Trip intentions

Keen to go birdspotting, visit a cool part of Wellington, and support conservation efforts? Awesome, this is the trip for you!

We're taking part in the NZ Garden Bird Survey 2024. We'll go for a short walk around Wellington's Botanic Gardens. Central in location, this garden is full of amazing trees and wildlife. We'll meet at the top of the Cable Car at 2pm. You can catch that from town or alternatively walk there from Kelburn.

We'll then choose a good birdspotting location. For 1 hour, we'll write down all the species we see. We'll then enter these into an online database, which will sit alongside the efforts of thousands of other New Zealanders. This trip is pretty social too, there's plenty of time to talk to each other!

Bring snacks, a water bottle, good walking shoes, and good vibes!

Adventureworks (an outdoor education company) are looking for people to learn some bush skills as part of their instructor training! The training is completely free and a good chance to learn some new skills as well as help some new outdoor ed instructors get their qualification. Details are below. We'll organise carpooling from town for the day, so if you have a car we'd love to have you along :))

Come along for a classic northern Tararua tramp! This trip will be medium hard with a decent amount of elevation and open tops travel but days shouldn't be longer than about 8hrs. Group size limited to 5 as we'll only take one car and most of the huts only sleep 6. I don't have a car (but have a full licence so could drive someone else's) so the trip will be dependant on someone with a car signing up. There's a little bit of flexibility with dates so if you're keen but the dates don't quite line up, sign up anyway and we'll see if we can make it work!

Day One: Walk from Putara road end to Dundas Hut via Herepai. Approx. 7hrs. 

Day Two: Walk to Arete Forks Hut via Dundas Ridge and Arete Hut. Approx. 8hrs. 

Day Three: Walk to Cattle Ridge Hut via Cattle ridge. Approx. 5.5hrs. Or we could go another 2hrs to Roaring Stag Hut. 

Day Four: Head out to Putara road end. Approx 6hrs from Cattle Ridge Hut or 4hrs from Roaring Stag Hut. 

*KAPAKAPANUI PLAN POSTONED*

We will go to Parawai Lodge instead! https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/wellington-kapiti/places/tararua-forest-park/things-to-do/huts/parawai-lodge/

The hut and track links:

https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/wellington-kapiti/places/tararua-forest-park/things-to-do/huts/kapakapanui-hut/ 

https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/wellington-kapiti/places/tararua-forest-park/things-to-do/tracks/kapakapanui-track/

We will drive up to the start at Ngatiawa road early on Sunday, take our time hiking to the hut, and have a shared dinner. It is about 3 hours to the hut. The aim in the morning is to get up early and hike back down roughly before noon (flexible). We will either complete the Kapakapanui loop or head back the way we came (will double check that this is a doable option). Pack your own snacks and 2 lunches, but breakfast will probably also be shared. 

This a steep hike with rough and muddy sections, along with 9 river crossings at the start. Currently the wood heater is not functional. Bring enough warm clothing and be prepared to get wet. If the weather is looking bad we will look at doing Pāua Hut or another similar overnighter, or cancelling if needed. The hut sleeps 6, but we can have more people on the trip if some people are willing to tent if good weather and we can get an additonal car.

Cost: $10 hut pass and money for gas and shared dinner

Come along on a medium overnighter in the Tararuas! On this trip we’ll be driving out to Waiohine Gorge carpark early Friday morning (around 8 or 9am, TBC), approx. a 1.5 hr drive. Then we’ll be walking to Tutuwai hut from there to stay the night. It’s around a 4 hour walk and we can stop at Cone hut for lunch or a break. The next day we’ll walk back the same way we came, and then drive back to Welly that afternoon/evening. At the moment the trip will be limited to 5 as that’s all the space in the car, but if that fills up and anyone else wants to bring another car we can potentially have more people. Tutuwai hut has 20 bunks so that shouldn’t be an issue.

Bring: 

• Enough food for the 2 days (breakfast, 2 lunches, a dinner, and snacks) + gas cooker if you need it
• tea + cup (if you want)
• Plenty of warm clothing/layers plus spares, it could be cold!
• Beanie and gloves if you want
• Rain jacket
• Sleeping bag
• Headtorch
• Plenty of water
• Toilet paper
• Other personal items like toiletries etc.

Cost:

• 1 blue hut ticket ($10, can be bought at outdoor shops), or free with annual hut pass if you have it. I also have a few spare hut tickets for anyone who can’t get one :)
• Possibly $5 each for fuel