February 29 - March 02, 2008
Rangiwahia Hut, Ruhaine Forest Park
Team: Me (leader), Paul, Karl, David
Rangiwahia is a hut I am going to have to go back to for the simple reason that I forgot to take a camera with me on this trip! Somehow I left both my SLR and pocket cameras at home, and only had my cellphone with me. Needless to say, I was already disgruntled by this as soon as we got up in the morning and saw the views across the plateau to Ruapehu!
We had all slept badly – the carpark was the only flat area around, and was gravel. We had set up the tent fly on the edge of the carpark where there was a small amount of grass and hunted down some larger rocks to use as pegs (as our pegs wouldn’t go in at all). We shouldn’t have bothered! It was a warm and breezy night and most of us were woken multiple times by the wind blowing through the tent making a LOT of noise!
Saturday mornings weather was sunny and fine. We packed ourselves up and headed off. Part way along the track was a massive slip that the track had to go up and around. At the top of the climb was a sign proudly proclaiming that “the worst is over, track undulates from here” (which is bollocks by the way. The track levels out for a few minutes then drops precipitously down the other side of the slip). This slowed us down a bit as one member of the party had a bung leg and found the clambering difficult.
Soon enough we were on the gorgeous old bridge over the very steep gully. Very cool! Further up the track and we crossed a waterfall, then suddenly we had arrived! The weather had started to pack up a little on our way up the hill and on arrival at the hut it was misty and windy. We had lunch and then most people went for a wander up on to the ridge, into the teeth of the wind. I went part way and then left the rest of the team in Pauls capable hands (he was my co-leader since this was my first trip leading with the club), while I returned to the hut for a nap.
Dinner was sweet & sour pork, followed by chocolate self-saucing pudding and was divine. Many hands of 500 were played (my first introduction to the game), and a hunter arrived after dusk for the night. The weather cleared briefly, allowing us to look out to the lights of the nearby towns for all of 10 minutes. Still not sure which towns they are!
Overnight the rain set in. Our visiting hunter snuck out early to see what he could see up on the ridge and came back wet and empty handed, but still in a good mood while we were getting organised. We knew that we needed to wait for people to make it out to another road end, and that this was likely to happen about lunchtime, so we decided to delay our departure from the hut by about 30 minutes.
This ended up being fortuitous timing! It stopped raining (was misty wet instead) by the time we left the hut, and the sun was out when we arrived at the road end. We changed into warm, dry clothes and spread out our damp jackets to dry for a while. Just as we were starting to wonder when we would hear from the other party, a vehicle stopped just down the road, and they climbed out! Turned out they had tried to text me to tell me they were out, but my phone hadn’t received it which was frustrating!
As we climbed into the van, it started to rain again, so we headed off and stopped for coffee / beer etc in Kimbolton – as far into the back of beyond as you get! Then it was simply a case of keeping on trucking home. It felt like a long drive both ways – which is the main reason I haven’t yet gone back to the hut, its too far to drive for such a short walk, and its MUCH further on to the next hut from there…
To see photos of the area, check out my friend Mikes photos from his trip in 2006
Showing posts with label Ruahine Forest Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ruahine Forest Park. Show all posts
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Thursday, 26 March 2009
The Ruahines Do It Better
Sunrise Hut,
20-22 March 2009
Punters: Amelia (Leader), Mark, Chris, Jodi, Jordan, Brad, Jo, Karl, Megan, Lisa, Chad, Ian
Friday arrived with a promise of good weather for most of the weekend – only a vague possibility of rain on Sunday afternoon darkening the horizon. Friday lied as it turned out, but we can forgive that as this was only a small blip on the radar of an otherwise fantastic trip.
Missioning our way north, with the group split between two vans to make maximum use of available space, we arrived in Levin for dinner at 7pm. Traffic had been astoundingly good to us! Most of us headed for fish’n’chips from the Chinese place across from KFC, and then proceeded to sit on the picnic tables on KFC’s front lawn to eat. Not bad food at a darn good price with substantial portions seemed to be the general consensus. Through the back roads to avoid Palmerston North, we whizzed past the club van in Woodville, only to be overtaken again when we had stopped for ice-creams in Dannevirke.
Eventually arriving at the road end, we somehow had managed to arrive last, which was ok apart from the fact it meant that the hut was full with everyone else before we got there, and somewhere just out of Dannevirke it had started RAINING (remember I told you that Friday lied? Well, that was its biggest one). Of course, this did lead to a vague concern as to what the weather would do for the rest of the weekend, as well as how some easy trampers would cope with sleeping under a tent fly for the first time given the conditions. In the end there was no real need to worry. We spread out everywhere – some on the floor in the kitchen, some on the floor in the bunkrooms (one enterprising group member managed to be in the right place at the right time to get an offer of an ACTUAL bunk!!), two in the woodshed and the rest happily cocooned under the very middle of the two flys we had put up.
