The New Zealand Site

A 4-day tramp through centered around the Central Whirinaki and Upper Whirinaki Huts. Beautiful streams and waterfalls and lots of variety.

Central Whirinaki Hut

We hiked up to Central Whirinaki Hut from the River Road carpark. Though I’ve been here a few times, I never tire of the magnificent podocarp forest and the track is so good that you can actually look around and up while you’re walking. I took my son and his elder step-brother, and though we’d done training beforehand, it’s still a long way. About 15 kilometres in, and a kilometre before the hut, the track passes through an odd little tunnel. Coming in that last kilometre took us nearly forty minutes with breaks: going out it took us fifteen. We’d started early and fortunately got to the hut (18 beds) before a whole tramping club and a number of others arrived. That Saturday night there were over 27 people in and around the hut or in bivouacs down by the river.

Upper Whirinaki River

On the second day we splashed our way up the Taumutu Stream and meandered over to the Upper Whirinaki Hut on winding paths and through grassy clearings sprinkled with deer poos. At the hut we were entertained by a tomtit who’d staked out a territory by the front verandah. Returning to Central Whirinaki Hut via the river and the caves was a nice, easy day with the crossings being in the shallow upper reaches of the river (pictured). On our last day we walked back out, but crossed the river at the waterfall (bridged and a nice place for lunch), and followed a track on the west side of the river. It doesn’t pass through forest as impressive as that on the east side, but it has good views and some pretty little waterfalls.

It was a lovely tramp - fairly safe, with a variety of scenery and some easy and some challenging days. The boys loved it.

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