Southern Ruahine Crossing, Saturday 11 April 2026
Banner Photo:Battling through the leatherwood
There were nine in the van heading down to do the Southern Ruahine Crossing. Before long, we encountered first drizzle then light rain so there was some trepidation about what the weather might bring, in view of the impending cyclone forecast to hit New Zealand the next day. Happily, any fears were unfounded as the weather improved as we went further south – and we ended up having a beautiful day with most wearing just a single layer.
After a comfort stop at Woodville, we continued through Ashhurst and along Pohangina valley’s East Road before turning into Opawe Road and up to the road’s end. There were already several vehicles parked – a day walker from Feilding and a couple of hunters in for the roar, one of whom we encountered later on coming down with his dog (and a weighty pack full of venison).
Selina took this group photo at the bush edge entrance to the Ruahine FP
Juliet and Tony moved the van around to the Kumeti car park, stopping off at Woodville for a coffee. The remaining seven set off across farmland at about 9.30am and a half hour later reached the bushline at the entrance marked Ruahine Forest Park. It was a good track with some magnificent trees – one was a real beauty with a big tangle of vines snaking up it. We stopped for a brief morning tea break, looking across to Ruapehu and Tongariro.
We continued through mature bush and lovely goblin forest, then clambered up a steeper rocky section before turning to see the views looking out over the Pohangina valley with Mount Taranaki clearly in the background.
The view west, Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe in the distance
We reached the Maharahara viewpoint (1095 metres above sea level) at around 12.15 and stopped for a lunch break. We had started at 300 metres, so had done a decent climb.
From there, the track became quite overgrown, with slippery mud in many places, bits of tree stumps hidden by tussocks and grasses, and many concealed dips. Quite the trip hazard, and there was much laughter as some of us ended up on our backsides. There was an abundance of leatherwood, some waist high and some head high – an effort to get through. This stretch will soon be impassable if maintenance is not carried out.
Kiritaki Hut, now painted red after a BCT makeover
We could see across to Kiritaki Hut before swirls of low cloud obscured it, then lifted again.
There was one particularly steep, gnarly section of track that required care (and long legs) to negotiate. We reached the Kiritaki Hut/Kumeti road-end/Opawe road-end signpost at 1.45 pm and 45 minutes later came to a clearing that had been cut and sprayed for a helipad – and there was Juliet waiting for us. She had tramped in from the Kumeti road-end.
The cut track eased our descent to the Mangapuaka stream
The difference in the track going forward was like chalk and cheese – we had been wading and slithering through a densely overgrown route and were now enjoying a cleared, well-maintained trail that was almost like a Great Walks track.
We descended towards the Mangapuaka stream, quite steeply towards the end, arriving at the signpost at 3.50. It indicated the unmarked river route would take 30 minutes. Sure enough, we reached the Kumeti road-end at 4.15pm. The stream was pretty low, so easy crossing and a good way to clean our mud-caked boots.
An Easter Orchid in flower, a rare sight, seen on our descent
It had been a fantastic day and I was extremely grateful to have finally done the Southern Ruahine Crossing, as it has been on my wish list for a very long time. Thank you to Alison for being T/O and driver and to everyone for the great company. What an enjoyable club outing.
Trampers: Julia Mackie, Juliet Gillick, Tony Pluymers, Alison Greer, Babu Chinnasamy, Selina Chilton, Fiona Bryant, Keith Gore, and reporter Shona Tupe
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