By Max Honiss, 11 April 2025
Bag all the huts in the Tararuas
Given my rather boozy, jump-jammed, fuelled trip for bag all the huts last year. where we missed 2 huts out of 46. I was rather keen to plan a more serious trip for myself and even more keen to Bag all the huts in the Tararuas this year!
However, as Kate was busy, I was given the task of organising this year's attempt and putting together multiple trips! Luckily, with the help of Tommy, Chris, and Jack, we mapped out a rather crazy looking set of routes on a bunch of maps taped together on the floor of Chris’s flat.
We ended up with 10 trips all semi-planned across all 46 huts, looking like a giant spider web across the Tararuas. We had trips ranging from Friday arvo through to Tuesday (the full 5 days of the trip), into more beginner-friendly overnighters! It was awesome to be able to scheme such a variety of trips and have an option for beginners through to the likes of Tommy, Chris, and Fliss and Finlay, who set off on some more brazen adventures (or misadventures?) into the Tararuas.
This year, we had decided on our official hut count being 46, including bivvies! And we had 5 days to bag them all over 10 trips and roughly 30 trampers! The weekend slowly rolled around, and the weather looked mint. Maybe this year would be our year! With fingers and toes crossed, different groups headed off into the Tararua ranges in hopes of bagging all the huts!
From Carkeek to Kime, Burn to Tutuwai, Winchcombe biv to Powell groups saw a huge variety of different huts from all over the ranges, as well as vast differences in terrain and scenery!
AND! The weather managed to hold out (mostly) and we managed to make it to all 46 huts!! Plus, bag an extra two unofficial huts plus a water tank, thanks to Tommy's side mission.
So technically, we bagged 104.35% of all (official-ish) huts in the Tararuas?
Overall, it was an awesome trip (trips?), and I had so much fun on my own mission, and it sounded like everybody else did too! Can't wait for the twopeat next year?!
-Max Honiss
