All posts by Bang

Sunrise – Waipawa Saddle Loop

12/04/2021Ruahinies, TrampingBang

Saturday (the 2nd day of the Sunrise Hut Trip) was a free day, so six of us (Byrus, Julian, Laressa, Marty, Nik and myself) decided to do the Sunrise – Waipawa Saddle Loop.

We had two teams aiming at visiting the Te Atuaoparapara Summit. Starting from Sunrise Hut, our team walked up to Te Atuaoparapara Summit and then descended down to Waipawa Saddle, where we took a detour to visit Waikamaka Hut. We then walked along Waipawa River to visit Waipawa Forks Hut, and finally walked back to Sunrise Hut.

Sunrise Hut to Te Atuaoparapara to Waipawa Saddle, aka Route 66

We started at about 9:10ish, and the weather was very good. After the “frightening cellphone incident” at the turn off (see Sarah’s part), we started climbing along an undefined ridge. This is an off-track section with sometimes bush bashing up and sometimes walking on a unobvious track. After a steep climb we arrived the first high point (1600m), from where we already had a vast view of the mountains. We took a short snack break to enjoy the views. Look, we were all wearing black!

The ridge then flattens a bit and we were mostly walking along the top. Julian somehow climbed onto some very steep rocks found along the way, that’s so cool! It looks dangerous when he was climbing back to the ridge, and some of us got too scared to look at him while some others were rooting and clapping for his bravery. Very interesting to see some different attitudes, how amazing that tramping gathers all people with different personalities together.

We moved on, and we saw a trig after a short while, that’s the summit of Te Atuaoparapara (1687m). We had another snack break, taking photos and enjoying the 360 degree view of the mountains, overlooking massive slips. Before we started, Nik decided to abandon us and enjoy his luxury snacks over the top.

Now there are only five of us! Beyond the summit, the ridge becomes a knife-edge, followed by a long downhill section full of screes. I was the first one going down, slowly moving my feet down. Within couple of minutes I was overtaken by Marty, he was running down all the way! I was sort of encouraged and started to run a little bit too, to slowly built up some confidence. Still not running down very fast, but I felt like flying with my arms open.

There is another short climb after the scree, and after passing couple of tarns, we reached at another flat area. We decided pick some nice spots to sit down and have lunch before heading down Waipawa Saddle.

*Byrus being Very Happy Tramping with Friends*

After lunch we picked one route to go down. Within about 30 mins, we arrived at Waipawa Saddle. The whole section down was easier than I though it would be, maybe that’s because we got a good team!

Detour to Waikama Hut

The next mission is to visit the Waikamaka Hut. We put down our packs and went with extreme light weight – I was only with my poles and a chocolate, and thank you Laressa for carrying our phones and a first-aid-kit (I think I saw that in ur dry sack?). There are poles along the way and the track was mostly in good condition except for a short scree slip section which is quite steep, it takes energy to scramble up on the way back.

It took us 30 mins to get to Waikamaka Hut and the hut gets an orange roof and a blue body, I do like the combination! After a short break, we visited the derelict Waikama Bivvy on the other side of the creek north of Waikamaka Hut. Then we followed the creek back to the saddle, which took us another 35 mins.

Waipawa Saddle to Sunrise Hut

The track from Waipawa Saddle to the river bed was a bit over grown and hard to identify, we were again sometimes on track, sometimes off track and have to bush bashing back onto the track, it was fun walking through the tussock! When reaching the slip, you can either follow the track or just jump on the screes and run down. After that part the track gets flatter, then we mostly walked on shingle, but sometimes had to enter some sporadical side tracks when the track gets tricky.

I felt happy and unstoppable all the way down until I stepped on a rock and cracked it with my body weight. I had a sudden fall, my left thigh and little finger slammed into some rocks and it hurts!! Julian ran back to me immediately, Laressa and Marty told me to put my left hand into the water and take some break, after some minutes I was able to move on again.

