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Trip Reports 2014-10-22-Mt Wainui

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This article was first published in the Tararua Tramper Volume 86, no 11, December 2014

Mt Wainui via Fly-by-Wire Gully and Wainui Saddle

Wed 22 October

Twenty-eight Wednesday trippers met at Beach Road, Paekakariki, after a car shuffle by drivers to Sang Sue's vegetable shop 2km further north. In a couple of minutes we were in Waikakariki Stream (also known as Fly-by-Wire). Bits and pieces of the old track still exist. Soon we were standing under the overhead wires, which are a risk to low-flying aircraft. Here we turned left up the bank of a sidestream which was badly eroded in the 2003 floods. Gravel from this stream eventually piled up and nearly buried the motel on SH1. It was hard work climbing in thick grass grown rampant since the farm was retired from sheep grazing. The farm (formerly known as Perkins Farm) is now owned by the Crown, giving us, as taxpayers, some rights to walk over it. Further up we were buzzed by a helicopter delivering stuff up Transmission Gully. With blue skies and not a breath of wind, the views out to Kapiti and Stephens Island were magnificent. We soon turned left on a farm track which should have deposited us at the saddle, but very inconsiderately took us via several gullies to a grassy platform about 60m above the road. The drop to the road was steep and rocky made more difficult by supplejack and onga-onga. We walked up the road to Wainui Saddle and climbed up to the bush edge with a barrier of onga-onga. When the motorway is built there will be a massive cutting at the saddle, making it impossible to cross the road. We chose a spur running south-east and climbed through supplejack, avoiding a patch of kiekie on the left, reaching a clear grassy patch on top where we waited for the “tail” to catch up. There was another patch of kiekie further up which we managed to sidestep. The rest of the spur was a pleasant mixture of open grass and bush with temptations to stop and enjoy the views. At the top we suddenly came across the track coming from Battle Hill, marked by orange DOC markers, and a great spot for lunch.

From here the track to the trig on top of Mt Wainui is well marked and obviously well used with muddy patches in places. We planned to turn left down a spur leading directly to Sang Sue's veggy shop, but we walked clean past the junction without seeing the markers. It is actually marked with three white markers but they are not visible when coming from the south, and fairly obvious when walking in the other direction. We used Christine's GPS to find the right place, and soon found a pink triangle marker. Earlier in the year I marked this spur with pink markers in all the difficult bushy parts. This time there were only a couple of spots where we had to scout around to find the next marker. It is a good spur with plenty of open spots where we got views out to Cook Strait. Half way down it changes to pine forest with easy comfortable walking on soft pine needles, although we had to keep dodging branches and windfalls. Just above the road the spur became steep and bum-sliding became the easiest method of descent. Reaching the side road we could not find Suzanne and Ian, so we all waited around for 15 minutes wondering whether we should start a search. Somebody had the bright idea of checking to see whether they had reached SH1, and it turned out they had bypassed us on the right and already reached the cars.

With more contractors working in Transmission Gully, this is likely to be the last time this trip could be done. The delights of the bushy spur from the Saddle to Mt Wainui will be unknown to future trampers. Apart from the short section of DOC track at the top, all this trip would have been on new territory for most people. The great weather was worth waiting for. We rounded it all off at the Paekakariki pub.

Party members
Ian Cairns, Robin & Sue Chesterfield, Michelle Dickson, Ken Fraser (leader and scribe), Trish Gardiner, Jim Gibbons, Paddy Gresham, Brian Hasell, John Hill, Carol Kelly, Justin Kerr, Julia Landymore, Cheryl McDonald, Jan Nye, Marg Pearce, Wayne Perkins, Lynne Pomare, Kerry Popplewell, Peter Reimann, Marilyn Richards, Pete Smith, Alison & Bill Stephenson, Suzanne Sutton-Cumings, Lyn Taylor, Christine Whiteford, Alan Wright.

Page last modified on 2022 May 14 02:51

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