1-2 February 2025

Leader: Rob

There were just the 3 of us on the Tararua Challenge trip to visit Renata Hut, Elder Hut and Alpha Hut. This made it easy for transport as I had voluntold my son he would be dropping us off and picking us up. With the water tank at Elder Hut being out of commission, due to a problem with the water tanks tap, we had to take any water we needed for overnight with us.

Bright and early, we set of from the Akatarawa Saddle along the 4wd track toward Maymorn Junction. The 4wd track had a number of good sized swimming pools in the middle of them that we had to negotiate around. There were only really two that we had to sidle along the side of to get past. Others had a convenient alternative track around it. One of these which I thought would just take us past the pool lead us off on an alternative route. Doh!

It was a pleasant 2.5 hour walk up to Maymorn Junction in quite humid conditions. Once we came out into the open, we could see that the cloud cover was quite low. A quick stop at Maymorn Junction and we were off to our first hut, Renata. We had an early lunch at Renata, took the obligatory photo and did the relevant admin.

After lunch we headed off along Renata Ridge to Elder Hut. Pretty soon after leaving Renata Hut we were in cloud and there was a lot of water on the track with a lot of mossy bogs to negotiate. We were keen to make good time to Elder Hut anxious that it might be full and we'd have to sleep outside or find a camping spot somewhere, which wouldn't have been very pleasant given the dampness of the clouds. Arriving at Elder Hut just before 4.00pm we were relieved to find it empty. Score!!

The tap on the water tank was still not functioning so it was good that we hadn't carried the extra water all of that way in earnest. We spent a pleasant evening organising ourselves, cooking our dinner and reading the very recent Wilderness magazines that were there. We were in bed by 7.30pm.

Overnight the conditions changed a number of times from quite heavy rain to clear skies with vibrant stars visible everywhere. I was hopeful of some good views come the morning. No such luck. By morning the cloud was back.

We set of early at 6.00am, in low light, knowing we had a long day ahead of us. Again, there was a lot of water on the mossy track along Renata ridge and in parts the track was quite overgrown. As we approached Aston we got a few glimpses of the surrounding area and the coast line. It was quite a moody environment with the cloud and the sun trying to break through.

From Aston it was another hour down to Alpha Hut, through yet more goblin forest, for a well earned brew of tea and again to take the obligatory photo.

I had decided to take an alternative route to Kaitoke via the Omega track and down the Tauherenikau river. I found the Omega track to be quite a pleasant 1.5 hour route down to the river getting steeper as we approached the river.

Once at the Tauherenikau river we crossed for the short walk to Tutuwai Hut for lunch. There was a group of volunteers painting the hut. We did not venture up to the hut itself in fear of being handed a paint brush or worse some sand paper.

After lunch we were off on the 30 minute walk along the river to find Joe Gibbs Memorial Hut. Dropping our packs at the bottom we took the climb up to Joe Gibbs Memorial Hut for a look. Basic but ok. Another photo with the newsletter.

Off we headed again at a good pace to our final Hut/Shelter to reach – Smiths Creek Shelter. Conscious of the time we longingly looked at the river thinking about a dip. At this point it was quite sunny and hot.

Smith's Creek Shelter, tick, another photo, tick and we were off on the final leg of our walk to Kaitoke via, oh bugger, the Puffer.

We got to the Kaitoke carpark after an 11.5 hour day feeling a bit weary, but good.

Click on these links to take a closer look at our route. Best viewed on a PC/Laptop. Pan, zoom and tilt with mouse buttons.

Day 1 - Akatarawa Saddle-Renata Hut-Elder Hut
Day 2 - Elder Hut-Alpha Hut-Kaitoke via Omega and Tauherenikau River

Those on the trip were:

Marcia Goode, Matt Freeland, Rob Dey

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.