Category: daywalk

Daywalk: Waiohine Gorge, Reeves, Tutuwai and Cone Hut

Looking inwards from near the top of Mt Reeves.

For the first time in a while I had a free Sunday, as well as time to think about it in advance. With some minimal effort I was able to convince Craig, my neighbour, to come along for a walk around a loop in the Tararua.

Date: 16th November, 2025.
Location: Tararua Forest Park, Waiohine Gorge.
People: Craig and me.
Huts visited: Tutuwai Hut (0 nights), Cone Hut (0 nights).
Route: From Waiohine Gorge across Coal Stream, up Mt Reeves, down to Tutuwai Hut, along Tauwharenikau River to Cone Hut, then via track back to Waiohine Gorge.

[Download GPX file] [View GPX on NZTopoMap]

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

We left Wellington at around 6.15am, expecting a drive of maybe an hour 45 minutes which was roughly accurate. After a brief rearrangement of attire, this enabled us to be crossing the bridge over the Waiohine River shortly after 8am.
(more…)

22 November, 2025
Daywalk: Holdsworth Jumbo Circuit

Friday was the beginning of a long weekend, but circumstances meant I could only negotiate a single day out. I chose to spend it the the Tararuas, visiting the Holdsworth Jumbo Circuit. I walked this in a day back in 2010, but that was with a group. Then it took around 9 hours including about an hour’s stop. This time I thought I’d just go ahead and do it by myself.

Driving up from Wellington and turning left just before Masterton, I arrived at the road-end a little before 9am. The place was already buzzing with holiday-makers, and families emerging from large tents which I guess had been put up the night before. There was still some parking left in the main area, but it was a popular place.

Date: 30th March, 2018 (Good Friday).
Location: Tararua Forest Park, Holdsworth Road End.
Route: Start at Holdsworth road-end, around Donnelly Flat to the base of the River Ridge Track, up to Mountain House, then to Mt Holdsworth (.1470) via Powell Hut. North to Jumbo (.1405), Jumbo Hut, down Raingauge to Atiwhakatu Hut, and back to Holdsworth road-end via the main valley track.
[Photos]

[Download GPX file] [View GPX on NZTopoMap]

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

Despite the stirring buzz around the campgrounds, there were fewer people around soon after I started moving beyond Holdsworth Lodge and across the bridge over the Atiwhakatu River. The previous evening I’d noticed the River Ridge Track marked on the LINZ Topo50, which I’d seen previously but never with a name. Some brief asking around had suggested it was steep and muddy, with lots of slippery tree roots. I decided to check it out as an alternative to climbing via Rocky Lookout, which I’ve already been past a few times. The base of the track is a short set of very steep, narrow steps, but it rapidly levels out slightly.
(more…)

30 May, 2018
Daywalk: Dobson Loop and Lower Marchant Ridge

Thursday and Friday were remarkably sunny days. This made the browsing of the surface pressure and rain forecast maps more annoying: they showed rain approaching for the weekend. Not that I mind walking through wind and rain, but it can complicate plans, and my free time’s been limited lately. I had a day of free time, nevertheless, and with that free time I resolved to visit the Kaitoke end of the Tararuas. Saturday looked like the better day.

I’d not been there for a while. The most recent occasion was whilst walking out from a moonlight Southern Crossing. Earlier than that I’d been for a walk around the Dobson loop. This time I thought I’d try something similar, but would try to leave earlier and get a bit further than I had previously.

Date: 7th October, 2017
Location: Tararua Forest Park, Kaitoke Road End.
Route: Start at Kaitoke, walk to Smith Creek Shelter (via Puffer Saddle), then check out the Tauherenikau. Back to Smith Creek Shelter, up to spot-height 656, hover around Marchant Ridge for a while, then back to Kaitoke via the main Southern Crossing track.
[Photos]

[Download GPX file] [View GPX on NZTopoMap]

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

It rained. Not torrential. Just steady. The forecast had it getting worse later in the day.

The base of the track from the current car-park.

DOC has created a better car-park since I last visited. Previously the Kaitoke road-end was an isolated dead-end, and subject to repeated vandalism. The new car-park is directly outside the gate of the YMCA campground. I’m unclear on whether it gets much vandalism, but it doesn’t feel as isolated. It’s behind a gate, but not a locked gate.