I felt really bad, emotionally but not physically. I can handle the pain but I felt so stupid that I failed last minute proving to my coaches that I’ve made some progress, thinking it as when you prepared your presentation so well, practiced it so many times but didn’t play well on the final presentation day!

No idea how many river crossings we made along the way, but we were able to keep our feet dry as the water level was low. It took us 1 hr 30 mins in total to get to Waipawa Forks Hut. After a short break in front of the hut we started to head back to Sunrise Hut. We spent about 10 mins finding the track as there is no marker but just a pile of stones at the entrance. Followed by a 600 metre climbing, I felt sore on my left thigh and a bit tired to keep up to the group, we made it back to the hut in about 1 hr and 30 mins.

We had some celebrate drinking immediately, hmmmmm, cheers to the wonderful trip and great companies!

Tararua Southern Main Range Loop (5-7 Feb 2021)

26/02/2021Tararuas, TrampingAnderson Memorial Hut, Maungahuka, Steel Ladder, Tararua Peaks, Tararua Southern Main Range Loop, WaitewaewaeBang

Dates:

5th Feb to 7th Feb 2021

Attendees:

William and Bang

The Plan:

1. Start Friday afternoon after work, finish the loop and get out of the bush by Sunday.

2. Meet and tramp with a new friend from the internet. William is an experienced tramper, and we’ve been chatting about hikes and tramps over the past year, I’ve never met him in person

The Trip:

We did the loop anticlockwise, and the whole trip took us 2 days and 3 hrs.

Day 1: Otaki Gorge Emergency Car Park to Field Hut

I picked William at 4 pm and we arrived at the emergency car park at 6ish. There was a bit of traffic on the way – typical Friday afternoon SH1 condition. We took Otaki Gorge Road instead of the emergency track, the walk to Otaki Forks took us 45 mins.

Left the bridge at about 7, I arrived at Field Hut at 9 pm, it was still bright! There was originally a plan B as if we got to Field early, we could proceed to Kime to make the next days easier. William arrived 10 mins ahead of me, and he was keen to keep going. I chickened out because I’ve never walked on the ridge in the dark before. We finally made a decision to stay at Field for the night!

William knows a spot with good coverage, and it’s time to have a beer! We talked before the trip about how much alcohol we should bring along and made an agreement to only bring two beers each, one for Friday and the other one for Saturday – We are both drinkers, but we are also aware of the challenge of the trip. Apparently William is a bigger fan of beer than me, see the size of his one!

It was my second time up Field Hut and I could still remember the amazing sunset I enjoyed last year sitting on the helicopter landing pad. Being lucky again, I spotted a string of pearls moving across the sky while William was boiling water out side the hut. “SpaceX!”, I got very excited and shouted out.

The hut was not busy that day, slept 9 people totally. I didn’t sleep well as I was still excited about what happened in the past few hours, the chatting and drinking, SpaceX, and the fact that I made it to Field faster than I thought I could. We had a good start!

Day 2: Field Hut to Bridge Peak to Steel Ladder to Maungahuka Hut to Aokaparangi to Anderson Memorial Hut

We knew it would be a long day (especially for myself), so we left Field Hut early at 7am. It took us 1 hr 50 mins to walk up to Bridge Peak, very cool and refreshing walking in early morning.

The weather was so nice and we could see Kapiti Island, Taranaki, Ruapehu, and the South Island in the distance. We had some long breaks over Bridge Peak, having snacks and enjoying the nice views. William made a time-lapse video of the fast moving cloud over the knobs, it was stunning!

Time to head in the cloud and mist! As for me, walking in the clouds is annoying because I have to wipe my foggy glasses now and then. I quickly took William’s advice and took off my glasses. It’s not that bad walking with a blurry-ish vision.

After a short break at the junction to Pakihore Ridge, we were getting closer to the ladder. “I will definitely need a photo of myself on the ladder! “, I got excited again as I’ve never been on the ladder before.

