Central Whirinaki Hut, Saturday 21 June 2025
Banner Photo: The six of us at Central Whirinaki Hut
Six trampers headed to Central Whirinaki Hut, one of the longest day trips for the club, on the shortest day of the year. Other members had originally planned to accompany us in to spend the night as the solstice celebration, but decided against due to a lack of firewood for warmth – a wise decision as it turned out.
The drive in to Plateau car park from Pohokura Road was remarkable. This road has always been generally difficult, with only sporadic maintenance. This time the road was a mass of washouts and potholes so big we were lucky not to lose a car never to be seen again. At times it was unrecognisable as a road.
The cave is always an attraction on this walk
We set off for our walk with fine weather and -2 degrees at 9.20. No one in our group apart from Juliet and I had been on this tramp before. It was perfect conditions to enjoy the lush green surrounds and mighty native first generation trees not seen in the Kawekas or Ruahines. On the way down to the swing bridge, we met a family returning from a night at the hut. They had been unable to start a fire and had a cold, miserable night. This validates Sue’s decision to not take a group in for the night.
We made the hut in good time, with a quick look at the cave, and sat on the deck in some streaky low sun filtering through the trees for a rapid lunch and look around before heading back to beat the cold and dark. Our walk out was steady and uneventful. The temperature had risen to a comfortable 6 deg.
The return drive was slow and managed with care, arriving at SH5 just on dark. Perfect timing. We were home and warm by 7.00 – a 12-hour day.
Thank you to Juliet and Bruce for the transport.
Trampers: Juliet Gillick, Donna Western, Selina Chilton, Michelle Finlayson, Nozomu Takahashi and reporter Bruce Hodgson
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