Wainui to Whitemans via Waiorongomai

The scratches from last week are healing nicely but the unfinished business is dwelling on the mind somewhat. The Rimutaka range between Papatahi and Waiorongomai remains stubbornly on the 'to do' list.

It doesn't help that it is a kind of tricky area to get to without having to commute through familiar territory. However, after a bit of thought I come up with a plan that will knock off three areas I've been itching to get to. Crudely speaking, I want to find an interesting route from Wainuiomata to Papatahi, follow the ridge north to Waiorongomai hut, head up into the Waiorongomai Saddle and to Orongorongo, then north along the range to drop down to Whitemans Valley.

The weather has been a bit wet and rain is forecast so I'm aiming to cross the largest river en-route at a bridge and avoid others.

What:    Nav trip
Where:  Rimutaka Range
Why:     Fill in three missing pieces
When:   18 February 2017
Who:     Solo
Map:     Map

Saturday - Wainuiomata to Waiorongomai

 



 

Wainuiomata is dark and quiet at 6am as I study the map board in the park at the end of Hine Street. My torchlight reveals a somewhat different lay out of tracks to my map but I quickly hatch a plan - head up a spur just short of Jonah Lomu track, follow it up to 492 then 644 and the Whakanui track. Somewhere along the way I should meet an unmarked track that I struggled down in the dark in November. 

 

There's no indication of a turnoff from the public track but once into the regrowth there seems to be a bit of a path of least resistance. Something called the Sledge Track is marked on the topo map but it must be sometime since it was used. After about an hour it's light and I've joined a track with markings that I'm pretty sure is the route up from Nikau Creek. And a little under an hour from there I'm at the main track.

I hadn't entirely meant to come down this track last time and in daylight I see why - the main track takes a left turn and the Nikau track goes straight ahead. In the dark I had missed the markers and had walked past a stoat trap and onto the wrong track which has quite a strong ground trail at that point.

Whakanui track goes left - step around the trap for Nikau Track 

It's a claggy day and the forecast is for a bit of dampness but not too bad. On Whakanui East track the going is quicker as it drops to a saddle then climbs to point 800 arriving about 8.40.  There's some pretty clear notices around here about the water catchment so I carefully avoid these and take a vaguely described route that follows one of a number of possible spurs eventually arriving at the Orongorongo river near the marked bridge about an hour later. 

  The river is a translucent brown and significantly up.

Orongorongo River - a bit up and coloured

After another bit of vagueness it's 1020 and I start up a spur for 434. It's steepish but not too bad apart from a bit of Kiekie. The spur flattens after about half an hour then gently climbs again before turning east of south east along a narrow neck to climb steeply up to 769. It looks pretty daunting on the map but in the end it wasn't such a bad scramble.

View south - probably into Boulder Creek

A little under 2 hours after leaving the bottom I'm pleased to be rolling over the shoulder onto the flat ridge top near 890.  I take a bearing for the track but in retrospect should have headed a little further onto the ridge as I end up sidling along and through a bit of scrub and windfall.

My route is north from here so heading south to the Papatahi Track is a bit unnecessary and it's 6-700m out of my way (and back). However, it would be sort of irritating to know that there was that little bit of ridge that I didn't traverse. 25 minutes later I hit the track and follow it up to the top of the ridge.

Papatahi Track near the ridge line

It's 12:50  and almost 7 hours in when I leave the track and start working my way north. The route starts in open, mossy beach with a bit of a ground trail but pretty soon there are tree falls and clearings where tracks seem to vanish. I follow the compass and generally get along alright although it is slow going. There are a few tricky bits where ground trails lead off in the wrong direction and with no visibility I'm completely relying on the compass and retaining a healthy suspicion of my sense of direction.

There is a tricky bit on the wide flat ridge top leading to 860. In the clag I mistake an area of tree fall for the edge of the ridge and waste time skirting around it and veering left. I sort myself out, head through the fall zone and am soon worming through tight high scrub near 860.

My technique, if it could be described as such, is to keep towards the east of the ridge. It probably makes little difference - no matter what line I follow it eventually ends up struggling through scrub and climbing over fallen trees.

Just an aside about this - 'climbing over fallen trees' may sound sort of innocuous - but imagine that they have been piled up by a crazed loon on a bulldozer and left to rot amidst tight scrub. You can easily find yourself perched on a slippery trunk 10 feet in the air facing the prospect of plummeting into a patch of bush lawyer.

