Tararua Tramp

27Oct06

Tararua’s 21st & 22nd October 2006

We left Waiohine roadend and hit our first snag early on, the bridge was under repair! So into the river we went, which was quite deep and fast, in fact Julz managed to go right under!

It was still hot n sunny heading up over Reeves so we dried out alright, only for the rain and wind to arrive just as we were going over Reeves and that was the beginning of the end. We pitched camp on river flats in the valley with our MSR Fling (the purpose of this trip was to test this tent) which is a single skin superlightweight summer tent. It got more than it’s fair share of battering, we could hear the wind roaring up the valley from kilometres away and just sat there waiting for it to hit, wondering if the tent or the fly we had pitched would be the first to go. The rain was torrential and we could see in our minds eye as we went to sleep the river lapping at the tent…

We woke up dry and the tent was fine! The river was right up and very fast flowing and it was a bit cold so we packed up and headed off to Cone hut for breakfast. In cone we found a group of 6 who couldnt believe it, they said they were living in fear of their hut being destroyed all night.

Luckily the bridge was open for use on the way back as with the depth and flow of the Waiohine river I think we wouldve had another night in there if not!

No pictures as it was raining constantly so couldnt get the camera out!