On Friday evening, the Fit and Easy groups met up before heading off to the Lodge. The compulsory dinner stop in Bulls had all the punters feeling well fed and ready to continue the journey up north.
After arriving at Whakapapa village it was surprising to note that the roads were not covered in snow which meant the chains were left in the van. Not having been to the lodge for many years and seeing so much snow around was for me a long lost experience. It was like my very first trip to the lodge in snow; the staircase, nowhere to be seen.
After bringing up food for the weekend and having organised bunk rooms, the groups assembled in the lounge for David’s informative speech on the lodge and the important safety aspects. The groups were then off to get some well deserved sleep.
On Saturday, we woke to a fine cloudless sunny morning. The fit groups had already departed and after a good hearty breakfast, we drove down to the National Park to the start of the Tupapakururua track.
It was approximately 30 minutes to the entrance to Tupapakururua Falls, the track (on the left hand side of Fishers Road). Once on the track we were greeted by beautiful stunning bush. This old Forest Service track had been recently upgraded by the local community in partnership with DoC. It began with an easy 20 minute walk to the Taranaki lookout with a view towards Mt Taranaki which was concealed by clouds.
In various sections along the track, we came across numbered buckets filled with stones, and were mystified for what their purpose would be.
DoC had done a wonderful job of placing various information stands along the track about the beautiful stunning flora and fauna. The track followed the ridge and then descended down to the stream. There’s a wonderful diversity of plant and tree species with good stands of tawa, mature rimu, miro and totara. Ascending from the stream, the track wound its way around bluffs with beautiful forest views.
Not long after we arrived at the Tupapakururua Falls. The falls, although not comprising as much volume of water as others falls, we still enjoyed the surrounding beauty and being able to view the falls from a distance. You could walk down to see the falls which would take 20 minutes but we were told by locals that the track was a bit marginal. We were happy with what we could see so decided to make use of the seats to have lunch.
Our return was back the way we had come, so we were fortunate to have a repeat of the same lovely bush and being able to experience things we had either missed or hadn’t noticed on our way in.
The Tupapakururua Falls is a very easy walk, with a very short and straightforward access to the road end.
When driving back to the lodge the weather had changed, we’d lost the sun and blue sky. Once back at the lodge, we were greeted with David and Ebai who had already returned from their climb. The next fit group arrived then, Jenny and Bryce not long after.
As we were enjoying an idle afternoon, we noticed the lodge beside us (that lodge I was told had lost its roof many many years ago) had its members pushing up a large box of some sort, through the snow to their lodge. A few minutes after, the services of our big strong punters were required. Michael volunteered – we felt sorry for him as he’d only returned from his arduous trip, just sat down when he had to put his boots back on again. It was quite a while when we watched from the lodge our neighbours (including Michael) pushing another large box containing some appliance into their lodge.
Dinner on the menu that night was spaghetti bolognaise, followed by ice cream and fruit. Delicious – well done chefs!
Sunday morning, Bryce (from the fit group) decided to join us, he’d developed a cold from the day before. The Easy group had decided to do a short walk to Silica Rapids. I’d walked this track quite a few times in the past, but have always loved returning as it has always been one of my favourite tracks in this area. A short walk, with stunning panoramic views of the mounts, lovely bush, the rapids. I loved coming upon Mt Ngauruhoe in all its majestical beauty, once you neared the end of the track.
This time, my visit to Silica Rapids was a completely new experience for me. For a start, it was a dull day. Snow: so much snow on the tracks. A quick walk to the rapids had us enjoying the surrounding beauty.
It was with haste that we began our return journey back to the village as Thomas (our thoughtful leader) had come up with the idea to have High Tea at the Château. As I had never heard of High Tea before I was intrigued and became exceedingly excited, especially so because of all the food that I was likely to be indulging in. When on trips I’m not known to indulge very much, being a closet eater, but on the odd occasion I can be tempted just as much as everyone else. High Tea, as was explained to me, comes with your own choice of tea, followed by a layer of sandwiches, macarons and sweet cakes, scones with fresh cream and jam. On a trip I had undertaken a very very long time ago, I had joined other trampers in another section of the Château (most probably where the plebs hang out) but I’d never set foot in the front part of the Château before.
As we sat in the lounge, enjoying our High Tea and more panoramic views of snow outside; landscape that you could no longer see because of cloud, we listened to the sounds of a lone pianist, having no choice but to guess the title of every song he played.
The fits turned up at the Château at the allotted time, and we were once more in the van along with Jenny who had decided to do a quick walk to Whakapapaiti.
Back at the lodge everyone did their bit to clean up for the next group to come in. Gears loaded into the van, then we were on our way driving back to Welly. Ebai was our designated driver home. One stop in Ohakune for a quick bite then back on the road again. It was decided we would make a non-stop drive home.
Approximately 7.30pm all were delivered safe and sound to platform 9.