How can I make this first time Matariki public holiday memorable?
So, I asked myself “what makes memories?” After some pondering “experiences, either good or bad” came to mind.
After looking at and considering a variety of possibilities, spending a night in the bush, in a hut meet all my needs and desires.
After some discussion with one of my cycling friends and now tramping buddy Maureen, she came up with a suggestion of tramping to Te Whare Okioki hut. My first thought was – where is that? Thank goodness for Mr Google. At a glance, it had many advantages:
- the hut looked relativity new
- it was close by distance wise, in the Kaimai Ranges
- it had a fire, and
- we were guaranteed of a bed (meaning we needed to book a bunk).
On checking the hut bookings, it was fully booked for both Friday and Saturday nights, so that left us with Thursday night, and even then, 9 of the 12 bunk beds were already booked. I wondered who has booked those 9 beds!! So it was settled Te Whare Okioki hut here we come.
It felt good to be packing my pack again and planning what food to take. I’m currently experimenting dehydrating my own food! It is a valuable learning experience.
Thursday morning dawned with a clear blue sky and heavy frost – another words it was jolly chilly, but that did not dampen our enthusiasm.
It is always pleasing at any time of the year to drive through our stunning countryside with tidy green pastures on the undulating landscape.
The track to Te Whare Okioki hut begins at the end of Te Huhi Road (see below) which is also the entrance to a farm. Three vehicles were already packed there. It felt a safe place to leave our car.
Te Tuhi Track
It is an estimated 3 hr 30 min walk to the hut. We started with a short 45-minute uphill walk over farmland to the bush line following the familiar DOC signs, the little orange triangles – some easily seen others lying on the ground. We guessed it may have been because the animals had rubbed themselves against the pole and dislodged the markers!
Then came the steady uphill climb, slog or whatever you may like to call it. But it felt great to be back in the bush again with only your thoughts on your mind and thinking where to place your feet next. It is a wonderful sense of mental freedom – hard to beat. Very little bird song or life was heard.
Unexpected interactions
One of the many pleasures of walking in the bush are the little ‘interactions’ you have with other people along the way. We first meet three young women who had stayed in Te Whare Okioki hut and were returning to their car. And a short time later we meet three deer hunters who had been staying in Mangamuka Hut. They had no luck hunting but enjoyed their time away together.
At the junction of the North-South and Te Huhi tracks we off-loaded our packs and enjoyed our well-deserved lunch. We were lucky to find a sunny spot where the sun penetrated the large trees and we could get a little warmth on our bodies (see image below). I appreciate how good food always tastes after a good work-out in this natural environment.
From this track junction is it only an hour’s walk to the hut. The track was well marked and mostly sound and firm underfoot.
Te Whare Okioki Hut
Whether it’s a short walk or long walk seeing the hut is always a wonderful feeling. And this hut didn’t disappoint – how could it, the sun was shining into the covered veranda and made it look very inviting. As soon as we opened the door to the interior the temperature dropped considerably. Thankfully it was not long before we had the fire roaring in the big wood burner. Due only to the fact, I had brought plenty of dry kindling, strips of old bike tire tubes (they make great fire starters) and matches. Maureen had brought dry newspaper. There was plenty of firewood at the hut which consisted of off-cuts and felt quite damp (wood I wouldn’t use on my wood burner).
The hut had solar lights and two USB re-chargers – quite a luxury. Along with concrete walls and floor and stainless steel tables. No fear of this hut burning down.
After unpacking, enjoying a hot cup of soup, selecting our bunks, and making sure the fire was going well, we headed off for a short out-and-back walk along the North-South track. After all we did have a few hours of daylight left and thought we should make the most of the day. It was comforting to know when we returned to the hut it would be much warmer.
When we returned, we were greeted by a group of women, roughly the same age as us. There was nine of them and they were from the Te Puke tramping group. So, you can imagine we had a most enjoyable afternoon/evening chatting, sharing stories and adventures, and celebrating three birthdays. One of the women (who was turning 70) had carried in a gluten free chocolate cake along with three candles. Birthday greetings were enthusiastically sung, candles blown out and cake shared – it was a nice finish to a very enjoyable and rewarding day and evening. By this time the hut was very warm and time for bed.