There’s always been an informal track from the campground up to the main Marchant Ridge track. With its replacement car-park, DOC has connected into it and formalised it.
(more…)

30 November, 2017
Daywalk: The Complete Paekakariki Escarpment Track

Typical.

Saturday 9th April 2016 was the official opening day of the Paekakariki Escarpment Track—a new connecting track between Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki, above the railway line along the coast. Intense interest meant that organisers had to restrict entry for the initial day, but it’s now fully open to the public.

Date: 10th April, 2016
Location: Paekakariki to Pukerua Bay.
People: Just me.
Route: Walk south from Paekakariki to steps under the SH1 road bridge, onto the Paekakariki Escarpment Track, then follow it to Pukerua Bay.
[Photos]
[map:https://93a12629bf06.ngrok-free.app/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160410-paekakariki-escarpment-track.gpx%5D

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

I never felt the desire to follow a narrow, steep track with squillions of other people on Saturday 9th April… or 400 as it turned out. I did, however, spontaneously decide to jump on a train on Sunday the 10th of April, to go and check it out.

For me, this track is a welcome addition to the network of walking options in the Wellington region. It naturally connects together two locations (Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki) which, until now, really had no practical on-foot connection short of walking alongside State Highway 1. I’ve walked that stretch several times. It’s not very exciting.
(more…)

23 April, 2016
Daywalk: A Short Rimutaka Jaunt

This write-up will be far too long compared with the few hours that I spent on actually walking it, but whatever. 😛 With a spare day, I thought I might drive around to Catchpool Valley, where I haven’t been for some time. Several years ago and shortly before I’d left for Melbourne and since returned, I’d been thinking it’d be neat to get up Mt Matthews. I never got around to it at the time, and while there was also no way that would happen this day (for several reasons), I thought I could use my time to remind myself of what the Orongorongos are like.

The flooded Orongorongo River.

Weather was a factor, having already had a day or two of torrential rain. Several further heavy downpours, due to be heaviest up until about 1pm, caused me to look for excuses to delay leaving home. Nevertheless I couldn’t delay for long enough to arrive any later than about 11.30am, and it was then that I arrived at the Catchpool Valley parking area.

Dates: 5th January, 2014.
Location: Rimutaka Forest Park, Catchpool Valley.
People: Just me.
Huts visited: Turere Lodge (0 nights), plus misc other private huts.
Route: Up Butcher Track, along Cattle Ridge, then stomping around the Orongorongo a little. Big Bend track to Turere Lodge and back, then back to Catchpool carpark.
[Photos]
[map:https://93a12629bf06.ngrok-free.app/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/20140105-rimutaka-cattle-ridge-orongorongo.gpx%5D

My main goal was to head up Butcher Track and check out Cattle Ridge, which I’ve not really been to in the past. (If I have, I don’t remember it.) The only part of Cattle Ridge that I’ve previously traversed is the small section at the Orongorongo River end, where Browns Track climbs up one side, crosses the top, and drops down the other. The secondary part of my intentions was that I’d possibly stomp around the Orongorongo River for a look, expecting it to be in flood. The third part of my plan would be to return to the carpark, either via Mt McKerrow, or directly, depending on timing.

Being 11.30am, there was still quite a lot of rain and few people around. A couple of joggers hovered around the large carpark, but I didn’t see where they went. Wherever it was, they didn’t follow me.
(more…)

14 January, 2014
Daywalk: The Kapakapanui Triangle

Our intended Labour Weekend trip was sadly messed up when our intended 3.5 day excursion became a there-and-back-again trip, between Friday night and Saturday evening. This weather had been predicted to continue until Monday night, but fortunes changed. Rather than ignore the rest of the long weekend, we decided to spend Monday back in the Tararuas again. This time it was only Debbie, Craig and myself who were able to make it.

Kapiti Island, seen west from the ridge near Kapakapanui.

This route is occasionally referred to as the Kapakapanui Triangle. It’s been the subject of a few search-and-rescue operations over the years. Apparently there’s something about triangles which causes people to become lost in them. In this case, some people seem to think that it relates to the loop’s accessibility for a wide range of people, which increases popularity amongst those who might not go tramping quite so much in other places.

