Three day hike in the Waioeka: Moanui - Koranga Forks - Tawa Loop

When you’re a townie like me, hiking in the backcountry always means driving a few hours. Usually down a gravel road with potholes, and the odd tree blocking the road. Moanui Road in the Waioeka Conservation Area had two out of three, luckily for me, it wasn’t a fallen tree because I don’t own a chainsaw yet. The carpark and start of the Moanui-Koranga Forks-Tawa Loop is about a 40 minute drive from Waioeka Gorge Road and then Te Wera Road turn-off. You can get through the gravel road on a 2WD drive, but the potholes can be pretty unforgiving to a low-riding bumper.

I started my walk around 11am - fortunately it was overcast with a lovely breeze so I didn’t have to suffer the midday heat. The Moanui Track starts off on farmland as it follows the Koranga River. The bush sections are well graded and marked (orange triangles), while the open farmland had large, yellow wooden posts. Some sections narrowed down to double my boot width with steep drop offs, but as long as you watch your step, it’s fairly easy to get through. These are working farms, so keep your distance from livestock and leave gates as you find them (or follow instructions on signs).

Pudding Basin Falls and Wednesday Falls

Walk in from the Ngamarama Track at the end of Whakamarama Road - look out for the DoC track sign to the right of the main car park. It's tucked away in the corner of the grassy area with the wooden picnic tables. There’s another entrance about 50m away, but there’s only room for one car there, so you're better off walking in from the main car park (it’s on your right as you are driving towards the car park). I actually walked in from the tiny car park as I didn’t see the sign the first time - this part of the track was narrow with long grass and gorse, but it eventually meets up with the main track after five minutes.

The forest section is a lovely, gentle downhill on a well-formed track. I reckon this was the last time my socks were dry. Here's the thing about hiking in the Kaimai-Mamaku Forest - you don't have to love walking in mud, you just have to be ok with it. Tall gaiters also come in handy in the tall grass on the way down to the waterfalls and the stream crossings. You will come across remnants of the old tramlines - even though the track itself isn’t too challenging as a hike, think about trying to transport giant milled Kauri back in the day. A lot of water pools between the tramlines, keeping the track wet and muddy for most of the year.

Pahāutea Hut via Tirohanga and Maraukura Loop in the Pirongia Forest

Some adventures don’t always go to plan, and in the seven years I’ve been solo hiking, this one takes the cake! I had been on a road trip in the North Island performing poetry and had a few days up my sleeve in Hamilton before my next gig, so I decided to head to nearby Pirongia Forest. I parked up at the Grey Road car park (by the Pirongia Forest Lodge) with the intention of an overnighter to Pahāutea Hut via Tirohanga Track then walking out on the Maraukura Track the following day. If you want to do the loop, start on the Mangakara Nature Walk from the car park, then look out for the Ruapane Trig Lookout connection track. According to the DoC website, it’s easier to walk-in via Tirohanga Track, and I would have to agree with them.

Pahāutea Hut is about 30 minutes from the 959m Mt. Pirongia summit. Unfortunately there was thick fog at both times I went past, so I don’t have any photos of the views. It’s a 20-bunk bookable hut with several campsites nearby. There are multiple tracks that lead to the hut, so check out the DoC website for up-to-date track conditions. The terrain was often a challenging steep scramble, rooty with glorious thick mud that leads to incredible views (when the fog clears). Being in the middle of winter, the sooner you accept the bog, the quicker you’ll move past it.

There are chains on parts of the track (before and after the trig) - these definitely came in handy as the rocks were slippery from the rain. It took me back to my rock climbing days, and these short legs did have to tap into some short-girl-beta. If you’re a scrambler like me, take extra care that you don’t grab onto the pockets of gorse or cutty grass hiding in the bush - damn, that shizz hurts!

River exploring in the Ikawhenua Ranges

“Leave it! No! Leave it!” I thought I was alone on the track when her voice boomed through the birds and the light breeze. A few minutes later, I saw a woman walking towards me carrying a dead possum in her left hand, with a dog on her right. The dog seemed proud of his find, and somewhat annoyed that the woman wouldn't let him enjoy it. “I’m trying to find a tree high enough to hang it on so he can’t get to it next time.” We both laughed. She must have been a local living nearby, there weren’t any other cars parked up when I got there.

I was back in the Ikawhenua Ranges in Galataea - I had walked up Mt Tawhiuau a few times, but had never the Galatea Foothills Track. It was a good morning for it, almost-spring weather meant a couple of layers but rain wasn’t on the radar that day. The Kahikatea canopy stood tall, but not thick enough that sunshine couldn’t get through to the forest floor.

Egmont National Park: Around the Mountain Circuit (well, almost) - Part 2

As you can tell from the title, I ‘almost’ made it around the mountain. Day four was massive, bloody hell it was 14 hours! The reality is, even though we only covered about 10km, the elevation gain was more than what my body could handle. We’re talking 1,300m from Waiaua Gorge Hut to Syme Hut. So yeah, here’s a run down of the day.

Mark and I left the Waiaua Gorge Hut by 7am - there was enough light to start walking the bush track to the Brames Falls junction. The group of eight were heading to Kopuni Lodge, which is a private lodge downhill from the Fantham’s Peak junction. It was just as well as there wouldn’t have been any room at Syme Hut.

The group of four ladies we met at the hut also told us to keep an eye out for wasps. “You’ll know they’re there when they find you.” She wasn’t wrong. We were climbing a typical uphill scramble, the kind that was steep enough that I might as well have been climbing a ladder. I felt a sharp pain on the top of my head, and I’m pretty sure the F-bomb came out of my mouth a few times. I never climbed so fast in my life! Mark was right up behind me and once we got onto a flat section, we bolted. That was the first time I’ve been stung when out tramping.

Egmont National Park: Around the Mountain Circuit (well, almost) - Part 1

We had nothing but clear, blue skies as we sat on Mark’s boot having an early lunch before setting off to Holly Hut. He had made me a beef and egg wrap with Kimchi which was going down a treat - what a good friend he is! After popping into the visitor centre to check the current track and weather conditions, we set off for Holly Hut under the midday sun.

This was our first multi-day tramp together, although we had done a winter Tongariro Alpine Crossing through the Pinoy Adventurers NZ group too. I learned early on that our definition of ‘steep’ is not quite the same. We had the option of taking the usual track or taking a more scenic route via Tahurangi Lodge. I asked if there was much difference in the elevation, especially since we had six days worth of food to carry. “It’s pretty much the same.” No Mark, it really wasn’t, because there was a beast of a gut-buster just before the lodge that he had forgotten about!