8-11 March 2025

Leader: Owen Cox

This was a four-day trip to bag some of the more remote huts in the Tararua Ranges.

We started on Saturday from Poads Road with the trip up the Ohau River which was straight forward as the river was low. We left South Ohau Hut with the intention of going to Te Matawai Hut and then going to Arete Hut for the night. As we plodded up the Yeates 500 Track, the sky darkened. At the top we heard impressive thunder that came in from Orewa Peak. By the time we got to Te Matawai Hut we were well wetted. The cloud towards Pukematawai looking a bit nasty, so we decided (at around 5pm) to stop for the night at the hut. Two hours later, a couple of Te Araroa walkers turned up from Nichols Hut. They had pitched their tent to shelter from the earlier thunderstorm and carried on once the worst of the storm had passed.

On Sunday we had an early start. Pukematawai was clear when we got there but we had some mist over Arete. After a snack at Arete Hut we headed along the Northern Ridge to Lancaster for a stop after the steep section from Lancaster to Carkeek Ridge. We had overcast and some mist on the way down Carkeek Ridge to the hut. We got there around 4 finding the hut full of Masterton trampers who had flown in. After a chat and food, we headed to our planned destination of Nichols Hut.

The track down to Park Forks is better marked than last time I did it with less scrubby stuff to push through. Still not fast though. After a rest at Park Forks we plodded up the vague track to the ridge and Nichols. This gets better a couple of hundred metres up as you get on a more distinct spur. The top bit near the bush edge is steeper. It got dark on us near the top on the steepest bit. The scrub and tussock on the top is pretty well chewed out so no problems wandering over it.

We were still pleased to hit the Te Araroa Track for the last 10 minutes to Nichols Hut. There were two Te Araroa walkers there plus a guy with a gun. The guy was a bit protective of his space in the hut. Not such a flash night, never have I heard such loud and varied snoring, nor such lengthy sleep talking monologues.

Next morning, we were up reasonably early for a beautiful day. The hunter proved sociable in the morning and was quite chatty. We had a very pleasant walk through the long saddle to Junction and Kelliher and then over Puketoro. We lunched at Dracophyllum Hut in the sun. Then we took the spur off Dracophyllum into the Otaki River aiming for the confluence of Collie Creek and the Otaki River. This took a bit longer than I expected and we also ended up in Collie Creek a few easy minutes up the creek. From Collie Creek we headed up an easy bit of the Otaki River for an hour or so and then camped by an open flat just upstream of Waiopehu Stream.

On Tuesday morning we headed up the spur behind our camp. This was easy bush travel which took us to the Dora Track half an hour from Richards Knob. The last stretch to Richards Knob is through scrub and we had a bit of drizzle for the climb. We then headed down the Gable End Ridge Track. The mud was pretty dried up so the tramping was not bad going. We had lunch just below the muddy section in the bush. This was followed by the walk to the Ohau River Track and out to Poads Road.

Those on the trip were:

Julie James, Owen Cox, Peter Davis

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.