Tag: Tramping
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Pinchgut Hut, Mount Thomas Forest Conservation Area, Dec 2025
Back in Christchurch after a Christmas tramp in Otago and a shorter one in the McKenzie Country, we had a day and a half to spare and went looking for a short overnighter close to the city. We’d also reconnected with the third member of our team, Charlie, who’d been staying with Nicola’s parents in…
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Caples-Greenstone (Conservation Areas), Dec 2024
Instead of a family Christmas this year, Nicola and I decided to head into the hills for our short summer break. I was recovering from a recent leg injury, so was looking for something that wouldn’t be too difficult or too long. The Caples-Greenstone loop in Otago fitted the bill nicely. We chose to walk…
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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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Failure on a Tararua Crossing, Jan 2022
Logistics is one of the difficulties of an end-to-end tramp, no more so than a crossing of the Tararua Range, so I was in luck with Nicola having to work while I had time off. In luck in terms of a driver, but I was to head into this trip without my usual tramping partner. …
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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…
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Travers Valley, Nelson Lakes NP, Sep 2017
Back in September 2017 Guy Land, Jon Parker and I spent a few days at Nelson Lakes National Park. After a cold night tenting at St Arnaud’s Lake Rotoiti campground we caught a water taxi to Coldwater Hut which is about as appealing as its name suggests. From there we headed up valley for a…
North of the Saddle 