We needn’t have worried about the weather either, as the rain stopped quite early in the night (early being the operative word, given we didn’t arrive and get to bed till nearly 1am!). Saturday morning dawned with massive clear blue skies and the promise of quite a bit of warmth to come. We hung about the hut for a while, letting the tents dry as much as possible before packing them, and eventually headed off up the hill about 9.30am.
The pace was slow to the point of being snail-like at times, but this also provided some great opportunities for conversation, and the rare chance to see a Morepork perched in a tree, sleepily watching us watch it.
Morning tea was had at the track junction, where a large seat makes for a fantastic rest spot. Chocolate duly came out of packs and was shared around, with Chris reminding Jodi that the chocolate she was sharing was half his (her reply was that that was the half she was sharing out!). Continuing up the hill with anticipations of lunch in the sunshine, we came across a whole series of cool signs that Norsewear had erected with information about the flora and fauna of the area, as well as some of its history. Very neat, and rather useful “pause” stops!
Before too long we had arrived at the top of the hill and the hut. Its fantastic how the hut really hides from you until you are basically right on top of it – no teasing sightings from a distance making you think it might be closer than it is! With a generous deck area and multiple entranceways, this hut would be a welcome haven in bad weather from any direction.
Packs and boots came off, bunks were chosen, a brew went on and lunches came out. The tent flies were ingeniously attached to the deck of the hut to continue drying.
Some members of the group headed off towards where Craigs group were spending the night and got about an hour along the track before deciding to come back. The rest of us made do with exploring the area immediately around the hut, including the short scramble behind the hut to an awesome vista of the inner ranges. Eventually someone decided it was afternoon tea, and Chris and Jodi pulled out crackers with nice cheese and dip to eat them with. Needless to say, they are welcome on any easy trip any of us take again in the future.
It was, however, starting to cloud over a little, and get somewhat cold. Having said goodbye to John, who had driven in to join us for a daywalk, we moved inside and pulled out a couple of decks of cards to play last card. Fresh camp cooked bread was produced (and devoured) as a precursor to dinner, which was prepared and demolished in pretty quick succession (for the record, it was Sweet & Sour Pork on Rice). Having cooked, I managed to avoid doing dishes (Bonus!), and so instead got a half hour reprieve before starting to prepare dessert. People were still quite full from dinner, so the chocolate “self-caking sauce” (cheers Chris) that we didn’t manage to consume was wrapped back up in anticipation of possibly being someones breakfast in the morning (it duly was).
Stargazers went for a wander outside before bed, and were rewarded with one of THE most stunning views of the Southern Cross and Milky Way I have ever seen. There were no clouds anywhere to ruin the view (at least to begin with) and it was simply awe-inspiring.
Bed ensued not long after, and I think a lot of people fell asleep very quickly and very deeply after what had probably been an average to poor Friday nights sleep. It rained overnight (quite heavily some have reported), but cleared beautifully for everyone to get up at 6.15 to watch the developing sunrise. Most people went back to bed as the sun came fully up for another couple of hours sleep. It was great and a very nice treat.
Once we all finally started getting up and organized, there wasn’t a lot of time wasted. Making our way down the hill at our own pace, with nice long stops for the back markers to catch up, we were still back at Triplex Hut for lunch at noon. After a break in the sunshine eating as much as possible of what was left of our food, it was back to the van so we didn’t miss other groups to steal spare spaces in their vans, and after a bit of a wait, we all headed home. Our van seemed to be on a sugar high, as we made a decent attempt at eating all of Karl’s lollies (which he had cunningly hidden until after dessert on Saturday night), and played multiple rounds of twenty questions (“Am I bigger than the van?” “Did we see one this weekend?”) before arriving back in Wellington and going our own ways again. All in all, not a bad trip, and much better weather than the last one I went on (into the Tararuas!)
20-22 March 2009
Punters: Amelia (Leader), Mark, Chris, Jodi, Jordan, Brad, Jo, Karl, Megan, Lisa, Chad, Ian
Friday arrived with a promise of good weather for most of the weekend – only a vague possibility of rain on Sunday afternoon darkening the horizon. Friday lied as it turned out, but we can forgive that as this was only a small blip on the radar of an otherwise fantastic trip.
Missioning our way north, with the group split between two vans to make maximum use of available space, we arrived in Levin for dinner at 7pm. Traffic had been astoundingly good to us! Most of us headed for fish’n’chips from the Chinese place across from KFC, and then proceeded to sit on the picnic tables on KFC’s front lawn to eat. Not bad food at a darn good price with substantial portions seemed to be the general consensus. Through the back roads to avoid Palmerston North, we whizzed past the club van in Woodville, only to be overtaken again when we had stopped for ice-creams in Dannevirke.
