The 13 people who signed up for this opportunity to practise harder pack-carrying tramping did not know what they would be letting themselves in for, especially Sunday’s tramp down Mt Pirongia, having stayed the night up near the top. Perhaps a trip fit for royalty????? Friday We left The Bracken at 6:15pm to travel to Hamilton to overnight at Gail’s home on the western outskirts of that city. There was an opportunity to have dinner and buy next day’s lunch at the top of the Bombay hills. Saturday We were up by 6:30am having just had the Presidential Cups Of Tea In Bed Service, and after having breakfast and packing up, we were away by 8am heading to Mt Pirongia to meet up at the carpark near the end of Waite Rd with three people who had come across from Tauranga. It was about 9:45am by the time we set out on our tramp. There was about 15min roadbashing before the start of the track, which began to climb steadily through bush. The track joined the main Pirongia track from Corcorans Rd about 15min before Ruapane Trig. We arrived at the trig about 90 minutes from the start, and had thought of having morning tea there, but there was a cold wind so we decided to carry on. We soon came to a rocky outcrop - this had chains bolted in on both sides to make it easier to climb up then down the other side. Further on we came to another rocky outcrop. The three people from Tauranga and Gail decided to call it a day here as it was after midday and they wanted to be out well before dark (about 5:30pm). Instead of going over the top, the track went down around the bottom of the outcrop before beginning to climb again. The track was well defined but rather rough, with some tricky sections in places, especially for those of the group who were not used to tramping in rough terrain with heavy packs. One difficult piece had an easier way around - but that was not seen till after the difficult part was negotiated! It was mid-afternoon by the time we reached Pirongia Summit, the last 15min being boardwalk, a welcome change from what we had just been through. We were in the clouds, so had no view whatsoever from the trig, and we therefore carried on, dropping down then following more boardwalk until we reached the Pahautea Hut about half an hour from the summit. This is the only hut in the Pirongia Forest Park. The hut was small, containing two bunks that could sleep 3-4 people each, plus kitchen and dining area. Once we got our burners going to brew up a cuppa (there was no fireplace), the hut was very cosy compared with the cold wind outside. We cooked and had our dinner, then played 500 and/or watched the netball championships being played in Hamilton on a pocket-sized colour television one of our group had brought with him. Phillip read to us a page by George and Eileen Anderson titled That’s For Strangers. We were all in bed by about 9pm - yes, all 13 of us plus a young couple from Czechoslovakia - using not only the bunks but all available floor space. Sunday It was still dark when the last run of the Presidential Cups Of Tea In Bed Service was staged, about 6am. We were all up shortly afterwards as we wanted to be on the track by 8am. After having a nice Goldilocks breakfast to warm us up, we packed up and donned boots and packs, then Phillip read another page from George and Eileen Anderson titled What If, about being in God’s kingdom. We then left the hut, leaving the Czechoslovakian couple to have breakfast in peace. As we approached the summit of Pirongia, we had a pleasant surprise - we could see out across a sea of countryside and patches of low cloud to Mts Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro glistening white in the early morning sun. And further around was the white cone of Mt Egmont sticking up on the horizon. But looking the other way, towards Auckland, we could see ominous grey rainclouds in the distance. We did pause this time at Pirongia trig to look at the view and take group photographs. At the end of the boardwalk section we turned right and started down the Mahaukura Track which would eventually come out to Grey Rd. But this was not just a track going straight down to the roadend, but it followed a long spur that had about half a dozen large knobs on it, some very rocky indeed. The tricky pieces of track we had encountered the previous day on the way up the mountain were nothing compared to what this track had to offer. There was just about every type of scrambly terrain one could think of, with some real challenges. The worst part was climbing up the third one of these knobs, Mahaukura - the track began to sidle around the right-hand side of it and became a bit tricky, then came a precarious almost-vertical climb of maybe one or two hundred feet, which one member of the group called the waterfall stretch, even though there was no waterfall! The fittest people in the group, including two high-school students, clambered down this stretch after leaving their packs at the top to carry up the packs of the more nervous people in the group. This gave rise to light-hearted conversation within the group, suggesting the track would be very well suited to royalty! Anyway, we were thankful to God for His guidance and protection, and for holding off the rain until we were off the mountain. This is one illustration of the importance of teamwork in the tramping situation. In short, the Mahaukura Track up Mt Pirongia from the Grey Rd roadend is a VERY DIFFICULT TRACK that should be undertaken by FIT AND EXPERIENCED TRAMPERS ONLY, and avoided in any form of adverse weather. The knobs generally had short flat sections giving views out in most directions, including the spur we had gone up the previous day with its rocky outcrops. The last of these knobs, Wharauroa, had a chain bolted on the downhill face, and that was the last of the tricky pieces we had to negotiate. There was about an hour of steady downhill then more level travel along a pleasant bush track, and we were out at the road-end about 3pm. Phillip and Katrina, who were travelling fast and were at the front, ran through the Link Track to Waite Rd to fetch Phillip’s car and bring it around to collect the drivers and take them back to retrieve their cars and bring them back to collect their passengers.

We were all headed for chez Gail back in Hamilton just as the rain came on, and had a very belated lunch at about 4:30pm plus very welcome showers to clean the mud off ourselves. It was after 6pm when we left to go back to Auckland, and we were at The Bracken sometime after 8pm. COST: $40 (travel, food, accommodation)