Road trip
On Thursday afternoon we drove from Wellington and stayed at the wonderful Mangamate Falls Campsite. At least we think it was wonderful, because we barely saw the place during daylight hours.
River Road - Upper Whirinaki Hut via Cave
After arranging secure parking of our vehicles we headed up the well maintained and benched Whirinaki Track which follows the Whirinaki River through a beautiful forest. We stopped by the large Central Whirinaki Hut for lunch before continuing up river to an impressive looking pummis cave. Not being the type to backtrack, we continued up to the Upper Whirinaki Hut via a direct, but rougher, unmaintained track.
Upper Whirinaki Hut - Mangakahika Hut
In order to complete this circuit in the 3.5 days we had available we had to put in a long day somewhere, and this was it. We headed for the Te Hoe track from Upper Whirinaki Hut towards Upper Toe Hut. Like the previous afternoons travel this was a rough track that did not offer the same speed of progress as the benched track downstream. We saw some hunters early in the day who suggested we were being optimistic and that if we did get to Mangakahika in a day then we were "kick a----" trampers. Having read of newly benched track between the next two huts we were not overly concerned because that would allow a chance to cover some km's in a short time. We had a brief moment of views out of the forest as we headed along a ridge before dropping down to Upper Te Hoe Hut - where once again another party suggested we were being a tad optimistic given that it was almost 2pm and it would be dark around 6pm. Admittedly, there was a sign at the point that suggested a travel time to Central Te Hoe Hut would be 5 hours, significantly higher than our estimated 3 hours. We plodded on in search of the alleged lovely benched track. As we found ourselves following an increasingly overgrown track our 3-hour estimate was indeed looking optimistic. Then from nowhere, like mana from heaven a very wide benched track opened up in front of us, and we arrived at the junction to Central Te Hoe Hut in 3:20. After a brief discussion the party agreed to head straight on for Mangakahika Hut. The track was incredibly well maintained, benched track like this is no problem at night aside from the lack of ability to take in the views. 2.5 hours later we arrived at Mangakahika Hut which we had to ourselves for the night.
Mangakahika Hut - Moerangi Hut
We began the way on the well maintained track from Mangakahika Hut to Roger's Hut. On the way, we passed by Rob Collins Camp which seemed rather permanent and extensive to no tbe marked on the map. We stopped briefly at the overcrowded Roger's Hut. This was the "cutest" hut we had seen on this trip, built in 1952 and named after the builders son who was born while the hut was being built. The track was rougher and more interesting as we followed the beautiful Moerangi Stream and scambered over tree falls as we made our way to Moerangi Hut. The combination of great scenery and a more interesting track made this a very pleasant part of the journey.
Moerangi Hut - River Road
The last half day of the trip took us further up Moerangi Stream to its head. This included climbing a waterfall aided by a rop - this was fun. At times during this section, we came across benched track which appeared out of the blue following a scramble through the stream. Although this made for faster travel, it was less interesting, and disappointing to see banks being cut away and eroding. Once at the top, we sidled along Moerangi on benched track through yet more forest. The last section on four-wheel drive track took us through mature podocarp tress and forest - some of the best trees we had seen on this circuit. Even though it was a holiday weekend, we didn't need a raincoat!