Labour Weekend 24-26 October 2020

Leader: Chris Keating

The forecast was for light rain and northwesterly winds rising to gale in the Tararuas. Our intention was to travel up Table Ridge and south along the tops to either Mid King or Mitre on the Sunday, but the prospects for doing that were not looking good.

Owen and I travelled with David over the Remutaka Hill on the Saturday morning. After meeting Kate in Tauherenikau and having coffee at Everest Cafe, we headed for the Kiriwhakapapa camping area north of Masterton where we joined John who had travelled over from Palmerston North.

The weather was kind to us, and after a steep climb up the Blue Range, lunch at the Blue Range Hut turnoff, a steep descent to the Waingawa valley, and a brief trip up-river, we arrived at Cow Creek Hut. As expected, given the limited western Tararua access due to road closure, the Cow Creek Hut was full, so we set up camp in a clearing in the bush nearby. By now the wind had picked up and this continued through the night. Some of the trampers in the hut had travelled up Table Ridge that day and had turned back because of high winds.

On Sunday morning the wind was still gusting so we abandoned our Table Ridge plans and headed down-valley with Mitre Flats as our destination. The Waingawa River track was very pleasant despite having the usual up and down bits, a fair bit of mud, and a lot of track a long way up above the river. The weather was kind to us with alternating periods of sunshine, cloud, and drizzle, and the bush sheltered us from the high winds.

As expected the Mitre Flats Hut was full, so we set up our tents in various positions in and around the bush bordering Mitre Flats. By now the wind was gusting on and off sometimes quite strongly and there was the occasional bit of drizzle alternating with bits of sunshine. Thoughts of travelling up to Mid King Biv during the afternoon soon faded because of the weather and we spent the afternoon having a late, leisurely lunch followed by afternoon tea etc.

By Monday morning we had decided to return to Kiriwhakapapa by finding a route over the Blue Range above Mitre Flats. After crossing the swing bridge we followed the track upwards for a short distance then left the track and climbed around 400 m on a broad bush-covered ridge up to a pair of peaks marked 865m. From the northern 865m peak we dropped down on the ridge running out to the east. A mixture of stream, bush and old tram track travel then took us out to the old tram track along the Mikimiki Stream, a track that is now used for mountain biking and is well maintained. A long climb up to a saddle on the bike track and a shorter trip down the other side took us back to the Californian Redwood trees and the carpark at Kiriwhakapapa.

John headed for home going north in his car and the rest of us headed south in David’s car, stopping on the way at the Ten O’Clock Cookie Bakery Cafe in Masterton for some very welcome refreshments.

Those on the trip were:

Chris Keating, David Williams, Owen Cox, Kate Livingston, John Sturgess