Napier Tramping Club

based in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand

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One out of the box, wrapped in Gold

August 28, 2010 by Jude Paton Leave a Comment

Gold Creek, Saturday August 28 2010. Map: BK36

Trampers: Gordon Tapp, Isobel Holdaway, Gillian Dalton, Sue Martin (trip leader), Murray Goss, Marc Marchal, Paul Hendy, Kelvin Shaw and Jude Paton

On a mild, sunny, windless morning, nine of us headed for the hills with Kelvin (who’d come to check out the Saturday trampers) at the wheel. The sun catching the snow-topped ranges looked amazing.

We set out over farmland at 8.25 taking the “short cut” (a bit of a challenge, since none of us had been that way before), in order to save ourselves the climb up from the river. A short way along the fenceline bordering the bush, we spotted the arrow pointing 1km downhill to the river and the DoC sign board and we were back on track! Looking back, we had fantastic views of the braided Makororo spread out way below us. We ambled along a gently climbing track through lovely bush and moss with dappled sunshine, in high spirits.

A sunny spot by Gold Creek, a good place for a group photo. Taken by Kelvin Shaw

After two hours, we reached the drop-off point down to the hut. Who said only 10 minutes to morning tea in the sun at the hut? A half hour’s steepish descent later, we splashed through the stream and discovered an old Forest Service 4-bunker with a fresh coat of orange coat and new skylight, light and very tidy. A sunny spot by the stream was the setting for our leisurely “brunch”. Strangely, no one opted for the downstream route (Ted’s words ringing in our ears: “Cold Creek”) and instead we braced ourselves for the uphill trek.

Due to the scintillating conversation, our feet did the walking and 40 minutes later we were surprised to be back on top again. The sky to the west darkened and a shower had us scrambling for our raincoats. A few minutes later, the skies cleared and a rainbow appeared. One of the party then discovered she was hands-free and remembered her pole was leaning against the tree where she’d put on her raincoat. With time to spare, two of us hot-footed it back up the track to retrieve the stick and returned via the shortcut. The rest continued down the track to the memorial above the river, before dragging themselves back up the hill (the hardest part of the day, they claimed!) to the van, arriving back at 2.45pm.

A stop at Tikokino for refreshments saw nine happy trampers return to town after a leisurely day’s tramp in excellent company and ideal conditions. Well done team!

See Gossy’s photo album at http://www.fishinghuntinginfo.com/photo-gallery/backcountry-huts-and-surrounding-terrain/gold-creek-hut-sat-26th-august-2010/

Filed Under: Recent trips Tagged With: Gold Creek Hut

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About us

We are a group of like-minded people who love the great outdoors. We tramp mostly in the Hawke’s Bay province, in remote areas such as the Kaweka and Ruahine Ranges; but we also travel longer distances to new places, for longer walks.

The Napier Tramping Club was established in 1974 and has about 70 members. We belong to the Federated Mountain Clubs of NZ Inc (FMC) and run Saturday, full-weekend and Wednesday tramps, every fortnight.

Interested in joining us?

Enjoy the great outdoors, keep fit and get to know others with similar interests.

More information

Latest news

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Latest trip

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Useful links

  • Dept of Conservation
  • DoC Huts Use, Kaweka Forest Park
  • Federated Mountain Clubs of NZ (FMC)
  • Heretaunga Tramping Club
  • New Zealand Tramper
  • NZ Walking Access Commission
  • Wanganui Tramping Club

Useful links 2

  • Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society
  • Weather forecast

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