19-20 September 2026

Leader: Craig Watkin

There were five of us on the trip, which made the logistics nice and easy. All but one of us were carrying a tent so if we got to the hut and found it full, John was going to be in the hut regardless, even if that meant sleeping on the floor. Otherwise he would have had to share with Maryann as she was the only one carrying a two person tent.

I left Raumati Beach around 7:30 am and went to Raumati South to pick up John, and then on to Maryann’s place to load all our packs into her Nissan Elgrand. We then headed to Te Horo where we picked up Rob and Dave.

And then we were off. We stopped in Manakau so Maryann could grab a sandwich, and again in Dannevirke for a toilet stop, and Rob ate a sausage roll from the local petrol station. The drive up was unadventurous and uneventful, compared to what we were about to experience together, but we did enjoy the ‘new’ Hawkes Bay Expressway as we headed up to Wakarara Road. John in the shotgun seat was Maryann’s guide, but wait, Wakarara Road, and another Wakarara Road further north. Hmm, that’s not right or had people just run out of ideas for naming roads back then, or somehow forgotten they had already named one Wakarara and so repeated it. Well we took the second one based on John’s directions, and it ended up being a longer, more scenic drive than what Dave had done previously, but it did join back up with the first one, and then we arrived at the carpark. We started the walk through the farm at 11:11 am, and were accompanied/followed by cows as we navigated through their paddock down to the river. As we were walking through the paddock we realised Maryann's thumb was bleeding. She has no idea how she did it but it was bandaged up to continue.

Heading up the Makaroro River was fun - navigating the river crossings was a good experience for me, as we linked up in pairs for some of them. John gave us the great suggestion to go up the river and Gold Creek on the way in, as the forecast overnight rain was at risk of preventing the creek being done on the way out. And wow, that was absolutely the right decision. The tramp in was mammoth due to the slips and trees down which made for slow progress and constant crossings back and forth. At one point we even had to take our backpacks off and go up onto a ledge one at a time being pulled up by Dave. At each break and stop we had, Dave, Rob and John would get out their phones and maps and tell us how we were progressing - it was so helpful to know, and it always would end with Dave saying "about 30 minutes to go".

We reached the hut before 6pm, so before dark, and all of us, but especially John, were happy to find the hut empty and free for us all to use. John Beech, the volunteer who looks after the hut under a volunteer agreement does a lovely job. The hut was well maintained and tidy, and the woodshed was well stocked. John was able to get a fire going easily with the wood at the hut and had also brought some fire starters with him. It didn’t take long for the hut to be warm and cosy, enabling us to settle in to cooking our evening meals. John prepared straws so we could draw and see who was on the floor, but before the draw was done, Dave stepped up and said he was happy to blow up his mattress and sleep on the floor. Thank you Dave. The night's sleep in the hut was as one would expect, not a lot, or waking up every hour, toilet trips, and misjudging when trying to get back in bed how far down it was, which resulted in a thump. There was plenty of rain and wind all night and this resulted in me, at one point, having a refreshing wakeup of water dripping on my face!

In the morning after breakfast we decided we would set off at 8:30 am for the climb up to the ridgeline, John leading the way which was amazing. About halfway up we stopped to have a breather, John looked back and let me know it was time for me to lead, and Dave said "just 30 minutes to go". We climbed up to the ridgeline and had sleet which was beautiful and surprisingly not cold. The walk along the ridgeline was uneventful and I was getting the hang of being in the front and setting the pace, and then came the descent. I thoroughly enjoyed the descent through the bush, but although beautiful, found the flax to be problematic as it was across the track and made it difficult to see what you were stepping onto or needing to step over. Sadly in the descent stage while in the bush Maryann had a fall behind me, hitting her face on a tree stump which gave her a fat lip. As well, her left leg, which took most of the impact from her fall resulted in a gash to her shin, and graze on her knee. Dave, Rob and John provided medical care to Maryann and did a great job at reassuring her things would be okay. There were just 30 minutes to go.

We reached the farmland with perfect timing just after 12 pm for a lunch break, so we stopped there and had some lunch. The weather also cleared up ever so briefly to allow us to soak in five minutes of sun before it started showering again. We blamed Rob for this as he had taken off his rain jacket. Should have kept it on!

The descent down the fenceline of the farm to the Makaroro River, was I think, the hardest part of the trip, 1 km of what felt like straight down with undulating turf beneath your feet, and constantly grabbing onto the farmer's fence, or the bushes. I had a couple of close calls where Dave said "Good save, don’t worry, only 30 minutes to go". Rob had the sensible approach and found some shingle to go down - one part where I wish I wasn’t leading. I felt so relieved to get back on to the firm ground of the riverbed.

The flow was up a lot from the day before with all the rain we had had on Saturday night, so that for most crossings, all 5 of us had to join up and do the crossings as a pack. It worked well, and having the strongest members of the group, Dave and Rob at each end worked so well. They kept us safe! We all did our bit to keep each other safe! I lost count of how many river crossings we did, but Dave let us know when we were getting to the end that we had just, you guessed it, 30 minutes to go!

Getting back to the farm was great, and walking back through the cows who seemed less interested in us this time around. On the final walk up to the car we had five sheep ahead of us that were keeping their distance. It was going well until Rob got to the last gate and before even opening it, 3 went one way and 2 the other; the 2 slipped around the gate and managed to join us on the car side of the gate. We got back to the car before 3 pm, and Rob drove us back to Te Horo as Maryann was too sore!

Thankfully Maryann was able to drive John and me back to her place, and we called in to Waikanae New World where John helped her go into the supermarket and buy some groceries. After helping Maryann into her house, I took John home, then headed home myself. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, what we experienced, and the amazing company and support from everyone on the trip. And it turns out after all this, after everything, anything good and meaningful in life, it does take longer than 30 minutes!

Those on the trip were:

Craig Watkin, Dave Williams, John Glover, Maryann Bugg, Rob Dey

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.