*Junction to Pakihore Ridge and Penn Creek Hut*

At 12:20pm, we reached a steep slope with a large rock in the middle, it’s the south face of the Tuiti (not 100% sure). Followed by the hardest part of the day (maybe of the whole trip): traverse Tuiti and Tunui, aka the Tararua Peaks. We put away our walking poles as we have to somehow climb across the big rock with both hands and maybe a small jump. Then we scrambled onto the top one by one. Within a short climbing, I saw a steep down rockface with large bluffs below. “The ladder is just down there!”, William pointed to the mist.

*After the big rock* – *climbing up on Tuiti?*

I went down slowly, and felt a little bit sacred even there is a rope to hold onto all the way. The ladder is right down the end of the rope.

The ladder was built between Tuiti and Tunui. As I stepped left off the track onto it, the ladder feels extremely firm and steady. Climbing down the ladder was probably the easiest part of the crossing, I was so surprised!

We carried on after a short break down the base of the ladder, followed by another long section of steep climbing with steel ropes. I felt for the first time vey tired after the climbing. The last 500m to Maungahuka Hut felt really long and slow, we had lunch in between and reached the Hut at 2:20 pm.

It’s still 6 hrs DoC time from Maungahuka to Anderson Memorial Hut, time to make a decision! We quickly decided to keep on as we could at least make it to the Aokaparangi Hut, which is about 3 hrs away. We layered up and started again at 3ish. I arrived Aokaparangi at 5:45, William was faster than me. We made another decision to keep on as the last 1.5k is below the bushline, where we should be safe even in the worst case that we might have to walk in the dark.

Blue sky came back again as we were walking, it feels so nice! We arrived Kahiwiroa at 8:10pm, and then probably spent the next hour watching the sunset, taking photos and videos while slowly walking down Kahiwiroa. The sunset was gorgeous!

It was about 9pm when we switched on our head torch and entered the bush. I was tired and hungry, using my last ounce of strength to keep up with William. We lost sight of markers couple of times but we managed to get back on track, we arrived Anderson Memorial Hut at 10pm. It’s a vey cosy hut and we were the only two staying overnight. Sitting on the bunk bed we had our second beer, celebrating the challenging day. I had a great sleep at night!

Day 3: Anderson Memorial Hut to Waitawaewae Hut to Otaki Forks (via the new track) to Otaki Gorge emergency car park

We woke up a bit late on Sunday, and left Anderson at 8:18am. Another long day started, and it is warmer! The track was easier but it took us 10mins to find it as it’s quite overgrown around the hut. We arrived at Junction Knob at 9:30, from where we could clearly identify all the ridges we had walked on.

We kept on and reached Shoulder Knob at about 10am, where William suggested we should take a longer break and enjoy more open views before we head below the bush line. While sitting on the grass I noticed I’ve finished most of my snacks already, how rare! And so did William!

The track (the Te Araroa Trail) descends from 1310 to 300, and it looks very steep on the Topo. luckily, it is not that bad to walk down. Under the swing bridge about 500m away from YTYY, I found a nice swimming spot. I’d love to come back again for a swim next time.

At about 1:30pm, I reached Waitawaewae Hut, and then we had lunch outside the hut. It feels so good to sit and eat on the bench again. I knew I was drinking more frequently than yesterday so I checked my water bladder, it was almost empty! Because of the hot weather and my tiredness, I drank 2.5L of water in the past 6 hrs! I quickly filled my bladder and double checked the map, located a stream on the way to refill in case I run out of water.

I did a bit digging about the infamous Waitawaewae Hut Track before we started. It is a 5-7 hrs advanced track according to DoC website, and it looks fine from the Topo. What I also noticed is some people from Facebook claimed that it’s the crappiest track they’ve ever done and it takes way longer than the DoC time.

