2 July 2023

We started a little later than normal for a Sunday morning hike, meeting at 9am. Ten HTC members met at the van and we picked up three more members at Arataki Honey carpark.  From there we headed to Kahuranaki Station where we parked up and after informing the Kahuranaki station manager that we were there, we started our walk along the gravel road track winding up through the hills.  

The cows and the bulls in the paddocks were particularly interested in our group as we set off with the weather being slightly overcast with a slight breeze at the bottom.

As we walked up the views were of northern Hawkes bay and we could see all the way to the Kaweka Ranges.  Half-way up the breeze picked up and the temperature felt like it dropped a few degrees.  By this time the group had split up into fast group and leisurely walking groups.

The last 500 metres to the top became cold and windy which meant by this time the wind jackets and warm hats where well and truly on.

As we approached the top, the clouds were high and the view was a stunning 360 degrees from the trig.  The trigs are created for surveyors to help them to determine the location of objects and properties.  There are a few buildings with large  telecommunication poles at the summit.  

We set up for lunch in the nooks and crannies of the buildings as the wind by this time was gale force level and with an icy temperature to it.  

The way down was to follow the same track down and as we did the wind was behind us (thankfully) which meant we had a faster walk down.  

Once we got to the van, we decided it was still early, 130pm, so we decided a quick walk through the Maraetotara Gorge walk which was about 15min drive on the south side of Mt Kahuranaki.

The track wasn’t signposted very well but lucky Glenda and Pete knew where they were going.  As we walked through the track it was clear that the recent cyclone had damaged the track and made it slippery and difficult to see.  After 10min walking down half the group decided the track has been decimated and they walked back out.  A few others decided to do some bush bashing to see if they could find the original track which they did in the end.

After that we headed back to base dropping the Arataki Honey carpark members off.  Home by 3pm was nice.  Good day out had by all.

Party: Glenda H, Paula K, Jude H, Susan L, Nic W, Simon W, Anthea C, Steve B, Daniel H, Anne D, Murry A, Robyn W and Peter B