Tutuwai Hut Septermber 10th/11th 2011

By achim, 15 September 2011

This weekend Jussi and Anne decided to walk me in the Tararua Ranges.

On Saturday morning we caught the train to Woodside (the station after Featherston) and followed for an hour on a quiet metalled road to the Mt Reeves nature reserve. From there on they let me free of the leash and I ran forward and backward, climbed trees and showed my masters the best places for lunch – life is great! In between I lied on my back(pack) and waited till they catch up. The wind stopped before we reached the top of Mt Reeves (900m).  The clouds covered the west side of the main ridge at 1200m, but we enjoyed sun shine and the view over lake Wairarapa. The fun running downhill was only surpassed by a short cold splash in the Tauherenikau River. Before my masters reached Tutuwai Hut, I prepared tea and lighted the fire... for dinner some caned food: beans@Taco-Saturday!

Sunday was a bit cloudier, we headed down the valley. Full of energy I ran through the river bank, hunted down beautiful photo spots and started reading the newspaper (I didn't bring the paper for my master). Finally I took tree branches from the recent windfalls off the tramping path. We had lunch in the river bed close to Smith Creek shelter. A light drizzle increased our walking speed a bit. Finally we reached the YMCA camp at Kaitoke, where we called a taxi to Upper Hutt Train Station.

The weekend couldn't have been more relaxing - thanks for taking me for a walk!