Windy Tops

Tag: tararuas

  • Trip: Waikawa and Waitewaewae

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    West Waitewaewae
    meets Prout Stream.

    The last time I visited Waitewaewae Hut (aka YTYY), I was on my first ever trip with the Wellington Tongue and Meats. This had been the easy-rated trip up Saddle Creek from Otaki Forks, and considering Andrew was in charge, I think as many people had gone for the cooking as for the walking. With a large group of 12 people, the track that was signposted as 4 hours ended up taking us more than 7, and several people on their first ever tramp were feeling almost dead at the end of it.

    This weekend there was another group from the club doing a similar trip to what I’d done earlier, but personally I was in a separate trip coming into Waitewaewae from the other end. Our basic plan was to start from the Waikawa Stream, meet the other group at the hut on Saturday night, and then we’d all walk back to Otaki Forks on the Sunday.

    Dates: 8th-10th February, 2008
    Location: Tararua Forest Park, North Manakau Road to Otaki Forks.
    People: Steve, Lesley, Kerry, Marie, Andy, Sylvia, Dave, Sue, Allen and me.
    Huts visited: Waitewaewae Hut (1 night).
    Intended route: Begin at the end of North Manakau Road, follow the Waikawa Stream and pick a spur towards the saddle north of point 673. Continue down the other side into the West Waitewaewae River. Follow it to Island Forks and along the main Waitewaewae River to the Otaki River. Carry on to Waitewaewae Hut. Then out via the main track over the plateau and along Saddle Creek back to Otaki Forks on Sunday.
    Actual route: Bingo.
    Related bits: Dave also wrote a trip report about this weekend.
    [Photos]

    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.

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  • Trip: Ohau, Dundas, Ruapae, Puketurua

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    Craig emerging from
    Ngapuketurua (with a slight
    vegetation problem).

    We were supposed to be walking through rivers all weekend according to the original plan, but the weather was so good that we just couldn’t help ourselves, and ended up on the tops. Eventually, we found ourselves moving very slowly thanks to some very overgrown ridges.

    Dates: 30th November – 2nd December, 2007
    Location: Tararua Forest Park, Poads Road to Mangahao Dam.
    People: John, Paul, Craig and me.
    Huts visited: Te Matawai Hut (0 nights), Arete Biv (0 nights), Dundas Hut (1 night).
    Huts seen: Herepai Hut.
    Initial intended route: Begin at Poads Road, wander up the South Ohau River to the old site of South Ohau Hut, wander up past Te Matawai, then down the Mangahao River to Mangahao Flats Hut, and out via the Dam.
    Actual route: With some really good weather, we went from Te Matawai Hut up to Arete, over to Dundas, from West Peak to East Peak, then around the ridge to Ngapuketurua, north-east along the ridge, and down the Puketurua Track to the dam.
    [Photos]

    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.

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  • Trip: Cone, Alpha, Quoin, Eastern Hutt

    Going tramping on a trip organised by Sam is quite a lot of fun. Generally you end up setting something on fire.

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    Sam collecting water
    on Bull Mound

    This weekend we went for a trip into one of Wellington’s two main water catchment areas. For some confusing reason, the Tararuas were in the middle of experiencing several very fine days in a row, which perhaps makes the trip quite rare.

    Dates: 16th-18th November, 2007
    Location: Tararua Forest Park, Walls Whare Road-End.
    People: Sam, Marie, Eddie, Lee (a friend of Sam’s visiting from the Otago Uni Tramping Club), and me.
    Huts visited: Cone Hut (0 nights), Alpha Hut (1 night), Eastern Hutt Hut (0 nights).
    Intended route: Begin at Walls Whare, walk via Cone Hut up to Alpha, continue along Quoin Ridge down the spur, and out via Pakuratahi Forks.
    Actual route: Similar until Quoin Ridge, at which point we split up. Marie and Lee continued down the ridge and ended up drowning (accidentally) in the Western Hutt River. The rest of us followed a spur to the Eastern Hutt River.
    [Photos]

    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.

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  • Hooray! I’m not a nutcase.

    Excellent; It turns out I haven’t lost my mind. On this trip over High Ridge, back in March, we found that one of the signs in Powell Hut had an incorrect phone number for the nearby DOC ranger. In fact, the number didn’t even have enough digits. I exchanged some emails with someone in a DOC office shortly after that trip, who eventually decided I must have been remembering things wrong, because the sign could only have been an orientation map, and the PDF of that map which he had in front of him did indeed have the correct number. Basically I was told outright that people scribble all kinds of crazy things in huts and that this wasn’t a DOC sign, and I shouldn’t take too much notice of it.

