Choo chooing across the Waitotara Forest

Chugga chugga choo choo!! All aboard the Waitōtara Express! I'm keen to explore a little-known section of forest just south of Whanganui Natl Park called the Waitotara Conservation Area. There's a bunch of cool huts and other sights. All of the huts fit 6 people, so the trip won't be more than that.

On the 1st day, we'll drive to the Taumatatahi road end. It is about 4 hours drive from Wellington, with Whanganui the last major town before going into the back country. Once there, we'll set off to Trains Hut, a medium level 4-5hr hike. This is along a standard tramping track. There's a cool waterfall just before Trains hut.

We'll stay the night at Trains hut. On day 2 we'll travel 4-5hr walk to Tahupo hut along a poled route, requiring some trickier but not too hard navigation. We'll then u-turn and return to Trains hut to stay a 2nd night. On day 3 we'll return to Taumatatahi rd end and drive back to Welly, so hopefully we'll end up back home by 7-8pm.

Some important things to note:

• There are multiple slips, dropoffs and windfalls on the track, so we will take extra care around these
• The water supply at Tahupo hut may potentially dry up, so we'll have to make sure we have plenty of water (Trains is next to a river)
• Some of the track will be overgrown, but recent efforts in the past two years have improved it a lot
• There's a bunch of wasps in the area, they're most common between Jan and May, so hopefully we avoid the worst of them