We were greeted by a sun shower as we pulled into the car park to the Henderson Tramline Loop. There was only one car before us, and I caught a glimpse of the trampers as they disappeared around the corner along Old Kaimai Road. In hindsight, it made sense to walk the road section first - it was the most exposed part and rain was expected later in the afternoon. The track is fairly boggy and crosses a couple of large tributaries of the Rataroa Stream (there are no bridges), so bring your gaiters and prepare to get wet feet.

Getting There

Start of the track: The track starts by the Tuakopae Stream bridge on Old Kaimai Road, off SH29 near Kaimai Summit. A section of the track is on private farmland and walked along the gravel Old Kaimai Road - this will loop back to the car park. If rain is expected, I recommend walking this section first, as the second half of the track is more sheltered and will finish at the car park. There are no toilets at the car park or along the track.

Tramping time: Approx. 3.5 hours (9km loop)

The track starts at the western branch of the Henderson Tramline, with the first section linking up to the North-South Track. I had seen a great photo of another tramper sitting on some boulders in a stream the night before, and I must admit that I got a bit obsessed looking for the spot. I did find it in the end, but I was too wobbly (think a newborn lamb) during the stream crossings so I didn’t get that photo after all. As the weather wasn’t looking too good for later that afternoon, we decided to bypass the waterfall and swimming hole about 15 minutes from the car park. I will save that for the warmer months.

We were under the bush canopy as we followed the tramline and even had sporadic periods of sunshine bursting through. Water tends to pool between the old tramline sleepers, and with the added mud, it was slow-ish going for me. It never seemed to bother Mayer much and I often found him waiting for me further down the track (probably because I had the cheese in my bag).

It was around lunchtime when we reached the North-South Track. That’s where we met the couple I saw near the car park. They decided to walk the road section first because they were worried about the rain - we saw them again as we walked back to the car park along Old Kaimai Road in the rain. After a bit of chit chat about gaiters and GoPros, we followed the track north and eventually found a spot for lunch. Unfortunately it was cut short as the rain finally caught up with us and I started to get cold.

As I scrambled up (or down) some fairly steep sections, this is where I struggled to keep up with Mayer, who didn’t seem to slow down at all. He’s never made me feel bad for going at my pace (I’ve been pretty lucky that my other tramping buddies have been the same), I guess it was just my ego telling me otherwise. Although it’s hard on my legs, I do enjoy the puzzle of finding the short girl beta when it comes to climbing over fallen trees and steep terrain.

The water levels at the bigger stream crossings were no more than ankle deep for me, but I was still pretty slow and wobbly. We found out later that my boots didn’t really have the grip to help with river crossings, not because the soles had worn out, but because the grip itself was only suitable for land. I had bought another pair of boots that are waterproof but had yet to wear them in and caused me some minor ankle bruising so I didn’t bring those. I’ll make sure to wear them in before our Savlon Hut mission in a month’s time.

It started bucketing down by the time we reached the fence line at the edge of the park. Somewhere beneath the water and mud were stairs and these eventually lead down to the last stream crossing. Mayer’s on a hut bagging mission and had a target of 600 by the end of the year, so he was trying to convince me to make Savlon Hut a two-night mission to finish off the huts in the Urutawa Conservation Park. I said sure, as long as he did a video for me (see main photo), not really thinking he would say yes. He did it in one take and it actually took me longer to cross the stream. So, yeah, that’s something to look forward to in October.

The track pops out onto private farmland, so we just followed the markers until it took us back to the Old Kaimai Road. It was a quiet walk back along the gravel road as the rain made it harder to talk, but at least the wind held off and it stayed pretty warm. By the time we got to the car the rain started easing and we even got to enjoy a lovely sunset on the drive back.

fivefootronna is Ronna Grace Funtelar - a thirtyish adventurer, graphic designer and writer. A woman with a curious mind who lives for hiking mountains, outdoor adventures and eating pizza. She has a unique brand of optimism that is a combination of her great enthusiasm for life and cups of coffee during the day.