Sunday 3 March 2019

Leader: Neville Grubner

Punga hut is one of the private hunters’ huts in the Northern Tararua range, that doesn’t appear on any maps. Its location could be regarded as secret, but judging from the number of visitors that sign the book there are lots of people out there who know where to find it these days. The hut is well maintained and a pleasant 3 hours walk from the end of Scotts road just north of Tokomaru.

The first bit of the route to the hut follows the Te Araroa walkway and after 30 min or so it branches off and heads up through the pine forest. I was surprised how the pine forest had changed since being there 5-6 years ago. Trees had been milled and replanted so with it looking so different we followed a couple of false trails before retracing our steps to reach the forest park boundary at the right point.

The first bit of the route once inside the Tararua forest park boundary through the scrub and leather wood was quite overgrown with long grass and bush lawyer. This made it quite slow going especially for a while as it was hard to see where you were putting your feet. At the point they call the rocks where you drop off the ridge track really opens up and is very well marked all the way to the hut. The hut was in great order and credit must go to the original hut builders who were able to build a hut from Punga logs that really has stood the test of time, and is still in such good condition almost 60 years later.

After having lunch in the sun at the hut it was just a matter of retracing our steps back to the car. We did take a different route through the pines on the way back which proved to be much easier. I guess that is probably the way most of the others visitors to the secret location go. On the first part of the route that follows the Te Araroa walkway there is a marked campsite and they were in the process of building what looked to be quite an elaborate cooking shelter. Perhaps a spot for an easy camping trip maybe.

Those on the trip were:

Neville Grubner, Elisabeth Hynes, June Shelton, John Glover, Pam Glover, Eva Petro

No photo album was created for this trip.