19-21 March 2021

Leader: Owen Cox

Four intrepid Parawai were on this trip. The weather forecast was perfect but too good to be true.

We got away on Friday afternoon and drove up to the Oroua road-end. From here we had a short walk in the dark to Alice Nash Memorial Heritage Lodge. This was empty so we spread out for a comfy night. Not long after, at 10 pm, five WTMC people showed up. Fortunately there were enough mattresses so we didn’t need to scrunch up.

We got up reasonably early on Saturday to see the cloud down over the tops. The forecast was definitely too good to be true. So we headed to Iron Gate Hut up the valley to give the cloud time to break. From Iron Gate Hut we ground our way up the ridge onto the Ngamoko Range. We stopped for lunch in the last of the trees. Most of the mist cleared near the top and we had very warm conditions. Here we met the WTMC party going down. Once we hit the top of the range we were back in mist so we had to be careful with navigation. The route down to Top Gorge from the Ngamoko Range is not obvious in mist and short tussock, so we used the GPS. About four contours down, the initial side face of the range becomes a spur and a small distance further down we hit the top of the cut track down. After a relatively short distance the track drops steeply off the side of the spur to the river. Top Gorge Hut is just over the stream and we got there about 4 pm. Four of us and four bunks so that worked well. A tiny bit of drizzle overnight.

On Sunday we walked back up the track to the Ngamoko Range. It was both much colder and windier than the day before so we all used hats, gloves and parkas. Bit of a slog up to Tunapo and then down the long spur to Alice Nash Lodge. We stopped in the leatherwood for a snack and then at the hut for a brew. From there back to the car and then home. We were just late enough to miss the worst of the Otaki traffic.

Those on the trip were:

Owen Cox, Marcia Goode, Yingjun Skelton, Jing Zhou