Hills, and more hills – we’re back in training!

Macintosh Hut, Kaweka FP, Saturday 15 January, 2022. Map: BJ37
Banner Photo: The slip (very old) that must be crossed shortly after the bridge crossing

Campbell, Michele, Su and Di set off from Park Island for a short tramp to stretch the leg muscles after the Christmas break. The weather was cool at Napier and the cyclone was said to be on its way, but there was no wind either at Napier or on our walk. We could have done with some when walking up the hills!

It was a lot cooler at Mackintosh car park (about 10C) when we got there and drizzling, so jackets and boots on and off we went. It was lovely to be back in the bush again, even if only going to Mackintosh. The hill is still a hill but Michele hadn’t done it before so that was new for her. The track was good, just slightly overgrown at the start.

There was smoke coming out of the chimney when we got there and a mum with two girls inside. She was obviously raising them the right way! One went off with her phone; we were not sure if she’d found a signal and texting or was actually doing map reading or similar.

There was little bird life but I did see a couple of kereru. There must be berries somewhere. Some manuka was still in flower.

It was morning teatime, along with a discussion whether go do the loop or just grunt up the hill again. The hill won and we were back at the car for lunch. We felt we hadn’t done enough so we did the loop around the lake, which I haven’t done for 18 years.

That rounded the day off nicely. We were back at Park Island just before 3pm with Campbell grumbling he’d now have time to get some gardening done.

So, although a very short day, it was a good reminder for our legs.

Trampers: Campbell Living, Michele Erickson, Su Nugent and reporter Di Reid