Makahu Saddle to Middle Hill Hut, Kaweka FP, Saturday 6 December, 2025.
Banner Photo: The whio spotted in one of the Makahu River tributaries (Kaweka Flats track)
Nine piled into the van at Park Island and hit the road slightly early. Juliet and Kate left us at the Makahu car park to drive to the other end of our tramping route and, at 8.30am, we set off. The weather was overcast and cool with a few spots of rain. It didn’t take too long to warm up.
We had a productive time checking traps: four stoats, one weasel, a possum, rat and mouse. It took us an hour and a half to reach Kaweka Flats bivvy for a coffee stop. Shona produced a pair of binoculars so we all had a chance to spot the hut on Makahu spur.
Mary had a moment of panic when she couldn’t find her phone. As she ransacked her pack and back- tracked her memory, Shona asked: “Is it still in your bra for safe keeping from when we crossed that stream”? Haha, sure enough, there it was. That gave us all a good laugh.
Heading upstream after the steep descent, with a big climb to come
Heading off to Middle Hill Hut to meet up with Juliet, there was quite a bit of up and down. Mary took a couple of slides on the slippery clay areas. It got very windy on the tops, some of the gusts quite fierce and not safe to leave the hats on.
At about 1pm, we stopped for lunch as we were all too hungry to wait until the hut. We reached the hut at 2pm, and Juliet was waiting. A group of four others were staying the night, plus a Dutchman who had stayed the previous night and was heading to Te Puia springs to camp.
En route to the van, we came across a pair of whio in one of the streams; that was exciting, although they didn’t feel the same way at spotting us and moved off. Mary heard a kaka at some point and a long-tailed cuckoo was also heard.
The sun and heat came on strong for the last couple of hours. I was glad to get back to the van at 4.15. We were back at Park Island close to 6pm, with hundreds of vehicles there for Christmas in the Park.
Thank you to Campbell for organising the tramp and driving and to Juliet for moving the van.
Trampers: Phil Shakespeare, Campbell Living, Juliet Gillick, Donna Weston, Mary Campbell, Kate Fuller, Shona Tupe, Selina Chilton and reporter Michele Ericksen
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