We left YTYY at 2:07pm, instead of the river route, we took the main track to the Arapita Creek junction. This section was ok but a little short of orange markers. I went the wrong way once somewhere after crossing a stream, and I had to bush bashing up back to the track. I felt really tired climbing from the junction to Plateau, and was taking breaks now and then. I was walking slowly until I met another tramper and heard it already took him 6 hrs coming from Otaki Forks. I got nervous and immediately realised I have to push my self a bit more! I checked my bladder when I got Saddle Creek, it was almost empty again, I know it! Couple of minutes walking after a quick refilling, I saw William again at the junction, he had been sitting there for a while waiting for me.

William suggested he should slow down a bit so I can keep up with him, and it could save me some energy. Followed by the horrible part of the Waitawaewae Hut Track – the upper track built to avoid the slip. The track is rough and slow except for the last 20mins’ tramway. There were heaps of craps and fallen trees blocking the way, and it was even harder for us as we were tired! William did most of the wayfinding when the track was blocked, and we managed to walk out of the section at 7pm.

*The junction of the old track with huge slip and the new track*

The last 3.5k was very easy, and we speeded up again. We made it back to Otaki Forks at 8:25pm. The whole Waitawaewae Hut Track took us 6 hrs and 18mins.

Sitting on the ground, I ate up everything I left，feeling happy and accomplished. We walked another hour to the Emergency car park, then I drove William back home. I reached my place at 11:30pm. What a solid weekend!

To wrap up:

Huge thanks to William for the accompany, Julian for the trip tips and Nik for the PLB!

Good on William and myself to be well-prepared for the trip. It was a challenge for us (me especially), very glad we made it through! Also very happy that I’m slowly building up my fitness, I feel way more comfortable and confident on this one comparing with the Dorset loop trip I did last year.

Future improvements:

1. Make the bed first: we forgot to make the bed first when arrived at Field Hut. I was in a muddle at night and in a hurry in the next morning too, that’s probably how I left my first aid kit in the hut. I did go back to Field on the next Saturday, it’s not there anymore.

2. Start early: we discussed and agreed that we could leave Anderson a little bit later next morning because we had a big day and we need more sleep. I could probably do better if I wake up and start walking earlier as it’s cooler.

Dorset Ridge Hut

12/12/2019Tararuas, TrampingDorset Ridge Hut, Mid King Biv, Mitre Flats Hut, Tarn Ridge HutBang

I’d like to start with a big shout out to the team (Julian, Laressa, Alex, Yadgar, Katerina, Emma, The Shit Weasel, Mr Grey) for making the challenging but WONDERFUL weekend happen.

We did a loop from Mitre Flats Hut to Dorset Ridge Hut via Mitre Peak and Adkin, Middle King. Here is a chart made according to my timing:

Day	Route	Distance	Estimated Hours	Actual Hours
Friday	The Pines – Mitre Flats Hut	7 km	3-4 hours on Topo	2 hrs 40 mins
Saturday	Mitre Flats Hut – Mitre Peak – Dorset Ridge Hut	12 km	5-7 hours on Topo	10 hrs
Sunday	Dorset Ridge Hut – Adkin – Middle King – A bridge close to Mitre Flats Hut – The Pines	18 km	12 hours by Julian	13 hrs 30 mins

The walk to Mitre Flats Hut was easy, we had a couple of detours as it was dark, but generally, it was smooth.

Saturday was the hardest day for me as my stomach burns all the time due to bad sleep at night. Also, we had many long breaks which slowed us a lot down.

I did better on Sunday, we only had 3 5-10 mins breaks as I could remember. I could do better if I haven’t twisted my ankle.

Glad to be with the best trampers as there are always new adventures and I always have a lot new to learn and experience.

This is not a Great Walk

I always beat the DOC estimated times for NZ Great Walks and some other walks but not this time.

First thing I learn from this trip is: as we go deeper/higher into the forest park, the estimated times will be harder to be defeated, which somehow makes sense because only people with reasonable fitness can make it, but most travellers can do Great Walks.

