Tag: hiking
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Hopkins & Huxley Valleys, Ruataniwha Conservation Park, Dec 2024
Driving back from Otago, having just finished a Christmas trip through the Caples-Greenstone, Nicola and I found ourselves with a few days up our sleeve. It was finally a chance to explore the country beyond Lake Ohau: specifically the Hopkins and Huxley river valleys, a place I’d read about in enough hunting, tramping and alpine…
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East Holdsworth, Aug 2024
I started tramping in the Tararuas in my teens, the mid-1980s, 35-plus years ago now. Back then, good winter days on the tops with deep snow or hard ice were common. I recall many trips floundering through heavy snow, falling into leatherwood shrubs, or delicately learning to crampon across sastrugi ice, always with a deep…
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Heaphy Track, Kahurangi NP, Dec 2023
We were a day late getting to the start of the track due to low cloud delaying our departure from Wellington then not being able to land in Takaka for the same issue. So our day 1 involved what was planned to be our first two days, and powering through 41.7km to James Mackay Hut.…
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Kaweka J Circuit, Kaweka FP, Dec 2020/Jan 2021
Dodging poor weather meant the first part of our Christmas break was limited to chores at home and a little bike riding. A planned three-day trip into the Tararua Forest Park was canned just ahead of cold weather and snowfall on the Tararua tops, and a round-the-mountain trip was postponed due to an Alert Level…
North of the Saddle 