Eventually arriving at the road end, we somehow had managed to arrive last, which was ok apart from the fact it meant that the hut was full with everyone else before we got there, and somewhere just out of Dannevirke it had started RAINING (remember I told you that Friday lied? Well, that was its biggest one). Of course, this did lead to a vague concern as to what the weather would do for the rest of the weekend, as well as how some easy trampers would cope with sleeping under a tent fly for the first time given the conditions. In the end there was no real need to worry. We spread out everywhere – some on the floor in the kitchen, some on the floor in the bunkrooms (one enterprising group member managed to be in the right place at the right time to get an offer of an ACTUAL bunk!!), two in the woodshed and the rest happily cocooned under the very middle of the two flys we had put up.
We needn’t have worried about the weather either, as the rain stopped quite early in the night (early being the operative word, given we didn’t arrive and get to bed till nearly 1am!). Saturday morning dawned with massive clear blue skies and the promise of quite a bit of warmth to come. We hung about the hut for a while, letting the tents dry as much as possible before packing them, and eventually headed off up the hill about 9.30am.
The pace was slow to the point of being snail-like at times, but this also provided some great opportunities for conversation, and the rare chance to see a Morepork perched in a tree, sleepily watching us watch it.
Morning tea was had at the track junction, where a large seat makes for a fantastic rest spot. Chocolate duly came out of packs and was shared around, with Chris reminding Jodi that the chocolate she was sharing was half his (her reply was that that was the half she was sharing out!). Continuing up the hill with anticipations of lunch in the sunshine, we came across a whole series of cool signs that Norsewear had erected with information about the flora and fauna of the area, as well as some of its history. Very neat, and rather useful “pause” stops!
Before too long we had arrived at the top of the hill and the hut. Its fantastic how the hut really hides from you until you are basically right on top of it – no teasing sightings from a distance making you think it might be closer than it is! With a generous deck area and multiple entranceways, this hut would be a welcome haven in bad weather from any direction.
Packs and boots came off, bunks were chosen, a brew went on and lunches came out. The tent flies were ingeniously attached to the deck of the hut to continue drying.
Some members of the group headed off towards where Craigs group were spending the night and got about an hour along the track before deciding to come back. The rest of us made do with exploring the area immediately around the hut, including the short scramble behind the hut to an awesome vista of the inner ranges. Eventually someone decided it was afternoon tea, and Chris and Jodi pulled out crackers with nice cheese and dip to eat them with. Needless to say, they are welcome on any easy trip any of us take again in the future.
It was, however, starting to cloud over a little, and get somewhat cold. Having said goodbye to John, who had driven in to join us for a daywalk, we moved inside and pulled out a couple of decks of cards to play last card. Fresh camp cooked bread was produced (and devoured) as a precursor to dinner, which was prepared and demolished in pretty quick succession (for the record, it was Sweet & Sour Pork on Rice). Having cooked, I managed to avoid doing dishes (Bonus!), and so instead got a half hour reprieve before starting to prepare dessert. People were still quite full from dinner, so the chocolate “self-caking sauce” (cheers Chris) that we didn’t manage to consume was wrapped back up in anticipation of possibly being someones breakfast in the morning (it duly was).
Stargazers went for a wander outside before bed, and were rewarded with one of THE most stunning views of the Southern Cross and Milky Way I have ever seen. There were no clouds anywhere to ruin the view (at least to begin with) and it was simply awe-inspiring.
Bed ensued not long after, and I think a lot of people fell asleep very quickly and very deeply after what had probably been an average to poor Friday nights sleep. It rained overnight (quite heavily some have reported), but cleared beautifully for everyone to get up at 6.15 to watch the developing sunrise. Most people went back to bed as the sun came fully up for another couple of hours sleep. It was great and a very nice treat.
Once we all finally started getting up and organized, there wasn’t a lot of time wasted. Making our way down the hill at our own pace, with nice long stops for the back markers to catch up, we were still back at Triplex Hut for lunch at noon. After a break in the sunshine eating as much as possible of what was left of our food, it was back to the van so we didn’t miss other groups to steal spare spaces in their vans, and after a bit of a wait, we all headed home. Our van seemed to be on a sugar high, as we made a decent attempt at eating all of Karl’s lollies (which he had cunningly hidden until after dessert on Saturday night), and played multiple rounds of twenty questions (“Am I bigger than the van?” “Did we see one this weekend?”) before arriving back in Wellington and going our own ways again. All in all, not a bad trip, and much better weather than the last one I went on (into the Tararuas!)
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