Wish I could know that earlier and make this trip easier. I mistakenly defined this trip as a trip which could be slightly harder than my recent ones so I didn’t optimize my packing: as usual, I brought a 400ml bottle of sun cream, a container of sake, many snacks and a huge power bank etc.

It surprised me when I noticed that no one expect me brings alcohol for this trip, that barely happens on my other tramps with them.

Drink water wisely

I have a bigger fluid intake than most people and had never considered it as a problem except for a big belly.

On Saturday, my 3L hydration pack ran out quickly and I had to drink from a lake on Dorset Ridge while waiting for water supply from the others. I tried to reduce the drinking frequency, the amount of water taken each time on Sunday, but I ended up running out of water again. I’ll be trying to drink less next time.

Always apply sunscreen

UV rays here are intense, always have sunscreen on!

I only applied sun creams once as I didn’t want to slow the others down and I thought that would be ok and the sunburn will recover after a couple of days as usual. Wrong again as I still have them 10 days after the trip and it hurts.

First time to sleep outside the hut

It’s my first time to sleep on the deck outside instead of on the bunk bed in the hut. It’s breathtaking that the stars were filling my eyes, but I didn’t sleep well on Friday.

Special thanks to Laressa for carrying my pack and not giving up on me all the way, lucky to have a PM covering my ass.

Thanks to Julian for having me on board, you proved again that you could be a nice person and you did come back looking for us.

Thanks to Alex for carrying my stuffs too, btw you surely can cook.

Thanks to Yadgar, Katerina and Emma for the encouragement and good company, sorry for keeping you wait.

Sunrise Hut (2019.09.27 – 2019.09.29)

07/10/2019Ruahiniesrauhineforestpark, sunrisehutBang

The Plan 计划

Original Plan 初始计划

Our original plan was to do the Dorest Ridge Loop, but with the forcast 90km gales and rain over Tararua Forest Park on Saturday and Sunday, we decided to postpone that trip and try another time.

我们这次的初始计划是徒步走Dorest Ridge环线，但由于天气预报Tararua森林公园周六以及周日将遭遇90km/h的强风以及暴雨，我们决定推迟Dorest Ridge环线计划。

Plan B B计划

Regarding the bad weather, Julian made a plan B for us: drive further to Ruahine Forest Park and walk up at night to Sunrise Hut on Friday, hike a decent loop spend the Saturday night at Waipawa Hut and return to carpark and drive back to Wellington on Sunday.

鉴于糟糕的天气，Julian另外制定了B行程：我们开车到更远的Ruahine森林公园去徒步，周五夜爬后住宿Sunrise小屋，周六再走一个大循环到Waipawa小屋，周日徒步回停车场然后开车返回Wellington。

The Trip 旅程

We had a big group: Julian, Laressa, Alex, Emma, Yadgar, The Shit Weasel, Mr Grey and myself. Julian and Laressa co-hosted the trip.

Julian, Laressa是本次的徒步的组织者，本次团队共有八名成员：Julian，Laressa，Alex，Emma，Yadgar，黄鼠狼，Grey先生还有我。

Day 1 第一天

We were driving two cars, and it’s around 280 km from Wellington to Tikokino. We departed at about 4:30 pm and stopped for dinner on the way. We parked, geared ourselves up and started climbing at 10:30 pm.

It was nice to stretch a bit after long hours in the car, and we saw piled snow only after climbing for half an hour, which was unexpected. It took us 1 hr 45 mins to get to Sunrise Hut.

我们这次共开了两辆车。从Wellington到Tikokino大约280公里，我们大约下午4:30出发，随后在路上停车吃了晚餐，到达停车场后穿好装备，然后在晚上10:30左右开始徒步。

大概是因为开长途车身体得不到舒展，徒步开始后我觉得全身特别的舒适。我们大约爬了半小时就见到积雪了，这点还挺意外的。大约爬了1小时45分钟后，我们到达了Sunrise小屋。

Day 2 第二天

We woke up or were wakened by the happiness cheers & eye-filling violet and orange at around 5:30 in the morning. The sunrise was stunning!

