This was a trip into areas where tracks were not marked and some skills in direction-finding were required. The group of 16 who went had an interesting time as they had to do map-and-compass work, hunt for overgrown track entrances and even ask a couple of local residents while exploring part of the Tongariro Forest on the other side of SH47 from Tongariro National Park - and they were rewarded with a little of the history of the area. Friday We left The Bracken soon after 6:15pm in five cars and travelled to Mission Bay on Lake Taupo. One car went via Hamilton to pick up two people from there; the rest travelled the usual and mandatory State Highway 27 with Matamata as dinner stop. It was 11:30pm when we arrived at the Lake Taupo Christian Camp at Mission Bay. This large camp gets a lot of use throughout the year with school and other groups, and in the winter time church youth groups sometimes use the place at weekends as a base for ski-ing on Ruapehu. We had the self-contained flat, which was in the main dormitory block and had five 4-bed dorms plus kitchen/commonroom area. Two people from the group had been at Ruapehu that week ski-ing, and went across to open up the flat for us about 7pm, but were in bed when we arrived. The fruit bowl which greeted us on the dining table was from camp management, and paid for out of our accommodation fees. Saturday The day dawned fine, crisp and clear, ideal for our exploration of the Taurewa area of Tongariro Forest. Tongariro Forest is now DOC land, but policy is that the forest not be developed to the high standard of the adjacent Tongariro National Park with well-maintained tracks, visitor facilities, etc. but used for such activities as mountainbiking, hunting and outdoor adventure training with the area being allowed to eventually revert to its original wholly native forest. The area is in fact a mixture of native forest, scrub and pine forest, and of the many roads and tracks left as a legacy of logging days (up to the mid-1970s) only a handful, including the Taurewa Loop Track, 42 Traverse, Ohinetonga Track near Owhango, and the short track to Te Porere Redoubt will be maintained. The Taurewa area of the forest, which we visited, is home to the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre and three camps used by school and other groups for outdoor adventure training. As the tramp included unmarked tracks and much route-finding and map-and-compass work, we had to be especially strict about keeping the group together, staying in front of the tail-end charlie and stopping at all junctions and ambiguous places to group up. The group was very well behaved in abiding by these principles. We drove to Mangatepopo Camp School, which was originally the Mangatepopo School and is now one of these three camps, then left cars at tramp’s end, the access to Te Porere Redoubt. At Mangatepopo Camp School we were met by acting caretaker Jim, and not only did he show us the start of the Taurewa Loop Track but he led us along the first five minutes of the track till it crossed a forest road.

The Taurewa Loop Track at first went through scrub and across a stream, with views of Tongariro and snow-capped Ngauruhoe, then into podocarp forest as a well-formed track boardwalked in places. After about an hour we took a side track leading to the Old Tram  Route track. This was originally part of the network of railway lines used in years gone by to bring felled logs out of the bush for processing at the nearby sawmills. The track was a little more overgrown than the Taurewa Loop Track  but was easy to follow and went through some long cuttings. There was no trace of the original railway tracks. This track came out to a vehicle track, and we soon came to the second of the three outdoor activity camps. Like the Mangatepopo Camp School it was unoccupied when we were there, but is well used by school and other groups during the week. We stopped beside the camp, and while we were sitting down admiring the fine sunny weather with the forest around us, and Tongariro and Ngauruhoe behind us, Eileen reminded us that all this was God’s creation, and what He has done both in creation and in our lives. The Bible describes the heavens, moon and stars as the work of God’s fingers. She then said that God had to give up his dearest piece of creation - God as Jesus Christ - for our salvation. Did we do anything to deserve our salvation? No - it is a free gift for the asking.

By now it was close to midday, so we had our lunch. Afterwards we took a track across a footbridge to come to the camp’s outdoor training area, a collection of ropes and structures including a high wall used for climbing and abseiling practice. It then took a little hunting to get on to the road that eventually led to the remains of the Ketetahi mill settlement, and we had to ask a local resident for assistance. The Ketetahi sawmill closed about 1962, and the houses still remain but in a much dilapidated and uninhabitable condition.

Just past the ghost town the track seemed to peter out altogether, and Laurie and Terry volunteered to scout around for any suggestion of the track that would go on to drop down to the Mangatepopo Gorge near the Tongariro Power Station intakes. Eventually we came on to a track that soon became well defined as it carried on through bush. After a while we came to a lookout over the Mangatepopo Gorge, with Tongariro and Ngauruhoe in the distance. From there it was a steady and steep drop to the gorge, with the track stepped in places. We came out near the end of Access Road #3 and had a rest stop on the mown grass across the road. We could now see the half moon in the sky, and we were reminded of what Eileen had said earlier about God’s fingers.

