Sunday 16 June 2024
Waihohonu Hut 2024
Previously we’ve had some great trips during the winter to Waihohonu Hut in Tongariro National Park in the central North Island, so I planned another one for this year. It went really well!
We had 13 people this year, more than ever, and last time the hut was very full, so this year we went during the week (Thursday and Friday nights) on a non-holiday-weekend — though it was still during the school and university holidays. Surprisingly the hut was really quite empty; other than our group there was only a handful of other people on both nights.
The weather was excellent — sunny and clear, but cold. We found that there was almost no snow on the ground around us, but lots of frost and ice. I’d slightly prefer snow on the ground but it was well worth doing in the conditions we got.
It was only two nights and a 90 minute walk from the carpark, so we went all-out with food and supplies. Because we were a large group and firewood was running low, we carried in a bag of firewood to donate to the hut. We brought a telescope for stargazing and looking at the mountains. We had good meals both nights — curried chicken pasta on Thursday, bread and onions and sausages and self-saucing steamed puddings on Friday.
We spent most of Friday walking to Tama Lakes and back. It was a lovely day with great views of the mountains, but there was a freezing wind blowing at the lakes which intensified with altitude — it was too much trouble to climb the ridge to Upper Tama Lake. There’s always next time!
We had a very diverse group and it was fun getting to know people. We had a couple of young kids (6 and 8 I think?) who handled it well, and a few first-time trampers, as well as experienced hands. Hopefully they’ll be back for more! I’m really looking forward to the next trips I have planned in November and February.
