Friday Night
The winter had seen the Tararuas smoothered in snow. Friday was scheduled to be the day after the full moon, offering the perfect opportunity for an extended night walk to Kime Hut. The week leading up to this trip saw the Tararuas hidden in cloud. Expecting a reasonable amount of snow we chose to bring our ice-axes along for the stroll.
While the sky was not completely clear, the evening was pleasant enough. 2:10 from Otaki Forks to Field Hut didn't seem a bad pace. We left Field Hut for the Duke of Edinborough students and headed on for Kime. As we reached the tops the typical Tararua clag moved in and out, with the occasional dribble of light drizzle.
We reached Kime Hut just before midnight, for a brew before heading for our pits. Thanks to Amanda's Main Range party for the brew.
Saturday
Amanda's group chose to rise early - 5:30am. Regardless of the poor afternoon forecast we were not tempted and rolled over in our pits for an extra hour and a half or so. Brekky and then it was up to Hector to take in the vistas before following the well trodden Southern Crossing route around the Dress Circle to the top of Aston.
From Aston we dropped down the Renata Ridge and soon found ourselves at the new Elder Hut where we had lunch. As we continued down the undulating Renata Ridge the goblin forest got more and more impressive. The forest floor carpeted in green moss and the trees cloaked in it. 
Not long before dark we arrived at Renata Hut where we enjoyed a fine meal and well earned nights rest.
Sunday
We had a lazy start to the day with breakfast in bed and eventually departed Renata Hut at 9:30am as we headed out to Maymorn Junction and then through a slightly overgrown track to Kapakapanui. After the pessimistic weekends forecast, we were surprised to be able to eat our lunch in the sun, while taking in the views on top of Kapakapanui. That just left a 1000m descent to the road end where Amanda's party kindly collected us en-route back to Wellington.