2024-07-31 < Weekly activities > 2024-08-14
Activity summary: Wednesday 2024 Aug 7th to Tuesday 2024 Aug 13th
Wednesday 7th
Lunch at Kath Offers house. 9M
For our monthly Lunch 8 octogenarians, all members, took our lunches to Kath Offer's home in the Hutt. Here we sat around in easy chairs in the warmth of her home, eating our lunches and having a great catch up. Margaret Jensen had bought a beautiful chocolate cake to mark Kath O's 98th birthday the previous month and we all signed a card to send to Kath Satory, now in care in Sumner, Christchurch.
East Karori Park and Johnston Hill led by Peter Nixon. 6M
Weather was agreeable apart from an annoying breeze from which we had to take shelter near the Johnson Hill summit. The worst and most strenuous part was negotiating the labyrinth of new and bicycle type tracks between Karori Park and the ridge. That experience evoked the wise words of William of Ockham: "Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem" (translated, "don't build too many tracks; keep it simple and easily understood by a one-track mind"). However, it was a good day out with a city view at lunchtime. After a brief photo stop at the top, it was an easy downhill walk to a bus stop in Marsden Village. Everybody was able to get home at Gold Card prices.
EM Butcher Track-Cattle Ridge-Ōrongorongo Track by Joan Basher. 11M
We met at the Catchpool for a day out on this old favourite. We slogged up the steady climb of Butchers Track, taking time to admire glimpses of the lush forest down and across this steep valley. It took us about an hour, and it was great to know that once we reached the junction with Cattle Ridge, the hardest part of the day was over.
We turned to the right, heading up the hill for another few minutes, just in case we could obtain views at the old lookout. But, as we had been warned, it is now overgrown and there is only a small peep back down towards the Catchpool. So, we settled down nearby and at least could enjoy the sunshine while we had our welcome cuppa. Retracing our steps, we undulated along Cattle Ridge Track to its far end. Although everyone in our group had been on this track in years past, for many of us that was long ago; there was much delight about revisiting this very good track, with views now and then across the Orongorongo valley on our right to the wild Remutaka Range high above.
For our lunch stop, we diverged left onto Browns Track for a few minutes to find a sunny, sheltered spot where we sat in comfort. Had we gone a little further, we would have come to a rocky outcrop with open views, but we decided that shelter from the wind was more to our taste. Cattle Ridge totalled two hours of walking, including the final steep descent to the junction with the Ōrongorongo Track. Now heading homewards on very familiar territory, the speedier members of our group said a fond farewell before disappearing into the distance.
The rest of us took our time. We had an interesting pause when Paul located the spot where Browns Track begins, including showing us how the Browns Track sign is hidden a few metres up that track, on the 'other' side of a tree, presumably to keep the track's whereabouts a bit secret. The last little adventure of our day was to diverge onto the lower part of the Catchpool Loop track for the final 20 minutes or so. This made a pleasant change from the usual route, through lovely bush on an excellent track. It's no longer than the usual route, and I recommend it to any groups returning home to the Catchpool.
In total, we climbed about 500m, and walked about 13 km. At a leisurely pace, our tramp lasted 5h 40m, making it a perfect offering for a delightful Easy Medium day. Party members; Joan Basher (leader and scribe), Bob Stephens, Cheryl McDonald, Tina Stewart, Paul Bruce, Alison Stephenson, Carolyn Jenkins, Angela Vanderpoel, Jane-Pyar Mautner, Trish Gardner-Smith, Rosemary Wilson
M Tarikākā/Kaukau, Skyline, Cemetery, Silversky, Tarikākā/Kaukau loop led by Diana Munster. 11M
We left about 8.30am from Khandallah Park (Woodmancote Street car park) in fine weather, ascended to the Tarikākā/Mount Kaukau Lookout, where we were greeted by typical Wellington winds (unfortunately views of the high South Island peaks and Tararua were somewhat limited by cloud). We continued south along the Skyline, stopping for morning tea at a relatively sheltered spot south of the Crows Nest before continuing to Johnstons Hill. From here we descended to the cemetery, where we stopped for lunch around noon at a sunny sheltered spot near the memorial to Mr. Chippy and Tangiwai.
We then descended to the Troupe picnic area and along to the red trail. Here Alistair and Linda left for the road, while 9 of us continued up to the flax clearing onto the horse paddock and down the Silversky track to Silverstream Road and Huntingdon Park. Here Christine and Janice left for the nearby train/bus stop and the remaining team of 7 continued along the bush track to the junction of Crows Nest and the sidle track to Awarua St and Huntleigh Park Road junction.
Here Marilyn, Chris, Andy, Ann and Helena left for the sidle track, leaving John and me to continue to Crow’s Nest and back along the skyline to Tarikākā/Kaukau (where we were rewarded with views of the snowy seaward and inland Kaikouras) arriving back at Khandallah Park at 4.30pm.
I didn’t think to do a trace but I estimate the trip ascent was about 1,150m. It seems this was a trip of gradual attrition from 11 to 9 to 7 to 2! It was a good day – the tracks meant we could actually talk to each other as we walked along. Team; Alistair and Linda Beckett, Christine Ben-Tovim, Janice Tijsen, Andy Leslie, Ann Walker, Chris Hoare, Helena Weller-Chew, Marilyn Richards, John Willett and Diana Munster.
SF tramp to McKerrow led by Karen Baker. 9M
Nine of us set out from Sunny Grove at 8.35am for the Slow Fit trip. A short distance along the Whakanui track we took a spur running parallel to the 4wd road up to the Boys Brigade track. From there we followed trap lines into Scholes creek. After morning tea by a small waterfall we followed more trap lines up and out of the creek and down into the head waters of Graces stream and the final climb up to McKerrow. Back to the cars along the McKerrow and Whakanui tracks. 12kms, 1,200m climbing and 7hrs 35mins. Participants Karen Baker, Lynne White, Mike Wespel-Rose, Peter Smith, Rachel Fry, Peter Morten, David McNabb, Ant Hill.
Total numbers 45M