Whirinaki Forest: 6 days tramping in February

Whirinaki State Forest Park in the central North Island has over 100 kilometres of tramping tracks through a variety of terrain. Situated between Kaingaroa Forest and Te Urewera National Park, Whirinaki offers beautiful clear rivers and streams which are home to native blue ducks, podocarp and beech forests and stunning rugged valleys.

We got shuttled up the Okahu Valley by the people from the Whirinaki Forest Lodge and spent the day crossing and re-crossing streams that we followed up and down long valleys. On our way we surprised a couple of pairs of blue ducks, or whio (named by the Maori for their whistling call), which was a real treat as they’re not common. The forest of mossy beech trees and ferns with rippling shallow streams felt quite primeval. Being young (younger than now anyway), we continued past the first hut (Whangatawhia or Skips Hut) and over a low saddle to another valley and the Te Wairoa Hut (pictured). It’s a classic back country hut with a corrugated iron chimney and fireplace that function as an expressway for mosquitoes, and it had more possums on the roof than you’d imagine possible.

After a hot and disturbed night’s sleep using towels over our faces to keep the mozzies away, and occasionally going outside to hurl a lump of wood or similar abuse at the possums, we again followed streams along a couple of valleys, passing another hut (Mangakahia), and came to Central Te Hoe Hut. Just before the hut we crossed the Te Hoe River, which had a fairly confined and narrow channel and is probably prone to flooding. Central Te Hoe Hut is clean, modern and a delight after Te Wairoa hut.

The next day we crossed the Te Hoe River again and climbed about 600 metres up a ridge that gave great views over remote valleys. We saw a kakariki (green parrot), the only time I’ve ever seen one in the wild. Descending the ridgeline towards Upper Te Hoe Hut, whole slopes were cleared of undergrowth, presumably by goats or deer. Where old beech trees had fallen over, erosion was carving great slips out of the exposed pumice under their upended roots. At dusk a lone blue duck flew honking/whistling past the hut to the valley below.

Our fourth day took us up to nearly 1200 metres on a ridgeline where whole stands of old beech trees had been felled in storms. Happily there was dense undergrowth and regrowth here, but the track disappeared at times and involved a fair amount of circling and orientation. On the track down into the Whirinaki River Valley, the air stank of decaying possums (dead possums are a good thing, but the rank smell in the fresh forest air is not). The Upper Whirinaki Hut (9 beds) was full – a shock for us after the solitude and remoteness we’d experienced so far. Probably to the delight of our companions in the hut, we headed downstream for our first good wash in four days, and slept really well on the floor.

Our last two days were easy, following the course of the Whirinaki River. We stopped at a large cave carved out of huge deposits of pumice and stayed in the spacious Central Whirinaki Hut. The river grew from an ankle-deep babbling brook to a broad, powerful flow, and the forest turned from beech to soaring podocarps with an understory of tawa and tree ferns. It’s a wonderful place.