21-22 November 2020

Leader: Patrick Liss

Four of us were on this trip. We departed Paraparaumu at 8:30 Saturday on an overcast day and the first stop was at the Riverstone Café in Otaki. From there we proceeded to the Poads Road car park from where we began our climb to Waiopehu Hut.

The weather was quite mild, heavily overcast and windy. The forecast rain didn’t eventuate until after we reached the hut at about 3pm. About 5 people were already in residence. After claiming our bunks we had an enjoyable afternoon brewing and eating. Gradually other trampers arrived and there were about 14 in total. (Plenty of room for everyone). There were some heavy showers and strong winds during the night and it was still pretty wild in the morning.

After some debate we decided to head off towards Gable End (our planned route) with the option of turning back if the weather turned worse, however, it actually started to clear soon after we left the hut and we were pleased with our decision. It took about an hour and a half to reach the Gable End turnoff where we met a friend of David’s who had been staying at Te Matawai Hut. It was a pleasant walk down Gable End, but extremely muddy in parts.

After a lunch break at the Ohau River, we ambled back to the car.

Those on the trip were:

Patrick Liss, Marian Cox, Paula Richardson, David Williams

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.