3120 Exploring Tongariro National Park

Making this weekend as a long-weekend we will be a bit more adventurous by heading off-track a few times and include some exploring of the Te Tatau Pounamu Wilderness Area which is not visited very often. I have some trip notes from a 2022 trip and a 2023 trip (by Auckland Tramping Club).

The main plan is the following:

Wed 24^th (late-afternoon) travel to National Park or Club Lodge for the night.

Thur 25^th – From Whakapapa Village, walk the track to the Tama Lakes (a good warm up before the off-track stage). Follow the Tama Lakes track towards Upper Tama Lake, then turn right and follow ridgeline below Pt 1450, to Pt 1562. Option from here is to ascend Mt Tama (1623m) before descending to the Waihohonu Stream and to Waihohonu Springs to camp for the night.

Another option: From the end of the Tama Lakes track, continue ascending the spur to Pt 1650 then descend to valley and Waihohonu Stream to our campsite.

Fri 26^th – Today we head east to ridgeline in front of us and ascend to the Waihohonu – Oturere Track and follow track to Oturere Hut. From the Hut we enter the Te Tatau Pounamu Wilderness Area for more off-track travel and aim for the Upper valley of the Mangahouhounui Stream for tonight’s campsite. We will descend down to the Oturere Stream from the Hut, cross the Stream and follow the ridgeline to a saddle just west of Pt 1673. We then follow stream to a waterfall and then sidle west a bit before heading north to find a suitable area to camp.

Sat 27^th – First, we ascend north before swinging to our left to ascend Te Maari (1739m) and Rotopaunga (1856m) and onto Blue Lake.

Options: From Blue Lake we can either descend to Ketetahi Car Park OR, follow the Crossing Track to Mangatepopo Carpark (these options require a Driver to pick us up) OR, if we wish to extend this trip to four days, we could either camp / stay at Mangatepopo Hut (but, will need to book) or find a suitable camp site near water and walk back out to Whakapapa Village, thus making this trip a circuit.

When registering, please indicate whether you wish to do a 3 or 4- day trip. This will help with the planning.

NOTE: This trip is also a tent-based trip and not using Huts except, maybe Mangatepopo if we head this way.