After sidling around 815 I take a bearing to find the correct spur down but manage to veer off and start down a spur towards a tributary of the Manganui River. Fortunately I work out what's happening after only losing 50m height.

Heading towards 720 there is quite a strong ground trail and evidence that at some point (a long time ago) someone even trimmed a bit of scrub. This a a decision point. I plan to drop into Oreore Stream but there are a number of options. I note where the bush edge is marked on the map and decide to follow the spur to the saddle before 480. It's about 6.40 - just under 6 hours from Papatahi Track and a bit over 12 hours from setting out.

Near 720 - not much view today

My route departs from the ground trail and pretty soon there is absolutely no indication that anyone has been this way before. I struggle through dense scrub and low bush but  make progress and eventually am looking into the narrow slot saddle - left to the Orongorongo River catchment and right to the Waiorongomai. I drop in and head right.

It's not too bad travel at first. A few steepish scrambles but pretty soon there is a trickle and I can top up.

Pool in the upper Oreore - possibly not normally present

Travel down stream is slow. There are frequent rotten tree falls and scrubby branches blocking the way. At one point I find myself climbing through large fallen pines clogging the stream - sure enough on the hillside above are tall pines. There are also patches of buddlia. This place is seriously weed infested.

I try not to watch the clock as daylight wanes and the stream torture continues. There's little to mark progress as the valley runs straight between undistinguished sides and it's impossible to tell which side streams are marked on the map. With all the rain during the day the stream is up but not large enough to be a worry.

Eventually the ground to the right of the stream flattens and there are options to find easier routes - not that there seems to be any. Arriving back at the stream after one such diversion it's double the size. This is good news indeed as it means I've reached a major confluence and the hut is less that half a Km away, although in the pitch black I figure I will take the more straight forward but slightly longer route of following the stream down to the river and around to the hut.  Let's not dwell on the fact that in the end with the parsimonious marking I manage to circle completely around the hut before eventually homing in. Mercifully it is empty.

It's just after 9pm - 15 hours on the go. I've been in a stream for the last two hours and rained on intermittently all day - everything apart from the inside of my pack is saturated. It's not cold though so I don't bother lighting a fire and just hang things up after wringing the worst of the water out.

Someone has put a bit of corrugated iron in the fire place to protect it from the rain dripping down the chimney but it is awash and the floor around the fire place soaking so it's lucky I'm not after a bit of heat. The ping of drips on the iron are a rhythmic accompaniment to getting a dehy dinner together.

Sunday - Waiorongomai to Whitemans Valley

It's not raining in the morning but still cloudy and dim under the trees as I head out about 6.50. The plan is to climb the spur towards Waiorongomai Saddle then up to Orongorongo then further north. I don't fancy wading in the river for a start so I take a bearing from the hut and strike out through the trees. I soon hit the buddlia and scrub around the stream and swear my way west to the base of the spur.

At the confluence I pick a spot and sure enough there are a few bits of ground trail that come and go through the messy lower slopes before reaching more open beech and some solid trails heading up. It's steep but pretty good going. The valley to my right is drowned in clag but the sounds of streams and waterfalls drift up. There is a apparently a large water fall and at one point there looks like a ground trail heading down across rocky outcrops and the sound of crashing water - I have no idea whether you can see the water fall from the spur but it would be good to be up  here on a clear day.

I'm not racing up but trying to keep a steady pace and minding my business when a section of track in front of me suddenly scrambles to its feet and bounds away. A large billy goat with horn tips about a meter across stops about 7m away and we look at each other for a few moments trying to work out who is more surprised. Had I been a hunter his long pause would probably have proved fatal.

As the spur flattens at the top I bear right with the aim of finding a spur up to 589. I had thought to head through to the saddle itself but figured there wasn't going to be a lot to see. I don't see any particular indication of tracks but it's not too bad bashing up. The trees are quite low at the top so I can easily climb through and spot where the next section of the spur runs.

A strong ground trail runs most of the rest of the way up but I lose it short of 805 and end up bashing across the scrubby clearing and into tight low trees and scrub. After this however there is a reasonable ground trail and if you keep your eyes open it often by-passes some of the scrubby bits. In this fashion I potter happily along promising myself a bit of a break at Orongorongo.

Orongorongo

It's 10.30 and time for a bite. The 'peak' is thoroughly unremarkable and with the cloud there isn't even a prospect of a view. I still find it intriguing - it is not the highest spot on the ridge (by 4 meters) but it bears the name of the river which gives it some significance.

