees. It is one of a few remaining bush slab huts which were commonplace at one time. DOC carried out essential restoration work in 1996 and the site is now registered as a category 1 historic site by Heritage NZ.
Views of sheep filled pastures with a backdrop of the mountains of the central plateau were as quintessentially New Zealand as you would ever see. The return trip took 3 hours.