Fifteen of us left Auckland in three vans on the Thursday. The early van (1pm) went directly to Big Bush Holiday Park whereas the other  two vans left at 5pm and went to Whirinaki Forest Holidays at Te Whaiti. Friday Very early in the morning the last two vans went to Big Bush  Holiday Park where all the groups were sorted. We had day walkers and  two groups of overnight walkers, A (7) & B (8). Most of group B had  left much earlier in the morning from Onepoto. The remainder of us  left from the same place at 10:30am. There were light showers all day, but it didn't rain till we got to Panekiri Hut. Most of the track along the ridge had been re-aligned  and made much wider. Because it had rained heavily during the  previous week, much of the track was very muddy. We found this to be the case all around the lake. Saturday It was raining heavily so we waited till it cleared at 9am. This was only a very short day and both groups arrived at Waiapaoa Hut in time for lunch. Except for the occasional shower, we had a lovely afternoon by the lakeside. We were joined in the evening by a guided group who had a luxury meal made for them. Sunday This was to be our longest day. One of group A,s members was not feeling well so they managed to arrange a boat trip to the next hut. It took us more than seven hours to reach Waiharuru Hut. Both groups stopped at Marauiti Hut for lunch, group A leaving as group B arrived. Not long after group A got to Waharuru, the skies opened and it poured. Unfortunately group B got caught in it. The Hut was very large and the separate dining area had a great fire going, so the wet trampers were able to get warm and dry out their clothes. Monday We set off for Hopuruahine Landing. On the way we stopped at Whanganui Hut for morning tea. The weather was excellent this day. It wasn't long before we arrived at the Landing where we were to have lunch with the day tramping group. We then all got into the three vans and headed back to Auckland