AKATARAWA FOREST PARK TO TULSA PARK – DECEMBER 6, 2020
On a perfect spring morning 6 UHWTC members met at Tulsa Park, Totara Park, to carpool to the carpark at Akatarawa Road where our walk began. The track followed Akatarawa River west navigating the many potholes caused by off-road motorbikes and quad bikes that enjoy exploring this extensive area also. Respect was shown by everyone using the track for the initial first 4km when we shared facilities with the bikers. On reaching McGhies bridge a locked gate meant that only walkers could proceed south along Valley View 4WD road. This next 6km of...
read moreButterfly Creek – Thursday, 19 November 2020
This week the Thursday Walkers went from Kowhai Street, Eastbourne over to Buttterfly Creek. This involved a bit of a climb to get over the ridge above Muritai, here Fran and Ian chat as they come up the last of the steepest part of the track. Wellington City is in the distance. A rest and snacks break in a nicely sheltered glade under the beech trees at Butterfly...
read moreHarcourt Park to Te Marua – Thursday, 12 November 2020
Our Thursday morning walkers have kept going, getting 9 and 8 people out on these two dates. Walks are generally about 2- 1/2 hours duration, covering a range of ground. We walked up the Hutt River Trail from Harcourt Park to Te Marua, and back, a mostly well surfaced and reasonably level trip. Along the way we stopped to make a fuss of Pepe the alpaca as we passed, Getting near our start point on the return, where we crossed the river to go via Bridge...
read moreOhakune Labour Weekend – 23-26 October 2020
Labour Weekend at Ohakune – 23-26 October 2020 We had a very large group walking this weekend. 13 were staying at a rented house and 5 more were staying in alternate accommodation. It was a warm and sunny day when we arrived at varying times on Friday. The afternoon was spent indulging in the famous chocolate éclairs before heading to the supermarket for evening meal shopping. The rest of the day was taking it easy with a couple of drinks before heading out to tea The forecast for Saturday was showers around 3pm but as we were driving to...
read moreClean Green Rubbish Collection – Sunday, 18 October 2020
11 Club Members accompanied with 4 grandchildren collected 20 full to the brim bags of rubbish within the relatively small area between Silverstream railway station and Eastern Hutt Road., Wellington Regional Council provided rubbish bags, rubber gloves and other safety material for use during collection. Our thanks to them for materials provided and for taking our full rubbish bags to the tip. It is hoped that passing motorists were inspired by our efforts and will refrain from throwing litter from their cars. Massive thanks to all UHWTC...
read moreKaitoke Regional Park – Thursday, 15 October 2020
We had planned to go to Motukaraka Point (Pauatahanui) and walk to the Village, have a cup of coffee at the café and walk back. Eight of us met at Maidstone Park and it was pouring with rain and very cold so, expecting Pauatahanui to be rather exposed, we changed the venue to Kaitoke Regional Park, which although probably wet, would be sheltered from that southerly. It was a bit wet but no wind and we had an interesting wander around the swingbridge track, Rivendell and down to the weir. It is a beautiful place and we are very lucky to...
read moreRemutaka Forest Park – Saturday, 10 October 2020
It was a lovely day for a rather strenuous walk. The group traversed the Butcher’s Track, Cattle Ridge Track, then finished on the Orongorongo Track. There were excellent views of the Wellington...
read moreJohnsons Hill to Te Ahumairangi Hill – Friday, 2 October 2020
As the Sunday walk was cancelled, an impromptu walk was rescheduled for Friday, 2 October. Six ambitious trampers took advantage of the fine, yet windy, weather to walk the trek in reverse of the original planned trip. We started in Marsden Village Karori and up the steps to Johnson’s Hill where we enjoyed fabulous views of the snow-capped mountains of the South Island. We then following the Skyline Walkway to Chartwell. At about the half-way point we stopped for lunch, then continued down the road to Crofton Downs. From there we...
read moreCannon Point Loop – Thursday, 1 Oct 2020
An unexpected start to this walk was to find our gathering point to be in the middle of small festival and buggy walk! We soon disentangled ourselves from the buggies, their occupants, and assorted Mums and dogs. The morning was a magnificent spring one, sunny and warm after a frosty night. Our walkers followed up the Hutt River stopbank from Awakairangi Park to the Birchville stream, which we then followed up to and past the dam to emerge on top of the Western Hills. A pleasant walk along forest roads brought us to the Cannon Point lookout...
read moreBelmont Regional Park from Hill Road – Thursday, 24 September 2020
Reflecting the rain of the previous day, we elected to walk up into Belmont Regional Park from Hill Road, today. Hill Road inside the park has a good smooth and hard gravel surface, which meant “no mud”. That was welcomed. We set off under grey skies from the park gate. As this is the lambing season, side-tracks leading off Hill Road were closed. On the positive side, most ewes we saw had lambs at foot. They were gambolling around what one might call “Wellington Daffodils”, the prickly kind, aka “gorse”....
read more