June 2nd - 5th.
Four Club members made the most of celebrating the Kings birthday by heading to Mount Taranaki for a long weekend. Arriving on the Friday (with enough gear and food in case we got snowed in) we quickly unpacked and went for a short 'Nature Walk' up to the Ambury monument and loop back to the North Egmont carpark. Day 1. We headed to the Mangorei road end and followed the very impressive boardwalk to Pouakai Hut. We were impressed by the road end car-park - slightly bigger than expected, tarseal and full of cars! We had not received the memo about starting early to catch the sunrise. Unfortunately the weather was a little bit 'mountain-like' with light drizzle, wind and low visibility. We had an early lunch in the hut, and returned to the road end.
Day 2. We headed off on an adventure from North Egmont to the Maketawa hut. We took the lower loop through beautiful forest including impressive kaikawaka / pahautea (Libocedrus bidwillii). The hut was lovely and warm, so after a (slow) morning tea we made a plan to check out the Tahurangi translator tower. It got slightly breezier and cooler as we climbed up to 1500m. Tony even managed to find some pockets of snow amongst the rocks. Thanks to the Alpine Club, we perched in the porch for our quick lunch and hot soup before taking the razorback track back to the Camphouse.
On the trip were: Nigel, Tony, Margaret and Sandra. Thanks also to Mia, Lee, Fuschia, Wendy, Jono, Desiree, Tammy, Em & Henry.
