Mt Climie

These were taken on a day walk with two friends to Mt Climie.

 Looking over the Hutt valley.

 The Wairarapa valley is on the left hand side and the Hutt valley on the right.

 Mt Climie No. 2

The Rimutuka Range.

180° view.

Surf Highway

These pictures were taken on a 3-day trip over Easter. My original plan was to ride up to Gisborne, do the East Cape road (SH 35) and then come back via Rotorua, but the weather gods were angry and I switched to the West Coast instead.

I rode up to New Plymouth via the Surf Highway (SH 45). The next day I set off for Taupo via SH 3 and SH 30 with a side trip to Mt Damper thrown in for good measure. I have ridden most of the major roads in the North Island but had somehow missed this section of SH 3, which turned out to be 160km of motorcycling and scenic bliss.

Taupo is lovely, but I have been there many times before and couldn’t be arsed taking any pictures.

All in all, a rather fine trip.

 About half way around the Surf Highway I arrived at Opunake. I very nearly stayed here, but in the end headed for the bright lights of New Plymouth.

 Opunake Beach.

 Man in leather.

 Looking over Opunake Beach.

 A rather fine tunnel on the way to Mt Damper.

 The Bandit eying up said tunnel.

I never actually actually made it to Mt Damper, where there is allegedly a rather fine waterfall. After about 20km along a narrow, twisty road the surface turned from tarmac to gravel, and given that I was in the middle of nowhere and miles from any radio reception, I decided not to risk it. On the way back, I got held up by this lot, which was sort of nice.

This was taken somewhere along SH 3, near Mohakatino.

Burn Hut Overnighter

Burn Hut is the most northerly hut in the Tararua range. It isn’t particularly high at around 750m, but the bush-line in this area is quite low so there are some great views to be had.

From Wellington it was a 2 hour drive to the Mangahao Hydro Electric Power Station situated near Shannon. From here the tarmac gave way to gravel and after another 40 minutes or so along a very twisty and rough road I finally arrived at Mangahao Dam No. 2 where the track to Burn Hut starts.

I was actually surprised I made it at all. I had checked out the directions beforehand online which indicated the road went straight to the reservoir. The reality was a number of junctions and side roads all with absolutely no signposting; it was only some inspired guesswork and a bit of luck that saved the day. The road itself is doable with a normal family car, but much more than that and it's 4x4 territory.

I parked the car (parking by the dam is pretty tight with room for just a couple of vehicles) and then headed over the dam and onto the start of the walk.

The start of the walk.

The track sidled along a very steep slope above the Mangahao River and was narrow and awkward in places with a couple of spots where you definitely wouldn’t want to slip. The route proceeded in this fashion for about an hour during which time there were three streams to cross, the last of which is bridged. A short way after the bridge the track turned sharp right and headed uphill. The climb started steeply at first and then steadied off a bit and after another hour I hit the bushline and lots of lovely leatherwood. The walking had been really enjoyable so far through some lovely bush and on a well-marked and maintained track at that.

 The Mangahao River.

 The bridge.

The track was steep in places.

From here the track levelled out with some easy walking along a route that had been hacked out of the leatherwood. A quick note on leatherwood which is a very tough shrub that grows incredibly densely up around the treeline and from a tramping perspective is almost impenetrable and hated with a passion. This section of the track appeared to have been (re)cleared very recently given the amounts of fresh cut vegetation littering the track.

The Leatherwood Highway.

The track followed along a ridge before heading down a spur where Burn Hut is situated. For or the next 40-minutes or so I headed through the leatherwood highway. 

 There were some great views when the leatherwood thinned out.

 It was a lovely day so I took plenty of time for breaks.

Burn Hut on the spur.

At roughly the point the route heads down the spur the leatherwood thinned out and the track became rather overgrown. From this point rather than blindly following my nose I started to pay a bit more attention to the route which wasn’t actually that difficult to follow, but could well be in another year or so if it isn’t cleared. After another 30 minutes I arrived at the hut and a well-deserved cuppa.

 Only a few minutes to go.

 The Hut.

Yours truly.

The hut itself is quite small with just 6 bunks but is lovely and airy and a very nice place to spend the night.

The next day was a bit cloudy and drizzly, so I didn’t hang around and walked out the same way I came in.

The walk in to Burn Hut is fairly easy with some lovely scenery, so comes highly recommended. Mind you, I could have done without the gravel road.

Not Daphne Hut

These were taken on a 2-day walk with the Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club to Daphne Hut in the Ruahine mountain range.

After a 2-hour slog we reached the tops only to be confronted by ferocious winds meaning that Daphne Hut was out the question. Instead, we stayed at the nearby Longview Hut.

I can’t say the trip was up to too much on a social level, not least, as family and friends aside, truth be known I don’t really like people all that much. Being up in the mountains though is always special, so I enjoyed it all anyway.

Taupo Summer Concert and the Huka Falls

We drove up to Taupo for their annual summer concert featuring, ahem, Huey Lewis and The News, REO Speedwagon & Melissa Etheridge. 80’s mid-Atlantic pop rock is very much Neena’s thing, but hey it’s a weekend away in a lovely part of NZ.

REO Speedwagon were ok, but the real highlight for me was Melissa Etheridge who is a great singer and an even better guitarist.

We spent 4-days in Taupo, with the highlights being a cruise to the Huka Falls and swimming in Lake Taupo, which was almost a necessity given the scorching hot weather.

 I reckon there were about 10000 people at the concert and it was hotter than Venus.

 Melissa Etheridge doing her thing.

 At the start of the cruise to Huka Falls.

 A rather fine looking bridge over the Waikato River.

 The river was wonderfully scenic and we saw some monster trout under the bushes.

The Waikato River in all its glory.

Huka Falls in the distance.

The boat got pretty close to the Falls.

A short video of the Falls.

Manawatu Gorge Track

The track runs for 10km along the ridge above the Manawatu River.

I did this walk with my mate Neil. We parked cars at either end of the track allowing us to do a one-way walk, in this instance starting at the Ashurst end. The reason for this direction was that there is a terrific café (Bridge Café) at the other end and it is always nice to have some kind of goal or reward on these kinds of walks.

The track initially follows the road that runs through the gorge but quickly ducks underneath it and then climbs up steadily up onto the ridge which it then meanders along before dropping back down at the Woodville end.

I had somehow imagined that the track would emerge out onto the tops, but it stayed stubbornly in the bush, although there plenty of viewing points. To be honest, staying in the trees was a good thing as it searingly hot and both Neil and I had run out of water well before the end of the walk.

Four and a bit hours after we started we reached the café and ginger beer and cheesecake heaven.

 The start of the walk

 The track goes under the road

 Starting to climb up

 Looking out over the gorge

 Interesting Maori sculpture

 Looking North

 About half way

We saw lots of these

 Dropping down

 At the end

Neil dreaming of iced coffee and cheesecake

Tench Fishing at Forest Park Lakes

The lakes are an 80km drive from Wellington, but well worth it. They are an absolutely lovely place to fish and contain a good head of Tench and Perch. On the down side they contain plenty of Eels, which I loathe with a passion.

It was hot and sunny and not the best conditions for catching Tench but I managed to catch three (along with seven Eels!), including one of about 5lbs which is a good size for this part of the world.

 The perfect fishing spot, and I didn't see anyone else all day.

If you look carefully you can see my float and lots of bubbles. The bubbles, alas, were mostly from the Eels.

 I caught lots of these.....

But also a few of these.