This article was first published in the Tararua Tramper Volume 92, no 1, February 2020
Thompson - medium trip
Wednesday 18th December
As this was the last Wednesday trip before Christmas and the weather forecast was far from promising I was expecting a small turn-out. The weather was better than expected and 14 members assembled at the Plimmerton rail station car park.
Thompson is a peak a little over 700 metres to the north-east of the Waitohu Stream in the foothills to the east of the Tararuas. Road access to the area is via the the Waitohu Valley road north of Otaki. On reaching a quarry a farm road is followed to a car park.
Permission is needed from the land owner who is very friendly and supportive of our tramps in the area.
After a brief walk alongside the Waitohu Stream on the often-wet farm track, an old logging road is followed to Thompson. The logging road is in very good condition and climbs at a very friendly gradient. On reaching an altitude of just under 400 metres, we left the logging road and continued our trip on a good but slippery trail, which follows the crown of the spur past pts. 593 and 639 and on to a small grassy clearing on Thompson at an altitude of 709 metres. There is no view on the west at Thompson but our climb was rewarded with a good view west to the coast from another larger grassy clearing, a just reward for crawling under a large tree trunk minutes before. We sought the shelter of the bush on the lee side of the clearing for a lunch stop, where the 'Ogilvie Met. Station' recorded a temperature of 8.5degrees.
It was good to get on the move again and warm up. As we started on our way down we passed the route to South Manukau Road and the Waikawa road end. A short distance further on there was a large pond, home to a thriving tadpole community. From this point there is a track which heads south-east and then south to Mick. Our route was directly down the logging road and back to the car park to complete the trip.
- Party members
- Peter Barber, Trish Gardiner-Smith, Mary Kane, Janette Martin, David Ogilvie, Marg Pearce, Dave Reynolds (leader and scribe), Penny Salmond, Pete Smith, Bob Stephens, Bill Wheeler, Christine Whiteford, Peter Williams