17-18 October 2015

We travelled to Taihape on the Friday night and stayed at the Rusty Nail backpackers. It was a great place with good facilities and atmosphere.

Saturday morning we travelled to Rangiwahia to start our climb. The beginning was steep and then it flattened out. There were many different mosses plus mountain cedar. The variety was met with great enthusiasm by our local botanist Chris. Even though we did not have a clear view over the landscape because of the cloud, there was an atmosphere of mystery. As we went along the Deadmans track we came to grassy tussock which was the beginning of the climb up again. The drizzle increased plus as we climbed to the summit the wind strength increased; the wind did its’ utmost to blow us over. Once we got to the summit we did not stay long due to the cold wind, but on the other side out of the wind the track was flat and an easy walk to the hut. We were lucky another tramper was at the hut and had the fire going, it was so inviting. The next day was a 2 hour walk out with the scenery being different, with great canyons to look down and across plus the track was mainly under bush. During the night there was stormy weather which I slept through due to the hut being so cosy. The hut had a sign saying Rangi hut on the outside. The toilets were painted with native birds plus they smelt nice too. There was Chris our leader, Selwyn, John McA, Pui Ying Liew and Judith (scribe).