ANZAC 22-25 April 2022

Leader: Owen Cox

ANZAC weekend was an opportunity to do a trip into the central Tararua Range.

We started at Holdsworth Lodge late morning after driving over from Kapiti. The rivers were all up as there had been some good rain in the Tararua Range over night. The weather was still overcast. After a latish lunch we headed up the Rain Gauge Spur track to Jumbo Hut. By the time we got there I was feeling it. Despite this we were going to go on to Macgregor but just before we started out, rain and wind arrived. I then booked the hut (using a cell phone as there is coverage).

The next day was beautiful, still and sunny.

Our route took us up to Angle Knob and then down onto Shingle Slip Knob. The first bit below Angle Knob has a few steep bits and sidles which were more fun than a problem. On Shingle Slip Knob we checked out the Devon crash and the graves of the two crew. The crash is even older than me.

After lunch on top in the sun we headed down one of the ridges to the Waiohine River. We were aiming for the small bivvy on Jacks Flat. The bottom of the spur was very steep and we ended up a short distance up a small side stream. As luck would have it we were between waterfalls. We dropped down one to find a third waterfall below us that was too big to jump and which we needed to climb around. So back up the fall we had just dropped over and then an interesting little rock climb up the top waterfall to a place where we could sidle around the bottom of the side stream. Once there we headed down-river, with a couple of deep pools, before we reached a small flat where the GPS said the bivvy would be. We found a cut stump and from there a frame over the door of the bivvy was visible. The bivvy is an old one that was relocated to the Waiohine site some years ago. It looked scungy from outside as it was covered with a mossy, mouldy tarpaulin.

However, the inside was dry, not mouldy and the mattresses were clean so we had a good night.

Our route next morning was up the river to the McGregor Spur. The river is beautiful but fairly rough in this stretch. It also had some deep crossings as it was was not low summer flow. Climbing onto the bottom of the Spur from the Angle Knob Creek fork starts with a bit of cliff climbing. After and hour or so we had lunch and the ridge started levelling out. Not long after lunch we met the marked track from Dorset Creek to McGregor Bivouac. There were two people in the bivvy when we got there so we camped just behind it in bush.

The last day was a bit cloudy. We climbed back to the ridge and headed past Angle Knob to Jumbo. Given the cloud it was an easy choice to head down the Atiwhakatu back to Holdsworth Lodge.

Those on the trip were:

Marcia Goode, Owen Cox