What is the BushBall??? 

Why a grand ball-of-a-time in the bush of course!

As the name suggests, this will be a party in the bush, with some amazing decor, fabulous costumes and really cool people! BYOD.

BushBall is a themed party, so YOU MUST DRESS UP! (Otherwise you will be sad). Especially as there are PRIZES for best dressed!

This year's theme: Fairytales!

From the Brothers Grimm, to modern Disney adaptations, or whatever fairytales you grew up with, we want to see these stories brought to LIFE!

COST TO BE CONFIRMED!!

What will happen:

We will meet at the Hunter Carpark at 12pm on Saturday the 13th of June.

Then we will bus/or get into cars and drive to the YMCA camp in Kaitoke (43min drive). 

We will walk to Smiths Creek Shelter (an easy walk, about 6kms) 2 hours, maybe 3 if you’re slow. 

Then: we will set up our tents and flies (we will provide these) and then the party will unfold! 

What you need to bring:

• Your Fabulous Costume!

• Your dinner, breakfast, lunch and plenty of snacks!

• Pack + Pack liner/drybags

• Raincoat

• Headtorch + spare batteries

• Boots + socks

• Shorts + teeshirt not cotton

• Fleece/wool jumper not cotton

• Thermal top and bottom

• Warm hat, gloves and neck gaiter

• Sunhat + sunscreen

• 1L+ water bottle

• Personal first aid kit + personal medication

• Toilet paper + hand sanitizer

• Sleeping bag

•  Sleeping mat

• Toothbrush + toiletries

•  Bowl, mug and cutlery

It's the start of winter now, so make sure you bring PLENTY of warm clothing.

THIS TRIP IS LIMTED TO 18+ years of age

Cost: TBD

Cost will cover transport, and some highly important party supplies.

https://www.wildernessmag.co.nz/creeping-along-carkeek/?srsltid=AfmBOop4UKvyLtJENMQdtb43H5kDuQqIHeuWwKeTxa3vgFyjy-VZgiGx

This is the route we will take.

Plan is to sleep at Arete, walk in from Poads road. Should be a chill first day. 

From Arete to Carkeek, and then depending on weather we can go up to Nichols hut and walk out that way, or go back the way we came.

Inspired by the recent morning swims, we thought we might organise something at a more reasonable time of day!

It will be a swim (or a frantic dip!) for those who want to brave the ocean, but we will also bring camp stoves, thermoses, and some food. 

This will of course be weather dependent - if it's raining we might reschedule or maybe bring the picnic indoors somewhere.

Where: Oriental Bay

What to bring: 

• Togs
• Towel
• LOTS of warm layers, hat, gloves
• Camp stove and gas and pots if you have them
• Bowl/plate/mug and cutlery
• Something yummy to share around
• Picnic blanket if you have one

Classic main range loop. I'm mainly doing this so I can visit the steel ladder, but am also generally just keen to check out the Hector-Maungahuka traverse.

None of the days should be particularly long or arduous. We'll get lots of tops though, so this is very weather dependent. Dates are subject to change based on arbitrary metrics determined by me.

You need to be a competent tramper, etc.

Cost = petrol + very basic breakfast and dinner. Feel free to bring more interesting stuff to add!

Rough plan:

Walk into Kime in the afternoon of day 1.

Wake up early and pop up to the top of Hector for the sunrise, then back to Kime & spend the day crossing to Maungahuka.  Hopefully we'll have plenty of time left in the day, and can continue through to Aokaparangi.

Day 3 zoom past Anderson memorial (maybe a cheaky side mish to Jac's Biv?), and sleep at Waitewaiwai.

Day 4 easy walk out along the valley.

For the long weekend we will be heading up to Kawakawa Bay on lake Taupo. It's a 5 hour drive then a 2 hour ish walk to the campsite.

We'll climb sat/sun/Monday morning and then drive home in the arvo to be back Monday night. We will be camping on the lake  

Only sign up if you know how to lead belay/climb safely. 

Costs will be determined later depending on how many people want to come and how many cars we take. Currently we have one full car but if someone else signs up with a car we can make it bigger.

we will send an email closer to the time to figure out a more accurate plan. Also email me if you have a question. 
 

Welcome to Wednesday Climbing Nights!

Want to try indoor climbing for the first time, or meet some like-minded climbers? Come along to our weekly climb nights! We climb at Hangdog (Bouldering & Top roping) in Lower Hutt, and Faultline (Bouldering) on Willis St. 

This week, we'll be climbing at Faultline. There are grades for every level of experience, so no matter how much climbing experience you have you’ll have plenty to get stuck into! 

This week: Faultline

Entry costs: $15 + $3 for shoes 

This is not paid for through the club—there is no piking fee if you pull out. Pay at FL when we arrive.

To get the VUWTC entry price, just let the front desk know you are with VUWTC. Our discounted price is only from 5:30 pm onwards on Wednesdays.

I'd like to pencil in a trip, say on Sunday because that's when the weather clears, to investigate the waterfall rock crag at Mt Kaukau for development. The trip would be open to anyone tramping at at least a medium-ish grade along the rough access track, but the rock climbing part would only be for people who have done rockcraft as it's not a good place to learn. It's an undeveloped crag so there will be some rigging top ropes and abseils off trad gear and trees, as well as wherever Beatrice's bolts are, I'm pretty confident at that. Maybe everyone wears a helmet for additional health and safety points. 

Are people keen to help out with something like that? It's a really beautiful spot, it would be really nice to develop it to run summer evening climbing trips. 

Message me if you're interested and I can sort out some climbing gear. Should we say meet at Simla Crescent station at 9:46am when the train gets in.