Tongariro / Taupo

Weekend 10th - 11th February 2024

This trip fills a gap in the tramping programme which means you have the opportunity of filling a gap in the labour force this weekend. A driver will be needed for a van as the trip leaders will be at the Lodge from 4.30pm onwards. Car pooling can also be organised.

You will need to leave Hamilton at a time on Friday 9^th, such that you arrive at the Pureora Forest Park Lodge in the north Pureora forest before 7.30pm, taking note of the fact that it takes 2 hours to drive there. This means private transport, or a van that leaves Hamilton no later than 5.30pm. You can cook your evening meal while listening to the safety briefing that starts at 7.45pm. The Lodge caters for 50 people so has a good kitchen, shower facilities etc, and a large grassed area where campervans, caravans, and tents can be easily set up.

The Pirongia Restoration Society will supply all safety equipment (including PLBs) and cost of accommodation. If you are a newbie, you will be assigned a teammate who has done this work before, and given maps of the bait lines you are to visit. Sat morning we leave at 7.30 (well, that’s the intention anyway), and drive a further 40 mins to the ‘base’. From this point some people are transported further along the road to the upper eastern reaches of the Okahukura valley to be closer to the starting point of their assigned lines. The rest begin walking up an ‘access’ track, with those needing to go to the upper western lines being ferried in an LUV. Once all lines have been visited and the bait removed from every station (958 of them) along the lines (42 of these), you return to the base and get to enjoy some of the treats awaiting you. Then it is back to the Lodge for a shower, rest, refreshments, or perhaps even a leisurely walk around the Waipapa loop which starts right beside the Lodge. If there are lines still to visit this will be done on Sunday morning.

This is a beautiful forest and there is every chance you will at least hear, if not see, kokako, kaka, kakariki, robins, tomtits, whiteheads, and many other bird species. Perhaps even a deer.

If all the work has been completed on Saturday then we can go for a tramp not too far away – along the Whangamata MTB track which goes gently downhill to Kawakawa bay on the shore of Lake Taupo, then over a headland and on to Kinloch where there is an icecream shop and café. 

Please contact the leaders if you have any questions.