Saturday 2 December 2023

Leader: Tony Quayle

The three of us who’d signed up for a scheduled Neill Forks circuit this weekend were all feeling a bit daunted by the prospect of a hard trip, especially as Sunday’s forecast looked grim.

Discretion being better than valour, we decided to do a Kapakapanui circuit on Saturday instead. A good decision, as Bruce, David, Paula and Shally joined us, plus Yingjun’s friend, Matt, who proved to be both capable and good company.

To our surprise, the vegetation had been trimmed back from the track, making for remarkably pleasant walking - no scratches, and the worst of the mud was easily avoided. Although the summit of Hector was obscured by cloud, all the other major Tararua peaks were visible from the grandstand summit ridge during our lunch stop. The screeching - and brief sighting - of a long-tailed cuckoo was a highlight during lunch.

After the morning’s big uphill, the wander down past Kapakapanui Hut was very pleasant, ending with an equally pleasant splash down the valley to the carpark. Three of us enjoyed our second significant ornithological encounter along the way, seeing a golden (aka Chinese) pheasant. As Yingjun wisely and proudly noted, it was Chinese and that’s why it was so pretty.

Those on the trip were:

Bruce Wang, David Williams, Owen Cox, Paula Richardson, Shally Webb, Tony Quayle, Yingjun Shelton, Matt Nabney