Tramping in the Tararuas!

Hi Blog

sorry its been so long!


Some folk at my office decided to become more 'manly' by going on a tramping trip. This is what they call 'walking' in New Zealand. We decided to head up to around 4,000 ft and stay in a mountain hut overnight. This meant carrying our food and clothes on our backs up a steep climb from a place called Otaki Forks.

We climbed up through podocarp forests with Punga trees (Fern Trees) everywhere. It was a very typical Kiwi scene, totally green with thick vegetation until you got to around 2,500 ft. high. Quite a few vines hanging down to practice my Tarzan swing on. Karen was very tough and managed to the top without me having to carry any of her stuff, I'm impressed.

We got to the top and the scenery opened up to reveal more of a 'Scottish' type of vista. Continual hill peaks that stretched to the horizon in the north and east. The blue Tasman Sea lay on the West, with Kapiti Island appearing to float in the sky as clouds gathered around its base. in the distance to the South we could just about make out Wellington with the Inter-Island ferry making its way into port.

Stayed overnight in the oldest mountain hut in the mountain range, made in the 1920s - it had old photos of when mountain-walking first became a hobby and the hut and tracks were built in pretty inhospitable conditions, very interesting link here:

http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/page.aspx?id=34146

It had an old fashioned wood burner to keep us warm at night - which was a challenge given there was light snow falling around us. We had to collect firewood and chop it with an axe - there was something wonderfully primal about that - Karen seemed particularly adept with the axe as you can see above!