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.

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.

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 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.