There's a very interesting spur running south east with a faint trail - I figure it would be a good option to come up from the hut although fairly steep at the bottom. Maybe another day.

The plan now is to head towards 791 (where I left this part of the range last week to cross to Bawbaw) and find a spur to follow down to Whitemans Valley.  I keep heading north along the ridge with generally few problems finding the route.

It's about 12.15 when I realise I must be just past 730. This is the point where I gained this ridge on a previous occasion having walked across from NaeNae. Since then I've done a bit more navigation and it's interesting to think back on how it was almost intimidating to reach this point and contemplate the completely unknown territory ahead.

Looking north to a clearing past 730 - they don't make names like that anymore   

The ground trail comes and goes as I drop to the saddle then start climbing up the ridge towards 791. It takes a while but eventually I know I'm on the long flattish part of the ridge. The only challenge now is to find the right spur down. The day has cleared so there are occasional views which help but doesn't stop me from making a rooky mistake.

My original plan had me passing 791 and taking a spur down to a ridge above Huia stream then dropping to the stream to exit to the road. On the day though I decide that the faster route would be a spur short of 791 to Narrow Neck Stream. Here's how it transpired...

Looking NNE down the length of Narrow Neck Stream

I was over relying on my altimeter which you can normally get away with but when you are on a long very shallowly climbing ridge it is a pretty crude way of finding a spur. I was too lazy to do what I should have done which was to head along to 791, calibrate, take a bearing and back track to the correct spur. So I ended up heading down what became a rapidly descending, untracked scramble to drop into a creek way earlier than intended (have I said before how creek travel is much slower than spurs?).

The creek descends steeply through a narrow rocky bed but mercifully no waterfalls. As I get lower some strong animal trails develop which speeds things up somewhat. Soon there are old logging tracks, stands of manky pine and what looks like stock tracks. It definitely has the feeling of being on the edge of farm land. Soon I'm stepping over a fence and pottering along on smooth grass.

Just before I hit the marked 4WD track down the gorge I wander across a paddock with a pervasive smell of rotten carcasses. Then I notice the bones scattered around and shortly after that a muddy patch delineated by boulders where some large pigs are mooching about. It looks like someone has figured that feeding old stock to the local pigs makes the hunting a bit easier.

The 4WD track is wide and well formed. It winds up and down above the stream and eventually crosses to deposit me by a series of gates to a house.  I'm a little nervous at this point as I would have liked to ask permission and I couldn't help but notice that one of the gates threatened to prosecute anyone with the temerity to trespass.

Oh well. I head up and knock on the door to apologise for my trespasses. They are somewhat bemused (you've come from where!?) but fine with it and I guess they figure there is bugger all to do about it now. Duty done I walk the final few meters of manicured gravel to the road through a light rain. All going well the support crew understood my directions from the top of the ridge and is waiting by the bridge - otherwise it's going to be a long walk (she did and she was).

At 4 pm it's taken a bit over 9 hours - but I reckon you could easily trim a few off that by taking a more direct route and not taking the wrong spur.

Post Script

The ridge north of Papatahi is nowhere near as bad as the bit between Papatahi and Matthews but it is a bit of a proposition.  It's pretty much like the rest of the range - the established beech forest is easy going but there are a lot of wind fall clearings with fallen trees and scrub that is hard to negotiate as well as areas of regenerating bush that is low and tight.

I didn't really like Oreore Stream very much. It is quite navigable with no appreciable drops but doing this trip again I would probably head through Waiorongomai saddle and down the spur - the scrub, pine, nettle and buddlia was just not that pleasant.

Climbing up  the spur towards Waiorongomai saddle was fine and I would be quite happy repeating this at some point. First though it would be good to take the more direct spur from the hut to Orongorongo. There's plenty of other options to check out in this area.

The route north along past Orongorongo is pretty good going - better than a lot of the rest of the ranges with the usual caveat about clearings etc.

The drops down into Whitemans Valley are probably best done after consulting with the relevant landowner if you can work out how to contact them. Failing that it's not too far to the Mt Climie road.

Rimutaka summit to Wairongomai

Sometimes you know that a trip will be a bit ... ambitious - the uncharitable may even say foolhardy. However, if you have the right contingency plans and are prepared to activate them, then at worst you will have a bit of a story and not too many enduring scars.

