Mt Taranaki Easter trip

Just back in Auckland after a weekend with friends climbing Mt Taranaki. The weather was perfect and with a drop of snow and little wind we hiked up to the summit successfully... See these views. Fell in love with the 'naki' and I'm already planning my next hike around the mountain this winter. We discovered the fastest way down was sliding on our arses, bliss. We made a whole day of it, eating some cafe style lunch in the sheltered basin near the summit. If you get the chance to do this trek then do it! Is dangerous in icy or adverse conditions though so play your cards right and go fully prepared.

100km later

I took part in the Oxfam 100km Trailwalker fundraising event in the weekend. Good fun, challenge and the scenery was absolutely stunning... We took 21.43 hours, ran a bit and hobbled a bit too after the knee pains kicked in at 80k!

Tongariro Crossing. One year later

Less than a year after my previous shot at the Tongariro Crossing I decided I was overdue for another walk of the famous crossing. This time I went with a group of 17 although we all split up into our various paces... Tackling the scree up Ngarahoe was an adventure in itself, I discovered there was a faster route up the solid rocks - duh Anna! The view was fantastic, I ran the round rim of the crater - spot me on the other side of the crater rim photo.

Sliding down the scree of Ngarahoe I managed to give myself a gash on the volcanic rock and a few bruises to show my effort! From there on I ran most of the track, up to the Tongariro summit then to the end of the Ketetahi end of the track. My knees were not to happy with the downhill descent but the rush was worth it. The weather turned out to be amazing; even though gale force winds and rain was expected it was only low cloud and calm.

Next to come: another ruapehu summit and round the mountain track - watch this space.

Pinnacles

I've heard about this tramp so many times and being the tramper I am it was criminal to not do it so on Sunday of labour weekend I latched onto a group going down from Auckland and did it. Apart from all the Aucklanders everywhere it was beautiful. It was incredibly windy up the top, we were clinging to the rocks to stay on - all good fun. In my view it was a bit of a tame tramp - short distance with wide tracks and lush hut facilities. If you're not much of a tramper or bushlover then its a great little excursion. A couple images courtesy of Mark Hoyle:

Ruapehu magic

Thursday 0530 alarm buzzes, we drove down to the Mountain in anticipation as the sun rose to reveal the clearest blue sky yet this winter. Richard and I arrived at the end of the Bruce road at the base of the Whakapapa ski field around 11am. We changed into our gears feeling the heat of the sun would prevent the need for jackets and gloves... The air was so crisp and we began heading up the ski slopes with our crampons on tightly (possibly too tight after rubbing raw ankles!) and the snow began to melt as our sweat dripped down heavy after reaching the top of... the first lift!



















To cut a long story short after 4 hours we scrambled over the rim of the crater, taking a slightly steeper route than the norm but in good spirits as we took in the most beautiful view and moon-walked across the thick snow inside the crater. We enjoyed a chilled speights and cook up for lunch by the crater lake and boarded down just in time to catch a stunning sunset with Mt Taranaki in the background. It had to be one of the best days of my life, magnificent mountains and the weather was perfecto :) I'm considering climbing Mt Taranaki next, once I've recovered some sleep after a chilly night in my car. If you have done Taranaki have you got any tips for the amateur walker like me?

the Tongariro crossing, another NZ masterpiece

Last weekend 6 of us drove down to National Park to hike the Tongariro Crossing. On the Thursday before the weekend there were gale-force winds and rain, we took the risk and the morning we arrived at the start of the tramp it was clear skies as far as the eye could see. We could even see Mt Taranaki from the summit! The walk climbed up some steep rocks in the first couple of hours and then levelled out as we crossed the South Crater below Ngauruhoe. There was a bite to the wind but the sun was still shining so it didn't bite too hard!

We took the side track up to the Tongariro summit along some dodgy shifty shint (I think thats the name for that gravel!). We made it in half the allowed time so we stopped for lunch at the top taking in the magnificent views. Trying out our navigation skills we made our own tracks to the North Crater where we made some very strange undiginfied bird and ape sounds to explore the acoustics of the crater which echoed.

It was such a good walk I would really encourage anyone to do it, you can take your time and still do it in a day although you need to pick a clear day if you want to appreciate the views we got to see.

The photos show a few of us on the walk. The station wagon is a demonstration of how I can compact into a boot packed full of gear within 20cm squared, well it felt like that!









Click on the photos for a big 100% size image. soak up those sun rays, feel the wind biting your fingers

Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Tramp

I'm 2 days back from tramping through the Kaimais and still feeling stiff in my calves, they know they've done some solid work up those steep climbs


over tree roots and sloshing through knee deep mud. 10 of us set out from Auckland on Saturday morning and took the tramline along the river for a 3 hour stroll to the Waitawheta hut. It was easy grade with 6 river crossings which added some fun, we attempted to rock hop but after a couple of crossings and slips on the rocks most of us just walked straight through the water and walked on in squelching boots.

The new hut was 5* accomodation, better than my flat for sure! Theres a 4minute walk to the glow worms and I made the most of the cool river for chilling my beers. Breakfast was quite an event as we tried to cook pancakes on a sticky frypan.. we resorted to pancake stodge, it has the consistency of mashed potatoes but tastes like pancakes!

It took us 6hours including a lunch break at the top of the 106m falls to get back to the road, it was an overgrown track at parts with a lot of variety in plants and scenery. For more photos of our group gone bush click on my flicker badge on the right sidebar