13-14 January 2024

Leader: John Glover

We met up just before 10am at the fantastic Clareville Café. (Highly recommended! First time for me and I was so impressed).

Many of us stocked-up with some yummy lunch and treats from there. We then headed to the car park at the end of Holdsworth Road which was full of cars and tents. It was obviously a popular spot for camping.

Our group started walking at 11am. We crossed the bridge and walked up the track, to turn left at Donnelly Flat signpost towards Powell Hut.

This part of the track was a well-formed walkway, a steady climb up to the turnoff towards Mountain House Shelter where we regrouped and had our lunch.

From there we started to get some much needed breezes as it was so hot earlier. The wind picked up as we went higher on the track. We regrouped again by the Rocky Lookout.

This track is a well graded, well formed walkway, and offers several lookout points.

From the turnoff to Totara Flats Hut onwards, the track is less well-formed, muddy in places, steep with many tree roots. After that we headed down towards Totara Creek, with swing bridge crossings, then continued downstream and just after another bridge at the Waiohine River we found the Totara Flats Hut. The group walked past the hut to find a camping spot for the night by the river.

The trip on the first day took us almost seven hours which was much longer than we planned as we had a few longer stops. Most of us reached the campsite just after 6pm and the remainder of the group joined us after 7pm. We spent some time at the campsite having dinner and a chat before bedtime.

It was windy overnight but our camp spot was well sheltered.

The next day, we left the campsite at 8.40am. We split into 2 groups, with most of us walking back the same way to the cars while three people went to the Waiohine roadend carpark. The first group climbed up and down, the reverse of the first day, back to the carpark which we arrived at around 2pm, where we said our goodbyes. One car drove to the Waiohine roadend to pickup the second group before going home.

It was a pleasant trip with fine weather and lovely company. Thank you John for leading the trip for us.

Those on the trip were:

Clive Kayser, David Williams, John Glover, John Peterson, Kate Livingston, Maryann Bugg, Nisa Promchot, Owen Cox, Pam Glover

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.