This weekend the plan is to see about getting from the summit of the Rimutaka hill road to Wainuiomata via Mt Climie, Mt Bawbaw, Wairongomai hut, Wairongomai Saddle, Papatahi and the Whakanui track. I figure it is a possible goer but prime the support team to standby for possible premature extraction from one of a number of potential points.

What:     Navigation trip
Why:      New territory - fill in some gaps along the range
Where:   Rimutaka Range
When:    11 February 2017
Who:      Solo
Map:      Map

Most people have little in the way of a mental picture of the landscape between the Hutt Valley and the Wairarapa. The higher ridges and peaks delineate the eastern horizon for many of the good valley dwellers and Wellingtonians, but the hills and catchments behind probably don't even register as a possibility. Driving over the Rimutaka hill road there are no views into the interior and even the incline never climbs high enough to hint at the land southwards.

Admittedly I'm guilty of the same level of ignorance but over the last year I've been picking off sections of the Rimutaka Range so here's my version of putting some structure to the landscape...

Ranges are defined by rivers so first think about four rivers: the Orongorongo River starts about two thirds of the way up the park and flows south west. The Pakuratahi River flows north draining the top third of the park (joining the Hutt River at the Kaitoki water works). The Wainuiomata River drains a chunk of the western side and the Wairongomai drains a little bit between the Orongorongo and Pakuratahi flowing east into the Wairarapa. Other water courses nibble around the edges.

This network creates a main range running north from Turakirae Heads to the Wairongomai river. It then sort of hiccups - a range runs north from Wairongomai via Bawbaw to the summit of the hill road in the east and in the west another one runs in parallel from Wairongomai Saddle via Orongorongo and Mt Climie to peter out in various spurs into the Pakuratahi River. Both called the Rimutaka range according to my map - go figure. Around this core structure are numerous ridges and spurs.

All a bit of a simplification of course but enough for what follows.

Summit to Mt Climie

Cups of coffee and a drive in the dark sees us at the lay-by short of the Rimutaka Summit at 5.40 am The near full moon is just behind the ridge. It's not the actual summit but the risk of walking down the road in the dark is not worth making the point.

The forestry track gives an easy gradient and surface to quickly reach the ridge and start the zig, zag and zig down the spur to the Pakuratahi river.  After 40 minutes there's a handy street sign just where I want to turn off to link to the incline road at Ladle Bend. It's also starting to get light.

Ladle bend is on the Rimutaka incline - the old fell railway route to the Wairarapa and a very popular family MTB trip. Today though I am just crossing it - and at a time of day that other users are unlikely to be about.

Back road to Ladle Bend

Pakuratahi - my spur ahead.  Incline comes out of valley to right and heads away on the left

The map shows an old access track on the other side of the river that starts up my target spur towards the Mt Climie road and the range. I cross the bridge, scramble down to the river and across.

Ladle Bend bridge from below

More mist in the pakuratahi

4WD track ?

There's no apparent path into the bush so it's a bit of a grovel but eventually I'm in pines on the terrace working up river. After a while there is a break that must be an old 4WD road but it is fairly overgrown. After a bit there is another old track that crosses the river (marked on the map).

At this point I figure there is little to be gained thrashing along the terrace to where the track starts up the hill so bash straight up through the pines to meet it. It's pretty overgrown but okay to navigate under the pines which is precisely not very long at all. Just as it turns sharply to climb the spur, it turns to hell.

Track up the hill under the pines

Morning sun just touching Kaumatua range
From elbow on marked track on spur in the middle of a gorse patch (7.10am)

The old track is covered in gorse, blackberry, cutty grass and 2m scrub. And the bush either side is not much different. I am soon regretting wearing shorts and short sleeve top. It's slow, painful and there's plenty of blood shed.

Kapakapanui

I have ample time to speculate about the relative damage caused by various plants. Gorse is like a bunch of train bullies - basically pricks but you can push through without too much blood. Blackberry is the viscous street thugs that stand their ground and rip you to shreds. Bush lawyer is the stealth assassin that sneaks up and slits you with a shiv - that or vicious Velcro.

This continues to 525 when with much relief the canopy lifts and some animal tracks make going easier. Further along a couple of  'Up and go' containers indicate that someone has been this way - probably straight up from the river. It's a bit of a mixed bag up the spur. Tracks come and go, no marking that I can see until near the top, a bit of scrubby clearings to contend with and a few more knobs to get around than I was expecting.

Kapakapanui on horizon - looking down
through tunnel gully reserve

The sun gets hotter, the views get broader and towards 857 the trail gets stronger. 4.35 hr after kick off I am taking a breather in the moss on 857 before the saddle to 828.

