Up until a few days prior we did not have a designated driver and may have been faced with carpooling and possibly doing something more local instead. New driver Karen Russell came to the rescue and drove like she had been doing it for years. Many thanks, Karen!
We got away from The Strand pretty much on time and headed south in steady rain, before making a toilet stop at Ngatea. Also stopping here was the big blue Auckland Tramping Club bus enroute to climb Mount Karangahake. Five kilometres past Karangahake we turned down Waitawheta Road and made our way to our starting point at the car park outside the Log Cabin just short of the end of Franklin Road.
Interesting to note that there were about 8 cars in the carpark indicating that there would most likely be a number of people staying overnight at the hut. We started our tramp at 10.30 am with raincoats on as it was still raining, albeit not heavily.
The first part of the tramp goes over private farmland before we entered the Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park and walked alongside the Waitawheta River. We soon came upon some of the railway sleepers a lot of which had become well embedded in the track.
We also came upon several young families who were walking out from the hut and back to their vehicles.
About halfway to Waitawheta Hut (our lunchtime goal) we crossed the first of a number of large well constructed suspension bridges and to the site of a replica logging bogie (a tram cart that carried the massive logs) Then continuing on along the tramline through the Waitawheta Gorge.
The scenery in the gorge is absolutely spectacular with gigantic boulders, towering rock walls, and regenerating bush including young kauri, rimu, kohekohe and pukatea.
At times we walked through a beautiful canopy of trees that as the weather improved sprinkled much appreciated sunlight upon us. About three quarters of an hour before the hut the rain stopped and everyone was pleased to shed raincoats as a degree of heat and humidity accompanied the now almost perfectly clear blue skies.
Next up a river crossing with lots of rock hoping stones that minimised getting wet feet followed by a toilet stop in a well constructed outhouse sitting majestically on the opposite riverbank. Needless to say it was well patronised particularly by the fairer sex, before we pushed on to the hut.
Just short of the hut there is the well named toilet bowl waterfall offering close up views of the water swirling down the bowl!
A couple of minutes later and we were at the Waitawheta Hut. Time for a well deserved lunch for although there were no hills on this tramp the ground was very rocky and uneven underfoot necessitating taking particular care of each step we made.
This 26 bunk hut would be five star on a scale of lots of huts around New Zealand. A large veranda, BBQ table seating and very spacious.
After lunch I split the group into two with Roger taking a faster party of six on the return journey and the remaining thirteen coming back at a medium pace with me.
As we made our way back we passed a large number of secondary school children in two separate groups heading towards the hut. Doing their Duke of Edinburgh Award. What a great place to be able to do this.
We were all back at the bus by 4.30 pm and shortly afterwards retraced our steps back to The Strand. We got back right on 7.00 pm. Nearly all had not done this tramp before and agreed that it had been a very interesting and worthwhile experience.