Lake Chalice overnighter and loop 04-05.01.2021 An easy short walk to overnight in a classic hut on the shores of Mount Richmond Forest Park's only real lake, Claire and I kick off our southern roady in comfort. Lake Chalice is south-west of Blenheim. We reach it via considerable driving on North Bank Road (35km?) and... Continue Reading →
Tramping: Papatahi Crossing, Remutaka Forest Park
Papatahi crossing, 04 - 05.12.2020 The Papatahi crossing begs to be walked when you view the Remutaka Range in the zoomed-out topo view. It runs east-to-west across the range with huts dotted along at handy intervals. Unfortunately the coolness of crossing a mountain range creates a logistical hurdle getting home I never overcame in planning,... Continue Reading →
Tramping: Pakuratahi Forks to Renata and Kapakapanui
Pakuratahi Forks to Ngatiawa River 14-15.11.2020 A trail of exploration and mystery close to Wellington, Nik, Gawrav and I tackled our biggest off-track adventure to date on this Bushcraft Wellington Meetup trip. We set off from Pakuratahi Forks at 7:30am. There's one other chap out here, heading off to that A-frame. He shakes his head... Continue Reading →
Waiorongomai Hut
Waiorongomai Hut 26.09.2020 (2hrs one way) I had meant this weekend trip to be a newbie-friendly Bushcraft Wellington Meetup overnighter but cancelled due to insufficient interest, backed up by a terrible forecast. But Saturday day was OK, so Dave and I headed out to visit this isolated spot in the northern Rimutakas. Getting there is... Continue Reading →
Sheridan Creek Rail Track
Sheridan Creek 19.07.2020 Didn't find much to educate myself on this before I left so thought I'd share a little daywalk Claire, Dave and I did this weekend up from Otaki Forks. Back in the days of the Tararua range's grand trees being plucked, there were logging operations down this south-western corner of Otaki Forks.... Continue Reading →
Totara Flats via Carrington Ridge, return via Sayers Hut to Mangaterere Valley Road
Carrington Ridge 13-14.06.2020 Post-lockdown, I put an 'easy 5hr days overnight loop' on Meetup and to my delight a bunch of familiar faces and a lovely new one come along - Mike, Nik and Marco. We get rolling from Wellington around 7am and head over to the Wairarapa to enjoy some winter tramping. Marco is... Continue Reading →
Broken Heels and Bicycle Wheels – my book!
Join me on my epic adventure from 2018 where I tried to traverse this great nation of ours by walking Te Araroa and then cycling Tour Aotearoa! What you'll get: 250 pages of English words Section maps for both the tramping and the bikingPaperback or various eBook formats - MOBI for the Kindle folk, ePub... Continue Reading →
Tramping: Around the Mountain Circuit, Mt Taranaki
On Sunday I laze in the sun reading a Wilderness magazine. 'The benefits of solo tramping outweigh the cons' encourages one article. I look at my calendar. I look at the weather. I decide to embark on a grand work-avoidance tramping scheme, departing on Tuesday to walk the Around the Mountain Circuit (AMC), the 4-5 day... Continue Reading →
Tramping: Flora Hut and Cobb Valley road-end adventures
After Kirwan's circuit, Claire's knee had definitely had enough. We enjoyed some time off around beaches and whatnot, but also visited some road-end options on either side of the Tableland Circuit, of the Nelson/Tasman region; Flora Hut and the Cobb valley's Trilobite hut. The Flora car park is reached from outside Motueka, climbing the Graham Valley South Branch... Continue Reading →
Tramping: Quoin Ridge, Alpha, Eastern Hutt hut overnight loop
Mike and I tackle a challenging overnight loop in the Hutt city water catchment in stunning dry weather. We head off from Norbert Creek on Kaitoke waterworks road at 8am, just Mike and I. We're of similar fitness and both know the expected length of these days are pushing ourselves at around 10 hours. The Norbert... Continue Reading →
Tramping: Kirwans Track loop, Victoria Forest Park
Kirwans track is an old mining route. It's mountain bike-able up to the unique hut with stunning views, surrounded by Reefton goldmining history. Claire and I hit this two night loop for for the new year, still buggered from our Angelus adventure. We arrive at the well-tended car park at the end of Boatmans Road (beyond Blairs Road and... Continue Reading →
Tramping: Angelus, Robert Ridge and Coldwater Hut loop
Our packs are heavily loaded, roughly 20kg each and we're heading to Angelus Hut, one of the picture-postcard huts of the Richmond Ranges in the South Island. We depart Mt Robert Road Carpark outside St Arnaud at the climb-saving elevation of 800 metres. The track begins in beautiful beach along the pinchgut track. This quickly... Continue Reading →