Overall it's not the most efficient route. Doing it again I would probably aim for the saddle by 399 and gain the spur that way. Or preferably start near Goat Rock rather than the hill road. In any event it takes 5.10 hr to get to the Mt Climie road.

There's a trig at 831 - three MTBers are chatting as I wander up. The talker keeps droning as if I don't exist and only one of them acknowledges my greeting. I'm used to a bit of interchange with the people you meet and the casual rudeness sort of jars.




The views from Mt Climie are a bit of a consolation. Whiteman's Valley, the hills around the incline and southwards my route for the day with the scarred face of Mt Matthews in the distance. It's sunny and warm. After stopping for photos it's just after 11 and 5.40 hrs since starting. Mentally I tick this off as phase one of three for the day.

First glimpse of the Hutt Valley

Mt Climie looking north - 857 towards left, incline somewhere in the distance

North from Climie - little notch on horizon at left of centre is the destination

Mt Climie to Bawbaw

There's no obvious route into the bush but after crossing the low astelia covered top and ducking into the mossy trees a route pretty quickly develops. There are footprints and various types of markers. Someone has tied way too many green plastic bags to trees - we'll call him Mr Numpty. Ironically, they are recycling bags.

Looking back towards Mt Climie

It's mostly pretty straight forward - the ridge doesn't have very dramatic ups and downs so it is a little tricky keeping an eye on progress and there are patches of regrowth and scrub that are unpleasant. There are also grassy clearings with long dead tree skeletons - vertical and horizontal. A couple of spurs to the west look like they get traffic but keeping an eye on the compass these are easily avoided. I suspect the travel along this section is a little harder than I remember but the reason for such relatively rosy tinted hindsight will come clear soon.

A pause in a grassy clearing

Forest remnants 

 

Not as easy going as it looks

The Markers thin out and pretty much disappear, I think around 825.

Looking back to Mt Climie

825 ... probably. Spur runs down into Pakuratahi catchment

Looking south range around Bawbaw on left

Getting closer

The climb up to 791 is obvious.  The ridge then becomes quite flat and wide - at some point I have to strike east to find the saddle between the Pakuratahi and Wairongomai catchments - the link between the two arms of the Rimutaka Range. The canopy is high so there is no view and  I don't see anything to indicate a trail - after what seems like a suitable distance I take a punt and a compass bearing. Soon enough a strong trail develops into the saddle through open forest.

I'm running the sums now - it will be touch and go to reach the hut in daylight, I'm running low on water (although there are some streams marked near my route) and the cell phone is on the blink (I said I would check in at some of the high points).

The saddle is relatively gentle as are the head waters of the Pakuratahi, you could probably drop down to a stream relatively easily. There are a tonne of animal trails - I don't think many hunters bother coming in this far.

The climb up Bawbaw starts easily then for the last 100m becomes steepish, the trees more stunted and the trails fade away. Part way up the camel back runs dry.

On the east most knob on Bawbaw there's a break in the low tree canopy where I can just pop my head out and get a view of where I've been. End of phase 2 and about 11.45 hrs since starting. I don't bother heading across to the other knob.

From Bawbaw, saddle from 791 on left, Pakuratahi head waters in middle, range to Climie on horizon

North along eastern range from Bawbaw

Range south to Mt Matthews on left

I wonder briefly where the name Bawbaw comes from - later, all the internet can supply is that it's a mountain in Australia and could come from an aboriginal word meaning echo. 

Bawbaw to Wairongomai

My recollections of this section are a little disjointed - possibly a matter of psychological self protection. It takes a lot longer than expected owing to several varieties of nasty scrub. The map indicates that navigation is likely to be tricky with a complex ridgeline and large flat area.

The slope down off Bawbaw is broad with more surface features than the map suggests. I figure the idea is to cut across east far enough to drop down into the saddle before 640. In the event I drop down too soon and end up scrambling over a steep knob and pottering through a couple of wee gullies before finally finding dense bush around the saddle. The good news is a trickle to get a few mouth fulls of water.

Southern Wairarapa from south side of Bawbaw - spur up to 640 in mid ground

Looking back up towards Bawbaw - note mixed bush and scrub with windfall

From here on the bush is interspersed with areas of windfalls, tight regrowth or scrub and occasional open spaces to get a breath and a view.