We took a track climbing from behind the Outdoor Pursuits Centre climbing practice area in the gorge, to come out back on Access Road #3 on the plateau. To find the vehicle track leading off that road towards the Te Porere Redoubt required a map and compass; this was an undulating vehicle track through tussocky scrub that eventually became a foot track - again we had to use map and compass to ensure we were on the right way. The Te Porere Redoubt was a surprise after a day of route-finding and map-reading. This was the site of the final major battle of the New Zealand land wars, where the Maori warrior Te Kooti with his 300 men were defeated by a force of 540 Maoris and Europeans. Te Kooti was shot in the hand, but escaped into the heart of the King Country to elude capture. The redoubt was well preserved with its trenches and walls, covered with grass and maintained with weedeaters or similar equipment. This was actually the first of two redoubts we were to visit; the first one was on a hilltop whilst the second one was further down towards the carpark. On the second redoubt we were able to walk only in the trenches; a sign asked not to walk on the tops of the walls. It was about 4:45pm when we arrived at the carpark where our cars were waiting. We drove back to the Lake Taupo Christian Camp, where Christine and Lin cooked up a lovely dinner of pasta and veges. Afterwards we went into Tokaanu for a welcome soak in the hot pools. Even though the pools were fresh water heated by the thermal waters from the nearby hot springs, they were nice and hot. Sunday Another glorious day - and frost on the roofs of the cars - meant all was on for our tramping in the Turangi area. We were to have climbed Mt Tihia, Pihanga’s sister mountain, but a quick reccie done the previous day on the way back from the Tongariro Forest found the track entrance off the Te Ponanga Saddle Road was not easy to find and there was no parking nearby. Instead we tramped the Pylon Track, a vehicle track that went from a side road off the Te Ponanga Saddle Road along the side of the hills to come out on SH41 above Waihi. Again we had to leave cars at both ends of the track, and we started at the Te Ponanga Saddle end. It was a pleasant vehicle track through bush, with views in places out to Lake Taupo and surrounding areas. About a third of the way along there had been a bridge that was washed out many years ago, and the track reduced to a walking track around it. Of the bridge itself there was no trace other than some wooden planks in the ground, and a sign warning of the danger of the bridge almost completely covered in gorse and other bush. In several places there were side tracks off either side, but we had to keep to the main track. We stopped for morning tea at a high point about two-thirds along the track. There was a view looking back to Turangi with the prison farms and Kaimanawa Ranges behind; and ahead to the hills covered with plumes of steam from the Hipaua Thermal Area. Don gave us a mini-Bible study on a subject dear to him, the mercy of God. God’s heart is a heart of love and mercy. God is described in the Bible as love (a noun) and holy (an adjective - not the noun holiness). Don used the story of how while Moses was up on Mt Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments, the people followed his brother Aaron who made a golden calf as an object of worship and ended up partying and being naughty (Exodus 32). God told Moses that His anger will blaze out and destroy the people, but Moses prayed that God would spare them, and He did so. God has to judge, but he would do so in tears. He is patient and delays judgment (2 Peter). Psalm 103 brings out the compassion of a God who is slow to anger. God longs for people to come to Him so He can show His love (Isaiah 30:18). Luke 6:35-36 we are commanded to love our enemies, and to show as much compassion as God does. The greatest image of God’s mercy is Jesus Christ on the cross, sacrificed so that we may have eternal life even though we don’t deserve it. We finished with a time of prayer and the first verse and chorus of Great Is Thy Faithfulness. We dropped down then climbed over another hill and were out on SH41 by about 11:15am. As several people wanted to go home early, we had no time for a planned one-hour loop on the Tongariro River at Turangi. We returned to Lake Taupo Christian Camp for lunch, which we had outside on the verandah with a horde of sparrows gobbling up spare bits of bread thrown out to them. Then out came the wallets to pay the trip costs, and the hoover to get the place clean, and we were away by 1:30pm for an either pleasant or boring (or both) trip home along State Highway 27 once more. We were back at The Bracken shortly after 6pm. COST: $77 (travel $41-50; food $8; accommodation $27-50). Tokaanu hot pools $2-50.