By Justin Atkinson, 31 May 2026
After a starry night at Tutuwai hut, there was strong demand in the club for a dedicated stargazing trip. Much of the Tararua Forest Park sits within the Wairarapa Dark Sky Reserve, making it ideal for spotting the universe.
A groundswell of astronomical ambitions were guided by an awesome effort to improve the condition of Wellington's hut network. As of writing this report, the Greater Wellington Backcountry Network (GWBN) has sent an orange bucket filled with maintenance supplies to every hut in Wellington/Kāpiti/Wairarapa. This is helping encourage hut users to "do their bit" in caring for our huts. A big shoutout to Andrew from GWBN for his efforts in this space.
With Atiwhakatu Hut in need of a bucket and part of the Dark Sky Reserve, we stuffed a small car with a telescope, an orange bucket, and four packs. Only then did we try fitting four people in! After many attempts at closing the boot and doors did we find a snug fit.
Atiwhakatu is a family-friendly destination with a 2-3 hour one-way walk, but it can also be hiked as part of the 24km Mt Holdsworth circuit. The Atiwhakatu track has swing bridges aplenty, which typically have single person weight limits. It's great for a chill overnight stay or day walk.
Justin passed out from carrying both the telescope and the bucket, and we hadn't even left the carpark. He was revived by the appearance of a friend of the club: Rebecca from the Federated Mountain Clubs! Speaking as a former VUWTC secretary, I knew first hand how Rebecca has helped out our club, so we had a nice catch-up! She was also out enjoying the Holdsworth trails. We then immediately bumped into a massive LandSAR group doing training. We stood out with an emergency orange bucket, so we made things easier for them!
The track to Atiwhakatu starts out flat and heads up a bluff, before dropping down and following a mostly flat track dotted with boardwalks. We found a stoat lying perfectly upright on a trap, which we poked with a stick to confirm it wasn't with us. It took us 3 hours to the hut juggling the bucket, which is definitely not light! Shoutout to the awesome people who hauled buckets all the way up the steep parts of the Tararuas.
We bumped into friendly Japanese tourists, who gave us sour squirms to sugarcoat the bad news that the hut was almost full! Luckily it was a bookable hut, we told them, as they'd just walked in for the day.
Bookending the walk with familiar faces, two old classmates from Onslow College appeared right after we got to Atiwhakatu. They were onto day 5 of a rugged Tararua quest, having just walked over the Main Range via the famous McGregor plane wreck and Powell Hut. They chilled with us a while, and then headed off to the Holdsworth road end for their final leg.
The hut was completely packed. There were several big families but everyone was well behaved, including us. We had a chill evening, and proudly hauled the bucket into the hut. Go GWBN!
The next day, we had a chill sleep-in and still had time to make an early arrival back in Welly, so we returned the way we came. Close to the carpark we met a scary tree with a big mouth, but he was actually friendly and we posed with him. Before returning home we had an important detour to make.
Clareville Bakery review:
The seeds for a review of Clareville Bakery were planted early on the way to Atiwhakatu. A younger kid walking in the group ahead of us kept backtracking to tell us all about his family's plans to visit this famous bakery for its King's Birthday special pie.
This excitement caught on, and by the end of King's Birthday we couldn't resist visiting. It's literally 30 seconds south along SH2 after turning off from the Mt Holdsworth turnoff. Happily the kid's advertisements were true, the pies and coffee were amazing! The bakery is near Carterton, defo worth a stop whether you're tramping in the area or not! :)
