This satellite shot gives you a bit of a sense of how hilly the park is -
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Over the 2 days we travelled from Holdsworth Rd north up to Kiriwhakapapa (Kir-ee-fa-ca-papa). This isn't one of the more famous 'Great Walks' but still offered some great walking and fantastic scenery.
Day 1 - we set off from Wellington around 5:30, so we could start walking about 7am. The first couple of hours were along an easy track, which was a good chance to get used to the weight of a 2 day pack. The track then started to get a bit rougher and took us over the first part of the range to arrive at a hut in Mitre flats for lunch. The weather was lovely and sunny, but the first signs that it might close in over night were just visible. This meant we decided not to climb up to Mitre Peak as originally planned and instead tracked along the riverbank for the rest of the afternoon.
If that sounds like an easy option, let me tell you it wasn't. Every 100 metres or so the track turned steeply up the valley side to climb to a point where we could cross the gully that was cut during periods of heavy rain by one of the streams feeding into the river. Once we'd made it across this the track would often turn steeply back downhill to the river, meaning we covered lots of vertical metres just to get back to the level we started at. At about 4pm we started looking for a site to camp for the night. After about 30 minutes we came across one spot by a tributary, but decided to search on a little further. As we crossed the tributary I managed to slip on a rock and plunge in up to my waist. I popped out unharmed, but was pretty worried about my phone and camera, which I was stupidly carrying in my pockets rather than in my pack. Having got the batteries out quickly both my NZ phone and camera seem to have survived without too much damage phew!
As I was now partially soaked, tired and starting to get cold I was pretty relieved that we found a good little spot to camp after about another 10 minutes. A quick change of clothes and wash in the river and I was feeling much better. We cooked dinner and were so knackered we crashed out by about 9:15. Here's our simple fly camping set-up -
Day 2 - Having slept solidly through to about 7:30 we got up to find it was cloudy but hadn't rained. After breakfast we continued along the river for about 90 minutes until we came to another hut and point where the track crossed the river. There are some brilliant little wire bridges across the rivers in the park, which swing as you walk along them and only take one person at a time. This one was a more serious endeavour. Apparently it replaced a self-winching cage. I was quite disappointed to have missed out on that until I heard that quite a few walkers had lost fingers in the mechanism! -
After crossing some loose shingle from a small landslide we turned steeply up and started ascending a spur. We covered about 700 metres in vertical distance over the next couple of hours to reach a ridgeline just below the peak of Te Mara. A couple of hours more took us round a horseshoe under the peak to the Blue Range Hut where we ate lunch. It was then a steep descent to get down to the carpark for our lift home. The rain only started falling lightly at this last part of the day and the canopy of trees sheltered us from it reasonably well so we didn't even crack out our jackets.
Physically I was pretty glad to reach the end of the hike. Although I've been running regularly since I moved out here, it really took it out of my legs. The pack also added a whole extra dimension of effort. I think we all felt pretty much the same as it's been a while since Harvey and Al have carried overnight packs.
The park itself was fantastic. I haven't done a very good job of capturing the scale of the place and the untouched nature. I was impressed by the balance that Department of Conservation (DoC) have struck in managing the forest. The tracks near roadheads were very easy, giving casual walkers a chance to enjoy the park. Further in, the work was more minimal - markers and occasional cutting of the undergrowth - meaning they had avoided making it too tame. There are also a good network of huts that you can stay in as an alternative to camping and that each have logbooks to keep track of the routes and progress of groups in case there are any issues.
I'm definitely hoping to get out and do more tramping while I'm here. One that is on my list (as it is with nearly everyone who visits) is the Tongariro crossing.
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