5-6 March 2022

Leader: Tony Quayle

Perfect weather and small team of keen trampers set the scene for this trip. For most of us it was our first visit to the new Iron Gate Hut, and Nisa was looking forward to her first overnight stay in a backcountry hut.

Saturday was a straightforward walk up the Oroua Valley track, with a quick stop at Alice Nash Lodge and lunch beside the sparkling river a short distance before the Tunupo Creek crossing. It was here we met Yeun An, a lively and energetic Massey Ag Science student on a solo tramp, her first in the Ruahines. Later in the day, Yeun accepted our invitation to join us walking out over the Ngamoko Range on Sunday. And just like that, we gained an enthusiastic new club member. Welcome to the Parawais, Jeun An!

A group of Feilding Venturer Scouts rounded-out the Iron Gate Hut accommodation that night, with several of our group opting to sleep in tents.

After an initial steep climb, the long ridge leading to the Ngamoko Range is very pleasant walking and we were soon enjoying lunch on the crest of the range in perfect, cloudless and windless conditions. Three kilometres of glorious tops travel later we were on Tunupo, quite literally the high point of our trip. A great place to relax and soak up the views. Another delightful, but lengthy, spur took us back to the valley track, with frontrunners Yingjun and Yeun continuing on to top up water bottles for the rest of the team.

Rehydrated, we walked the last 30 minutes or so back to the cars.

Those on the trip were:

Chris Keating, Glenda Robb, Kate Livingston, Nisa Promchot, Tony Quayle, Yeun An, Yingjun Shelton