也不知道是自然醒还是被欢呼声或是满眼的彩霞所唤醒，五点半左右我们就都起来看日出了，山上的日出真是太震撼了！

The frozen pond in front of Sunrise Hut
*Sunrise*小屋前结冰的小水塘

We woke up again at around 8:00 am, then we sat around, had breakfast and planned for the new day. As the gale was notably crazy and the tracks were with low visibility, we decided to give up the loop trip and visit the Top Maropea Hut instead.

回笼觉醒来已经是早上8点了，我们坐在一起吃了早餐，顺便重新计划了行程。因为早上风实在太强，再加上能见度极低，我们决定放弃走大循环的计划，改为徒步到Top Maropea小屋。

*The Shit Weasel* Climbing with Julian
黄鼠狼*陪着Julian*爬山

It was a free-of-burden hike because we left most gears in the hut, we climbed up to the saddle and then down to the Top Maropea Hut, where we had our lunch.

因为我们把沉重的装备都留在了sunrise小屋，所以这段路走起来特别“轻松”，我们先爬到了山脊然后沿着山路下山到了Top Maropea小屋，并在小屋里吃了午餐。

The returning went smoothly as the sky started clearing and we could feel the sunshine from time to time.

因为天气转好，我们的返程就更加顺利了。路上太阳光时不时的打在身上，觉得特别温暖。

Day 3 第三天

We slept early at night in order to get up early, and we caught another wonderful morning glow, we were so lucky!

由于前一天晚上早睡，我们礼拜天很早就起来了，又是了一场壮观的日出。

The plan was to visit Waipawa Hut and then double back to the car park, but these characters decided we should try something off-track in water – walking along the Waipawa River to the car park. The crossing was fun and it was refreshing to get both feet wet. We stopped counting how many times we made it crossing the river because there were so many.

今天的计划是拜访Waipawa小屋，然后沿着礼拜五的步道走回停车场。然而在到达Waipawa小屋后，徒步狂人们临时决定要尝试下沿着Waipawa河走水路回去。淌水过河对我来说也是件特别有趣的事情，也不知道淌了多少水，过了多少次河，最后我们的鞋袜全都湿透了。

Walking along the Waipawa River
沿着Waipawa河徒步

We made it from the Waipawa River onto the Swamp Track, and at last, we visited the Triplex Hut.

最后，我们顺利的从Waipawa河走到了Swamp步道，随后我们沿着步道到达了Triplex小屋。

To Wrap Up 总结

We had a wonderful weekend! We stayed at Sunrise Hut for two nights, we hit the snow, did the river crossing and visited four huts (Sunrise Hut, Top Maropea Hut, Waipawa Hut, Triplex Hut) in total.

Retrospect to be better. Julian asked for some feedback on Saturday night for this trip, we talked about what we learnt from this trip and which part we can improve so we could get better next time. For me, I should never forget to bring my rain jacket again.

Alway have a Plan B. Another good strategy to follow from this tramp is always having an alternative plan: an Itinerary B for the trip, a Plan B when someone chooses to stop and head back on the track, you will find them useful.

It is unique to tramp in New Zealand in the winter, and if you are well-prepared, you get to see a lot. Looking forward to see you on the mountains!

这个周末特别的完美，我们在Sunrise小屋呆了两晚，玩雪，涉水，还拜访了四个小屋：Sunrise小屋, Top Maropea小屋, Waipawa小屋，以及Triplex小屋。

复盘才能进步。礼拜六晚上，团队开了个“严肃的”复盘座谈会，讨论了通过本次徒步大家都学习到了什么以及还有什么地方可以改进和加强的地方。我嘛，再也不能忘带冲锋衣了。

Wellington Tramping Group

We Love Tramping