27th July 2025
We set off in the van from Te Aute Road at 6am on a chilly morning, picking up Paula, then Murry and Sascha. Peter, Glenda, Anne and Susan left an hour later, as they weren’t doing the crossing. They had the job of taking the van around to Opawe where we would finish the walk.
We’d parked on the Kumeti Road campsite near the beginning of the track behind Dannevirke.
It was quite a pleasant surprise to find no frost, a slight breeze blowing and clear skies. Nine of us began the tramp just before 8am and followed the Mangapuaka Stream for 20 minutes or so, we had to cross it several times. By the end of that, most of us had wet feet, but it wasn’t so bad, not being freezing conditions.
We then began a fairly steep climb (signposted 9.8 kms/7hrs); leaving the stream on the true right (southern bank) following a good track up to the tops through regenerating forest. By 10am we had the climb behind us and were now in brilliant sunshine and we were treated to teasing views back into Hawkes Bay. At this point we had a break, it had been several hours now since we’d had breakfast and were famished, sort of.
A gentle climb along the tops continued along a pretty decent track through bush, occasionally we had views back towards Dannevirke and to the ranges alongside us. As we reached the half way point, the turnoff to Kiritaki hut about 3hrs, we came into Leatherwood country and the ground became wet and muddy. Along this stretch one member had the misfortune of slipping off the track along a ridge and if it hadn’t been for the Leatherwood bushes breaking her fall …., well who knows. Anyway, although the incident was unseen by me, she was pulled back up to the path, thankfully unharmed and we carried on.
Further along we came across a couple of challenging gullies, they weren’t big, more awkward, steep and needing all four limbs to safely negotiate. Occasionally we came across patches of snow, nothing significant. Views over the Manawatu district and across to Mt. Taranaki and Ruapehu were now spurring us on. It was just such a perfect day to do the crossing, blue skies and no wind. Eventually we came to Maharahara, 1095m, from where began our descent of the crossing, leaving the leatherwood behind and entering the forest.
After almost 2hrs we emerged from the forest and into lush green paddocks, these were quite treacherous as cattle had churned up the wet ground making it an awkward last half hour down to the van parked on Opawe Rd. It had taken us 7 1/2hrs to complete the crossing and there was such a great atmosphere amongst us all, in having achieved it, something I’m sure we’ll all remember.
Meanwhile our 4 colleagues had firstly walked up the Mangapuaka to where the track up started and tried unsuccessfully, to find remnants of the old Kumeti hut which should have been on the other side of the stream opposite the track. They then drove round to the western side, dropped the van off and did a number of walks in the nearby Totara Reserve, (not far from where we finished) . They had set off for home a short time before us. We arrived back at Te Aute Rd just after 6pm.
Party: Sascha H, Murry A, Judith M, Steve B, Lou C, Peter Mc, Paula K, Donna W, Selina C with van movers; Peter B, Glenda H, Susan L and Anne D