Mataketake and more, Westcoast, 5 Jan 2026

My plan was to explore lesser known areas of the Westcoast, plus some old favourites over 2 weeks. We had to cut it short because of west coast rains. On the 4th, Steve and Astrid met at the very scenic Cameron Flat DoC camp, opposite Blue Pools Walk....

Wangapeka Track, Kahurangi NP, 27 Dec 2025

After much consternation over the weather and the Dart Ford levels this trip went ahead one day later than planned with 9 trampers setting out from Rolling River at 8.50 for Stone Hut, our first stop on a 5 day adventure through to the West Coast. We...

Monster Mine-Blue Knob, 21 Dec 2025, Nelson

Even though we had the benefit of tramping on a day with maximum daylight, we found ourselves driving home in the dark. With Astrid at the wheel, we had just set off from the upper Aniseed valley carpark when a young deer shot out of the vegetation,...

Parachute Rocks, Nelson Lakes NP, Sunday 30th Nov 2025

8 Trampers decided the weather forecast would not put them off and set off for Parachute Rocks at 9.40 from Kerr Bay, St Arnaud. It was warm and muggy initially and a steady pace was set. About midway up the climb we were rewarded by seeing Kaka in the...

Maitland Ridge Circuit, Mt Richmond FP, 22 Nov 2025

Ten of us set off from the carpark at the bottom of the Red Hills hut track just before 9.30am. Within an hour and a half we were at the Red Hills hut for a snack break. This is also a good water top-up point. We set off again just before 11.30am to go...