The return route
Eleven women boiling pots for hot drinks, making, and eating breakfast is a sight to be seen. Some would say it looked chaotic! I enjoyed seeing what everyone ate as I’m always looking to discover different food ideas. As yet my standard breakfast of home-made muesli with added milk powder and dehydrated kiwi fruit hasn’t been surpassed. For those of you who do overnight or multiday tramps what is your favourite breakfast?
By 8.15 am the benches were wiped, hut and veranda swept and everyone loaded up and more or less ready ‘ship out’.
Mangamuka Hut
Maureen and I were keen to check out the Mangamuka Hut on our return to the car park. This involved an extra loop, but well worth the energy and time. It’s a beautiful little old hunter’s hut with four bunk beds, a couple of small stainless-steel benches and an old-fashioned open fireplace. Unfortunately, no firewood there other than old wet tree branches. We enjoyed morning tea in this old-world hut. In the summer I reckon it would be a delightful place to stay or even chill-out for a few days if so desired.
The home stretch
As we were walking down the steep incline, I mentioned to Maureen “It’s strange we haven’t meet anyone or group coming up (as it was now about 1 pm) and surely people wouldn’t leave it this late to walk into the hut. Perhaps they were coming in from another direction” I said.
Surprise, surprise
Oh, were we in for a surprise? As we excited the bush and entered the farmland (on our final 30 minute leg), we came across a woman with four children. We had a usual conversation and about where they were going to, and they wanted to know what the track was like etc etc. The woman then said “there are more people coming, we are waiting for them. We’ve booked the hut out tonight.” Maureen and I looked at each other and thought you’d better get a move on, you have a steep climb, it’s cold standing around waiting, and it gets dark in the bush long before darkness actually happens. Anyway, we said “good-luck” and left them. Both of us acknowledging glad we aren’t having to coerce those kids up the climb!!.
About five minutes later we meet the next group, a parent and two very slowly walking children. It was obvious by their body language and the pace they were walking, they’d had enough, asking “where is the hut?” At this stage they’d probably only walked 1 km. But that was not all, there were more people in the distance – repacking packs in a strong south-westerly wind. To cut a long story short one parent had decided to return to the car with a six-year-old boy, and the other two parents would carry on and meet up with the rest of their group. We tried to stress the importance of ‘getting a move on, as they would have at least a 4 hour walk ahead’. We hoped they had head torches because they’d be lucky to get to the hut before night fall and then have to get the fire going, feedi kids etc etc – oh we were glad it wasn’t us.
Maureen and I discussed their naivety for some time. Why leave so late in the day to start? Why choose a steep climb for beginners? The list went on. We were thankful we didn’t hear any search and rescue mission being carried out, and could only assume they made it safely.
We both loved our 36 hrs away and would certainly do this tramp again and highly recommend it. Memorable – definitely yes.
I would love to hear how you celebrated Matariki? Or, what adventures are you having during these winter months? Till next time GoldCard Gal 🙂
Additional scenes
Sounds like a great trip Heather. Your blogs seem to have something for everyone to relate to and to enjoy.
🙂
Thank you Yvonne. I try to give people ideas for possible adventures. 🙂
Thanks again for sharing your tramp Heather and Maureen, great experience and an excellent way to celebrate Matariki. We celebrated with a family dinner, plenty of laughter as usua,l around the table.
So pleased I picked this up through facebook. Great to hear about the other group of women too. You can always do what you want to do if you really want to. Loved your descriptions.
Thanks for a great tramp Heather! As you said, “a great way to celebrate Matariki”
What a great trip! I wonder if Jane would be interested?
Like you, I have often seen under-prepared people heading into marginal situations, and wonder what if anything to say and then worry later. As a slightly amusing note we were coming down from Wairere Falls one day and met a Russian family going up – the men in oligarch suits and dress shoes, the women very smartly dressed and made up and my memory says wearing sling backs – not stilettos, that might have provided some traction. About half an hour later we were enjoying a coffee in Matamata and a thunderstorm burst over the Kaimais. Oh dear.
Thank you Kemble for sharing your experience – you would have to wonder about their thought process!