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    Well, a few weeks ago, Amelia went past Powell Hut and took a photo for me that proves that I’m not a complete nut-case, or at the very least is consistent with that theory. Eight months later, it looks as if someone’s crossed out the number and written the correct one, but that doesn’t really bother me. (Thanks Amelia.)

    In other news, I joined an informal WTMC group this evening, walking up the Tip Track to the Radar Dome in Te Kopahou Reserve. Bronwyn, Marie and I all compared our identical $40 altimeters. They did quite well staying consistent with each other, whatever that means.

  • Daywalk: Racing around Kapakapanui

    Following the recent daywalk around Kapakapanui, I went back to Waikanae this morning because I was keen to find out how quickly I could do it. I didn’t get many photos this time, except for ones to record timestamps, since I was in a bit of a hurry. I already had a heap during the last trip, and I tend to find photos a bit boring when they don’t involve people. I won’t bother explaining too many details of the track in this report, since I think I did that in my previous post.

    Date: 10th November, 2007
    Location: Tararua Forest Park, Ngatiawa Road-End.
    People: Just me.
    Huts visited: Kapakapanui Hut (0 nights).
    Intended route: Start at the road-end, follow the loop track clock-wise up to Kapakapanui Hut, continue to Kapakapanui Trig, then continue back down to the road-end. Walk very fast.

    I’m calling this a daywalk, which is usually is, but I’m not sure if it still counts if it’s walked in three hours.

    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.

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  • Daywalk: Kapakapanui

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    Looking at Kapiti Island
    from Kapakapanui

    Yesterday I went on my first ever daytrip with the trampey club, which was a nice little milestone. We went for a walk around the Kapakapanui loop track in the Tararuas. This track begins at the Ngatiawa road-end, east of Waikanae. It climbs (and then descends) about 1000 metres, and is probably about 10 kms in length.

    Date: 28th October, 2007
    Location: Tararua Forest Park, Ngatiawa Road-End.
    People: Bronwyn, Mike, Michelle, Éamonn, Peter, Sarah, Becky, Sally, Claus, Jo, Annemarie.
    Huts visited: Kapakapanui Hut (0 nights).
    Intended route: Start at the road-end, follow the loop track clock-wise up to Kapakapanui Hut, continue to Kapakapanui Trig, then continue back down to the road-end.
    [Photos]

    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.

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  • A dusty evening

    Well last night I went to clean the remaining dirt of my shoes from a couple of weekends ago, and it was challenging to say the least. It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t been necessary to walk through a bog (thanks, Cows) to get back to the van. As it happened, I could have made good use of a chisel. The calm, evening air made for a very dusty time when wiping the dirt off, but I finally got it to the point where I could put a bit mroe wax stuff on them.

    It’s back to the Tararuas tonight. The plan is to leave Wellington about 5.30pm and walk to Field Hut tonight. Tomorrow we’ll make our way towards Kime, and head down Tregear Ridge, camp somewhere on Saturday night, and make our way back to Otaki Forks on Sunday.

  • Trip: Te Matawai Hut via Deception Spur

    The muddiest part of this trip might have been the first 10 minutes scrambling through the Moo paddock in the dark, as we made our way to the Tararuas entrance from Poads Road. Given that it was lined with an un-advertised electric fence, Enrique even managed to get shocked several times as he tripped and grabbed the fence, before he realised what was happening.

    Dates: 7th – 9th September, 2007
    Location: Tararua Forest Park, Ohau Region.
    People: Alistair, Dirk, Enrique, and me.
    Huts visited: Te Matawai Hut (1 night).
    Intended route: Poads Road to Ohau River via Ohau Gorge, up Deception Spur to 865 metres, down to Girdlestone Saddle, then along the track to Te Matawai Hut, along Yeates Track to South Ohau river, back to the base of Deception Spur (via river), then out to Poads Road via river and track.
    Electric shocks: 3.
    [Photos]

    This was a medium-rated navigation trip with the Wellington Tramping & Mountaineering Club, and it was my first time back in the Tararuas since returning from overseas.

    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.

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  • Trip: Blue Range, Mitre Flats, Bruce Hill

    Well since the last post, my knee has completely healed and I’ve completed six weekend trips. My boots have been damaged twice (I think it’s a design flaw), and I’ve had one serious fall that ended in a 10 to 15 metre slide, and was quite lucky to avoid serious injury. I thought it’d be worth writing down some details about trips, just so there’s a record. I might expand on some of the other things later if I have time. Meanwhile I’m leaving for Chile in a couple of weeks, so I won’t have any more (New Zealand) trips for at least a few months.

    Dates: 20th – 22nd April, 2007
    Location: Tararua Forest Park
    Huts visited: Blue Range Hut (0 nights), Mitre Flats Hut (1 night)
    [Photos]

    This weekend’s trip was in the Tararuas.

    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.

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