Blog

When I was a teenager tramping with my father, one of our favourite routes on the Pouakais was the track from the stony river at the end of Puniho rd that follows the ridge line above the stony river on to the southern end of the main Pouakai massive.  You can then make it a circuit by descending via the Ahukawakawa track to Holly hut and returning to Puniho rd on the Bells falls track. It s a long day tramp - 9 to 10 hrs but a very rewarding tramp with great views and crossing through diff …

While climbing Taranaki Maunga from Carrington ridge a year ago I spotted a new track line on the Pouakais leading from Henry peak down over the minor peaks to the north of Ahukawakawa and then up one of the ridge lines to join the Holly hut track. I had often looked at this route in the past thinking that would be a great place for a track and now it looked like DOC had cut a new track presumably for conservation management.Around March last year I climbed Henry peak via the Kaiawai track and a …

Every spring I look forward to doing a snow climb to the summit of Taranaki Maunga. There's nothing like being up above the snow line the early morning in the crisp clear air and crunch of crampons on ice and snow. Every climb is different with changes in snow conditions, ice crystals and wind and cloud.  For this climb I decided to take the Kyber pass route up past Humphries castle crossing the very bottom of the lizard to get into the bottom of snow valley leaving a long continuous s …

It's spring, the kowhai is in flower and our garden is full of tui. I always enjoy this time of year watching the verious antics of the tui as they gorge themselves on nectar and then chase each other around at high speed through the trees and swooping out low over the ground. Every season, there's nearly always one tui that tries to claim a tree as it's own territory and spends its time chasing away all comers. Typically it will keep this behaviour up for two or three days before it gets overwh …

The 26th May was a rare occurrence of a supermoon (closest approach of the moon to the earth) and a full lunar eclipse.  Even rarer, it was a beautiful clear night so we could enjoy the spectacle which is often referred to as a super blood moon due to the red tinge the moon takes on during a full eclipse.The eclipse started at around 9:30 with the full eclipse occurring at 11:15 and lasting for about 20 minutes.  It was a cold evening so I put on some extra layers of warm clothes and h …