27-28 April 2024

Leader: Paula Richardson

We left Waikanae in two vehicles on a blue-sky day, meeting up at the Kimbolton Café for morning tea, before heading onward to the Rangiwahia Scenic Reserve.

The reserve provided us with an easy walk amongst virgin native bush and trees. We took the blue track that signposted a generous walk time of three hours: we completed it in 90 minutes. The walk is well maintained with rimu, miro, matai, maire, kahikatea, totara, rewarewa, rata, and tree ferns identified. Midway through the walk, we stopped in a field overlooking the Rangitikei River for lunch.

Later that afternoon we went to White Cliff Boulders. This area is located approximately 30 minutes west of Rangiwahia and contains many boulders, which are known as cannon ball concretions. They looked very impressive with roots of plants growing through and over them. Some were split in half from erosion and the pressure of the plant growing inside them.

That evening we stayed in a farmhouse that Paula had organised for us all to stay in. We had originally booked to stay at the Rangiwahia Base Camp huts as Rangiwahia Hut was fully booked, however Rangiwahia Base Camp had been double booked and the owner kindly offered us accommodation at one of their farmhouses for the night. This was great accommodation for the evening; the fires had been lit so the house was warm and cosy. We enjoyed a lovely gourmet shared meal for dinner (yum yum).

The next morning, we met up with Jacqui at the Renfrew Roadend car park and set off for the Rangiwahia Hut. We arrived at the hut approximately 2 hours later. We were blessed with another gorgeous blue-sky day with calm wind conditions and whilst the descent around the Deadman’s Loop was relatively slow, we all took our time and fully enjoyed the day. We got out in time to get to the Mangaweka licenced café for a beer, pie and chips before driving home. Yum Yum.

Those on the trip were:

Elisabeth Hynes, Graeme Richardson, Jacqui Marshall, John Glover, Maryann Bugg, Paula Richardson, Peter Davis

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.