Hikes & tramps

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Marshalling on Mt Holdsworth (Jumbo-Holdsworth Trail Race – 25 January)

24 January: Powell Hut via Gentle Annie, Totara Flat, Pig Flat and Holdsworth Track

New Powell hut.
New Powell hut.
New Powell hut.

The month of January is not even finished yet and I already felt like I needed a holiday. Luckily we had the prospect of the two days back in the Tararua Range. Since our tramp over New Year I’ve been keen to get back in the mountain, but on “easier” and more “human friendly” terrain. Continue reading →

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The treacherous Tararua Peaks Circuit

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Apart from running the Jumbo-Holdsworth Trail race in 2018 we are for all intents and purposes Tararua virgins. We have never ventured into the Tararua Ranges in the almost ten years that we’ve been living in it’s foothills at the northern-most part. This was mainly due to being scared senseless from all the news items of people who die in the mountain, and sometimes following a rescue mission with varied outcomes. Just last year a gentleman’s body was found only after eleven days of searching, after he fell down a waterfall in the Arete stream. Continue reading →

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Coppermine creek and coppermine loop track

We’ve been very slack lately with our running. More often than not, we’d skip a run. There’s always something, isn’t there? Cutting grass, tending the vege garden, raising baby guinea fowl, studies, work, and before you know it, another weekend rolls around, you’ve had one run during the week and have no plans, nor energy for your long-run on the weekend. You promise yourself you’ll start anew on Monday, and so the process repeats itself. It’s a slippery slope, but in my defence I do stick to this half-arsed routine, rather than giving up all together. Continue reading →

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Around the mountain circuit – Mt Taranaki

Date: 29 December 2018 to 2 January 2019
Distance: Approx 52km
Time: 5 days

Circumnavigating Mt Taranaki (Mt Egmont) has been on our radar for quite some time. Somehow, there’s always something else that gets priority, but this year we decided it is now or never.

Taranaki Maori legend has it that “While Tongariro was away, Taranaki wooed and won Tongariro’s wife, the graceful Pihanga. Tongariro returned at sunrise to find the guilty pair and in the struggle that followed Taranaki was banished. Taranaki retreated to the west coast of the North Island, carving the course of the Whanganui River as he went and filling it with his tears. He then moved North to his present location.

To this day, Taranaki gazes silently at his lover and his river. Pihanga still loves Taranaki and sighs when she thinks of him. Taranaki, when covered in mist, is said to be weeping for his lost love. Meanwhile, the enraged and jealous husband, Mt Tongariro smoulders with fury”. [Ref. Manky Maps] Continue reading →

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Hill repeats with weights – Aorangi Undulator marshalling duties on the mountain ridge above Washpool Hut

Starting fresh, clean and without any aches or pains.
Putangirua Pinnacles campsite.
The route follows the riverbed for the first half kilometre or so.
Easy going on a well formed trail in the first couple kilometres.
Even steps to make it more accessible to do the Pinnacles scenic loop walk.
The PInnacles.
A split in the road to complete the Pinnacles walk, go to Te Toki accommodation or further into the mountain to Washpool Hut.
An easy uphill section on a 4WD road.
Very steep, but easy going.
Through the manuka trees onto a grassy patch.
Some NZ wildlife.
If this is not a magic mushroom, I don’t know what is!
Further and further up the mountain.
Follow the orange triangles – up and up.
If I had to guess, I would say that the Libertia (NZ iris) grows at about 300 metres above sea level. At least in this area, we saw them on both sides of the mountain at about this altitude.
In a distance: the sea to the left and Lake Ferry to the right. We followed the ridge in the foreground.
Another weird looking fungi.
Arriving at the hut that was “born” the same year as Gerry!
Our marshalling spot, geared with gels, tent, stove and camera.
Magical misty mountain.
Variety of ferns in the area.
The hut is way down below in this valley.
The trunk and roots of a Matai tree.
At first I thought a hunter had slaughtered his deer on the track!
Between the beech trees.
Fetching water from the stream about 60 metres from the hut.
A steep little climb between the stream and the hut.
We had a cozy evening by fire and candle light.
A very small little hut that only sleeps six.
The hut is nestled in a tiny clearing in the forest.
There’s quite a bit of stinging nettle in this area.
Evidence that this hut is frequented mostly by hunters.
The hill is often at this gradient, necessitating an all-fours approach.
Back among the native NZ iris.
The flowers of a rewarewa (NZ honeysuckle)
Lunch in a grassy clearing.
Gorse Alley.
Back on the 4WD track and at the turn-off to the PInnacles viewpoint.
The Pinnacles.
Pinnacles up closer.
Fallen trees (manuka) make for a 15kg squat and deadlift, all in one!
On the edge of an abyss.
Back in the river bed.
A few minor stream crossings.
Pinnacles up close.
Last one.
Don’t ask.

Another year of not doing this event, but this time we opted to marshal. I’ve always been  partial to multi-day runs, which is maybe why I also love tramping so much. So while we were in no state to participate, we thought it would be nice to experience a wee bit of the event at some level. Event organiser Chris Martin (aka Martini) agreed to have us, and placed us at the peak of the fourth “undulation”about 2-3km above Washpool Hut in the Aorangi Ranges. The Aorangi Undulator comprises of a 100km event (the A100), run over the three days, and a one day event of about 32km, which is also the middle day of the A100 – the day we marshalled. Continue reading →