My own theory, though, is that visitors become so distracted in awe with how the interior angles of any triangle always add to 180 degrees that they forget to watch where they’re going. Did you know that any triangle can be split into two right-angled triangles, no matter what type of triangle it is to begin with?

Dates: 28th October, 2013
Location: Tararua Forest Park, Ngatiawa Road.
People: Craig, Debbie and me.
Huts visited: Kapakapanui Hut (0 nights).
Route: Around the loop via Kapakapanui Hut, then Kapakapanui, and back to road.
[Photos]

[Download GPX file] [View GPX on NZTopoMap]

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

Well… the Kapakapanui Triangle is not really a triangle if you look at its shape critically on a map. It’s more like some kind of imperfectly formed trapezoid. The Kapakapanui Imperfectly Formed Trapezoid doesn’t roll off the tongue so nicely, though, and nor would it be a name to reliably explain why people become lost in it… unlike The Kapakapanui Triangle.
(more…)

25 December, 2013
Daywalk: Johnsonville, Spicer Forest, Colonial Knob to Porirua

Mooooooooooo!

We’ve now been back in Wellington for a couple of months, and have finally found somewhere to live in Johnsonville. I’m enjoying being back, and I’ve already been for a few scouts up Mt Kaukau for some fresh air. It’s been a busy time getting everything sorted, but I’ve been trying to fit in some outdoor expeditions in-between times (a combination of just wandering around the nearby hills and more significant tramping), to the extent that I’m slightly behind in writing things up.

Today, I went for a north-ish walk. We now live fairly near the official Te Araroa route, as it comes up Rifle Range Road and across Mt Kaukau, so I thought I might follow it back towards Porirua and discover how long it’d take. For me, this meant walking through a short stint of streets to reach the end of Old Coach Road, at which point I’d just follow the main route via Spicer Forest, up to Colonial Knob, and down to somewhere like Elsdon behind Porirua.

Date: 5th October, 2013
Location: Spicer Forest and Colonial Knob (Wellington).
Route: Old Coach Road in J’ville, along Rifle Range Road and Ohariu Valley Road to Spicer Forest. Up to Colonial Knob, down to Elsdon, and back to J’ville via the front roads.
[Photos]
[map:https://93a12629bf06.ngrok-free.app/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/20131005-jville-colonial-knob-porirua.gpx%5D

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

I began at about 10am. Visibility wasn’t terribly good, with clouds channelling over the ridges above about 200 metres, but this first part of the route which weaves around farm-land is fairly easy to follow. I passed a couple of people riding their horses up from Rifle Range, but that was it.
(more…)

6 October, 2013
Checking out the Paekakariki Escarpment Track

Iconic coastal scenery, albeit without the
iconic coastal exposure to the elements.

[Note, 23rd April 2016: If you’ve stumbled on this page whilst looking for an account of the newly-opened track, I’ve more recently posted a more complete trip report of the entire thing.]

Another of the things I found myself doing during the recent visit, besides this Easter tramping trip, was to check out the new Paekakariki Escarpment Track, one of the contributing sections of the Te Araroa Trail. When completed, this route will provide a dedicated walking corridor between Paekakariki and Pukerua Bay, alongside the coast north of Wellington. It’ll make the most of both iconic coastal scenery and iconic coastal exposure to the elements, and it’s completely accessible at both ends by Wellington’s metropolitan commuter train network.

I’d not even considered visiting this track until I noticed in the DomPost that the access was about to be partially opened, although its pending construction has been in the news since at least mid-2011. My only available day was Saturday 23rd March, so I bought myself a Day Rover ticket, hopped on a train to Paekakariki, and went off to hunt for it. As an aside, the Kapiti and Johnsonville metro lines in Wellington are both very interesting tourist lines when you’re not a daily commuter.

As is typical for me when I do things on a whim, I messed this up. It was a few days before the Te Araroa Trust had posted this on their website, which would have been useful information to have had in advance. In my haste I’d assumed I knew where I was going without making the effort to check. I mean, I’ve been to Paekakariki heaps of times, and I imagined that the obvious starting point for such a track would be near the intersection of SH1 and the Old Paekakariki Road. There was nothing obvious there, however, and I spent an hour walking around Paekakariki searching for a vantage point on the hill across the road, thinking it must somehow begin from further north. Failing to find it, I then spent 40 minutes walking up the Paekakariki Hill Road before I finally decided I was going the wrong way.

