Sunday 3 November 2019

Leader: Peter Davis

Having traveled over the Remutaka Hill road to the Wairarapa countless times over the years, I had always wondered what the track from the summit was like.

For those that can remember back, there used to be tea rooms at the summit, which was as far as I had previously explored. As this was red line for everybody on the trip, this was obviously a similar experience.

The track started off nicely as part of a short lookout loop and the headed towards the Pylon 4WD road, mostly in pleasant ridge line bush. Once at the first pylon, we had a short break and then walked along the road until we reached the track turnoff to Bucks road. It was with some trepidation that we started on this, as various trip reports we had researched suggested the track could be somewhat overgrown with plenty of gorse.

The going wasn't too bad initially, especially when we were out in the open. It was a nice sunny, clear day and we had great 360 degree views. After lunch at a sheltered spot looking west at our beloved Tararua peaks we carried onto toward Mt Frith, followed by Mt Finis. The further we went the more overgrown the track became, so at times it was quite slow going, but always easy enough to navigate. It did seem quite surprising how much climbing we were doing for what was essentially a one way downhill walk! We started at 555m and went as high as 805m, but eventually we did descend properly toward the Tauherenikau valley. With about 30min before our destination at the Bucks road campsite, we hit a nice benched track. We were pleased to reach the end, a couple of hours longer than anticipated, with a couple of people glad to get a drink, having been badly dehydrated during the day.

Those on the trip were:

Peter Davis, June Shelton, John Sturgess, Owen Cox, Marian Cox, Neville Grubner, Elizabeth Hynes, Chris Keating, Glenda Robb, Paula Richardson, Graeme Richardson