Coming off 640 the navigation gets quite complicated. It's a flat shapeless ridge top with lots of scrub and a lovely swampy clearing full of cutty grass. There are some glimpses of 564 but little to give a hint of the best path of travel. It's also almost impossible to follow a straight line bearing. At least I find a stream to full up the camel back.

I can't find anything much in the way of tracks but suspect that I might have found easier going by dropping off the flat top into the bush in the east.

The bush opens up to give a view of the saddle before 564. Low scrub through the saddle rising to nasty looking taller scrub (2m) before there are any trees you might be able to walk through. It's going to be slow work. There are a number of goats browsing and the scrub is infested with pigs.

The rough scrub is like a pot scour on legs that have already taken a battering. It's a painful grovel up the ridge before finally gaining the trees. At 564 it's 9pm and dark so I crack out the head torch and have one final go at the cell - it's working. I figure that I'm not about to do another day like this so arrange to exit out the Wairongomai in the morning.

From ridge below 564 - back to Bawbaw showing twin knobs
scrubby saddle in foreground

Now is the small matter of navigating off the end of the ridge down to the river and the hut 400m plus below. In the dark.

I'm aiming to hit the track about 300m down stream of the hut. In summary, it's fine at the top but I can't see any ground trail and soon am taking bearing changes based on the altimeter. It's very slow stopping incessantly to check the compass but things go surprisingly well managing to thread between the two streams and get to the flat spot at 200m.

Weta motel with residents

Something that looks like a wooden pencil case nailed to a tree leaps out from the dark as an alien shape. On closer inspection it turns out to be a weta motel with a few in residence. Someone has been here before and there's a funnel on a tube nearby collecting some sort of fall out from the canopy. There's also a bit of a ground trail that I follow for a bit. I think I've lost it when another funnel emerges from the gloom - this one with a VUW tag on it. Soon after I lose the trail for good so just bash straight down, onto the flat, through a stand of Buddliar to stumble onto the track.

It's a little tricky finding the hut as the track markings are a bit ... economical but at 11.30 after 18 hours on the go it's a thorough relief to stumble through the door and wake up the two people inside.

In deference to the fact that they have been in bed for a couple of hours I exchange pleasantries, brush the worst of the rat droppings away and crawl quietly into my pit. I chew on some salami and cheese before letting fatigued muscles twitch into a solid sleep.

Wairongomai hut to the Wairarapa

With my revised plan there's no hurry in the morning. It's the right choice to pull the plug on the original day two plan. Once embarking on the section of range to the Papatahi Crossing track there are not really any exit options.

The morning light reveals the effects of scrub bashing on unprotected legs and the benefits of garters. My marino bike top, although comfortable, is not up to the punishment and has another large hole on the shoulder to match one earned last weekend (and corresponding hole in the skin beneath).

The perils of not wearing trousers when bush bashing

My hut companions are good company. He works for DOC locally so I pick his brains about the TTC suggestion of a track along the southern part of the Rimutaka range and we have a good yack over breakfast. They came up the river so can give me some pointers about what to expect (2 hours of wet feet). They have also studied the log book which indicates that the hut is not frequently used but that people take various adventurous routes to and from it.

First light at Wairongomai hut 

About 8.30 I head out and down river. I'm expecting a lot of river crossings, a few deepish pools to avoid and not brilliantly marked track exits from the river. And that's pretty much what I get. The track is well formed and fast apart from a bit of a scramble up the true right of the last gorge and the last kilometre or so is in the river bed. Dry feet are not an option.

The sun cracks through and a stiff wind whips water off the river and slashes it down the river bed. It pushes me around a bit and it's border line getting the rain coat out. It is a nice walk though and I would recommend it as a day or over-night trip (unless a slightly ratty hat puts you off). With any rain though the river might get dicey.

It takes about an hour twenty to get to the car park which is a large domain with access provided courtesy of the farmer. The support crew is waiting by the river after very decently disrupting a Sunday morning for the early extraction.

After a big breakfast in Featherston it's back over a windy Rimutaka hill for a lazy afternoon.

Postscript

The original weekend plan was too optimistic for me on the day but is doable. With a more sensible starting point in the north phase one would have been more straight forward; and better path finding south of Bawbaw would have made for a shorter day. Better clothing choice would have made things a bit more comfortable too.  A lot of new countryside ticked off though and I now have a far better understanding of the northern part of the park.

Only thing is that there is still a chunk of range unvisited - and we can't be having that.

Coming ....

Coming ....

Arrived - note the ventilation on the shoulderes