Part of Kapiti Island.

(more…)

12 May, 2013
Daywalk: Hovering around Pouakai Hut, Henry Peak and the Pouakai Summit

Looking back from
near Pouakai Summit.

Returning from the West Island for a week and a half, I found some time to wander more in the vicinity of Eggie—also one of New Zealand’s cultural centres of insane mountain running.

I’d been up to the summit a little over a year ago, and this time the weather wasn’t exactly cooperating for that. Instead, I decided to wander up an easy route towards Pouakai Hut and find somewhere to read my book for the day. For a more complete description of the area, there’s a write-up of a variant of the Pouakai Circuit in late 2010, during which anyone who reads carefully will note it did not rain at all.

Date: 28th February, 2012
Location: Egmont National Park, above Mangorei Road.
People: Just me.
Huts visited: Pouakai Hut (0 nights).
Route: Up from Mangorei Road past Pouakai Hut, up Pouakai Summit, then back and up Henry Peak, and down to road again via hut.
[Photos]
[map:https://93a12629bf06.ngrok-free.app/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20120228-hovering-around-pouakai.gpx%5D

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

Having parked at the end of the public part of Mangorei Road (there’s a 350 metre walk along a non-public driveway to the park entrance), I sorted things out and began the climb up the Mangorei Track at about 10.15am, just as the rain began. No matter, as it’s under trees for some time yet and I waved to one of the nearby residents as they drove past whilst I struggled with my raincoat.
(more…)

17 March, 2012
Daywalk: Climbing Mount Taranaki from North Egmont

I’ve visited Taranaki a few times in the past few years, and I used to think that clouds stuck to Mt Taranaki in the middle. Now I know that it’s really the entire Taranaki district that’s clouded over, but the mountain’s as clear as a bell. Of course, you have to be up the mountain to see this.

Looking down on Fanthams Peak and Syme Hut.

Having dragged myself out of bed in New Plymouth at 5.40am, I spotted at least 10 rabbits along North Egmont Road leading up to the visitor’s centre. I guess it’s difficult to control rabbits, and they repopulate so quickly.

Date: 26th December, 2010
Location: Egmont National Park, from North Egmont Visitor’s Centre.
People: Mostly me.
Huts visited: Tahurangi Lodge (0 nights).
Route: Follow the road from the visitor’s centre up The Puffer past Tahurangi Lodge, then up Lizard North Ridge to the summit.
[Photos]
[map:https://93a12629bf06.ngrok-free.app/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101226-climbing-mount-taranaki.gpx%5D

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

The name of the mountain has an interesting recent history. It was been called “Taranaki” by local Maori long before James Cook first visited and named the mountain “Egmont”, after a British politician who’d promoted Cook’s first voyage to New Zealand, but who never set foot in the country. In 1865, during the Taranaki Land Wars, the New Zealand Government confiscated the mountain and other land from local Maori and distributed it between settlers for farming. The exception to this distribution was the radius around the mountain itself, which became a National Park in 1885. The name “Egmont” might have stuck for this reason, even though the mountain itself was symbolically gifted back to local Maori in 1978. Details of exactly what occurred and how it occurred are still controversial in some quarters.

In 1986, the official name of the mountain became “Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont”—including the word “or”—thanks to an alleged naming mistake that was signed at the time by the Minister of Lands. Supposedly it was meant to be officially named “Mount Taranaki” or “Mount Egmont”, allowing for dual naming and recognition of the historic Maori name. I’ve heard informally that the name of “Mount Egmont” is due to be officially removed 50 years after 1986, but can’t find an online reference for this and I’m not convinced it’s correct.

The only prominent modern publication that seems to use the exact modern naming (complete with the word “or”) is Land Information New Zealand’s Topo50 Map BJ29, happily titled “Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont”. These days official circles and media typically refer to it as Mount Taranaki, while some others (often locals who’ve grown up with the name) still refer to it as Mount Egmont.

Personally I prefer to call the mountain Eggie.
(more…)

11 February, 2011