2025-02-19 < Weekly activities > 2025-03-05
Activity summary: Wednesday 2024 Feb 26 to Tuesday 2024 Mar 04
Johnsonville, The Old Coach Road and Bells Track, Whitireia Park (Titahi Bay), Terawhiti Station, Cone Saddle Circuit and Tararua Lodge.
Wednesday 5th March
E tramp starting from Johnsonville and over the Old Coach Road and Bells Track led by Jean Morgan. 8M
The Johnsonville train had a hiccough between 8-9am so on the advice of a staff member 2 of us caught a bus. Four others caught a reinvigorated train and 2 came by car. As it happens, we were only about 20 mins late beginning the walk which began in pleasant temps. until we reached Mt. Kau Kau a very heavy drizzle began as we stopped for lunch. It was agreed we would abandon the trip by walking down to Simla Crescent Some of us are more hardy than others but we were in agreement the rain was very unpleasant. Of course it cleared by the time we emerged at Simla Crescent.
EM tramp to Whitireia Park (Titahi Bay) led by Jim Gibbons. 17M
The weather forecast improved from definite rain to maybe showers. In the event we had calm overcast conditions with only a few spits of rain about lunchtime. All up much, better than expected. The plan was to walk around the coast of Whitireia park ,starting at Onepoto on the harbour side of the park, then along the cliff tops to the high point Mt Couper , and back alongside the golfcourse. It was easy going on the track around the harbour and even the off track sections around the golfcourse were straight forward. Many stops, stretched the 10km walk over 4 hours, it was a nice day to enjoy the views without the usual wind. 17 people. Jim Gibbons (leader), Linda and Alistair Beckett, Brian Hasell, Christine Ben Tovim, Wayne Perkins, Penny Salmond, Muruial Christianson, Dave Reynolds, Trish Gardiner-Smith, Jill Wild, Chris Ward, Carolyn Jenkins, Ann Mcllroy, Virginia Ashcroft, and Naomi Lamond, and Vivian Radcliffe.
M tramp over Terawhiti Station led by Rachel Fry 20M
This medium walk had as its objective climbing Terawhiti Hill, to enjoy spectacular views over Cook Strait and the South Island. Our group of 20 got to the top of the hill though unfortunately it was shrouded in cloud from half way up, all the way along the top, until half way down again. It was nonetheless an atmospheric experience, and spirits remained high. We completed our 16 km walk by taking a new track down to Oteranga Stream and following the stream with a herd of cattle back to our cars at Oteranga Bay. We stopped to look at the gold mining relics on the way out, finally in sunshine. Once again, we appreciated receiving permission from Terawhiti Station to do this walk.
SF tramp from Lower Waiohine and over the Cone Saddle Loop led by Sam Kenny. 7M
Our group of seven trampers met at the Waiohine campsite car park at 8:45 AM and set off across the impressive swing bridge over the Waiohine River. The weather was cloudy but warm. We began the loop by turning right off the bridge and heading upstream along the Lower Waiohine River. The track was in good condition, with only a few muddy patches from the heavy rain the weekend before. Along the way, we passed several good river lookout points. After about 4 km, we reached the turnoff to Cone Saddle, which made for the perfect spot to stop for morning tea. We then faced the steep climb out of the valley toward point 572. The walk along the forested top was a welcome respite after the climb, with occasional breaks in the trees offering views across to Cone Peak. The track continued to sidle along the hillside before climbing up to Cone Saddle. By this point, light rain had begun to fall. We stopped for a late lunch at the saddle around 1:20 PM—though in hindsight, we might have been better off stopping at Clem Creek a little earlier. After lunch, we resumed our trek to complete the loop back to the car park, pausing along the way to note the connecting track to Mt. Reeves for a future adventure. The final stretch includes a steep descent back to the river, bridge, and car park. We drove off just as the rain started to come down. We ended the day with an ice cream from the dairy in Featherston, a lovely way to end my first Wednesday Walk as a leader. Trampers - Sam (leader), Joan, Kathy, Leonora, Sieny, Marg and David McNabb. Distance: 9km, Time: 7 hrs, Elevation: 835m
Weekend Feb 28th to March 2nd
Tararua lodge Work Party led by James Gilbert-Milne. 6M and 2NM
We had a very successful lodge weekend with six members and two non-members doing the hard mahi to keep the lodge ticking along.
• Replenished some of the supplies
• Gave everything a good clean
• Knocked out some general maintenance
• De-rusted, primed and painted the roof
• Put up new light-blocking curtains in the bunk rooms
A huge thanks to everyone who came along and helped; also, to Dulux who gave us 30 litres of roof paint; and to Marcus from Curtain Warehouse who provided the new curtains. We have another lodge restocking and maintenance trip at the end of the month and are keen to get more volunteers. Please get in touch with Vivienne Radcliff if you would like to help out.
Total 58 members and 2 non members