3-6 April, 2026
Friday -Day One – Lake Rotokare
A 6am start with ten in the van and Anton and Luis picking up Paula meant we were thirteen heading to Taranaki for Easter. The early start and not being able to get into our accommodation until 2pm meant we had time for an excellent detour to Lake Rotokare, a free entry pest free reserve. A multitude of native birds and a safe haven for other native flora and fauna. After enjoying the easy 4km loop walk we had lunch and then headed to Konini Lodge situated on the Manaia Road end.
The lodge is close to the Dawson Falls, DoC Info Centre and the start of a multitude of walks including Dawson Falls loop walk. Once we had settled into our cosy lodge that was the first of many walks in the park.
Saturday -Day Two – Taranaki Summit Track
We woke to beautifully clear weather, being able to see the whole of Mt Taranaki. The previous day we had asked about the best way to climb the main peak at the visitors centre, and from Konini Lodge it was recommended we start at the Pembroke Road end, so we set off in the Van at 8 am, 6 of us planning to trying to climb to the top (Paula, Lou, Selina, Connie, Judith, and Nic), Anton and Luis planning to go part of the way up before turning back, the rest would follow various tracks which would lead back to the Lodge.
From Pembroke road you follow the track across a spectacular 100m long suspension bridge over the Manganui Gorge, you then sidled around Mt Taranaki until you reach Tahurangi Lodge (private lodge owned by Taranaki Alpine Club), this took an hour and half from the road end. After a break outside the Lodge we started the climb toward the top (setting off at 10:49 am). Initially this is up a gorge filled with large rocks, from here you then move to wooden stairs (I didn’t count how many, but lots). As we started to climb the stairs we were engulfed in low cloud dropping visibility to about 10 metres.
We reached the top of the stairs at 11:19 am. After the stairs you are walking up what basically amounts to scree slopes in one form or another, the initial section wasn’t as steep with larger rocks but as you climb the rocks shrink and the gradient increase. As we climbed, footing became more challenging, some members finding the feet slipping out from under them as if taking a step back for two steps upwards, eventually while climbing upwards broke out above the cloud into clear blue sky.
At 12:30 am we reached a section of large rocks near the top of the scree slope and stopped for a much needed break, from here was more scree before you move on to a section of steep continuous rock, what I assume must be an old larva flow . We continued climbing slowly upwards, however my ankle didn’t like the rock we were now attempting to climb, so I decided to stop at the 2300m mark, 200m short of the summit. It was 2 pm by this stage, Connie and Judith were the furthest ahead but still were unsure how much further it would be for them to get to the top. It had taken us over 3 hours of climbing to get this far and I was concerned how long it would take us to get back down, so I made the call for us to stop, finally have lunch and then start the descent.
It turned out my worries about the trip downward were generally unfounded. It was basically everyone’s first attempt heading down a scree slope, I understood the theory on how it was done but had never truly put it into practice. It turned out that just about everyone picked up the idea fairly quickly and soon were skiing/skating down the hill side with us reaching the top of the wooden stairs at the bottom of the scree slope by 3:30pm. From here the going was straight forward back on standard tracks and we finally made it back to the Van around 5:15pm. Given the timing and that the road back nearly went through Stratford, I asked if people liked the idea of picking up Fish and Chips for dinner, with no objections and quick call to the group who had walked back to Konini Lodge for any orders, it was agreed to save many of us from another freeze dried dinner.
Saturday Day 2 – Stratford Plateau to Dawson Falls via Enchanted Track
After farewelling the mountain climbers at the Manganui Ski field; we, Susan, Minh, Christine, Brendan and Anne, returned to the Stratford Plateau car park. Where the Enchanted track would take us, a short journey, from 1160m at the car park to the high point of Jacksons Lookout at 1255m then down to Konini Lodge at 809m. A view of which we had from the lookout. The Enchanted Track took us down many steps through lush and an enchanted forest. Astelia, ferns, moss, lichens plus many more lush plants truly made for an enchanted walk. Once across the swing bridge that crosses a tributary of the Waingongoro River, we turned SE and took a short deviation to the Waingongoro Hut. There we had a bite to eat, explored the area, used the facilities and added our names to the hut book.
After a short, we returned to the main track where it was now the Ridge Track. It is a 200m climb to meet the Wilkies Pools Loop Track. Here the track sidles up the true left of the Kapuni Stream. At this stage the track is a true tramping track but once over the bridge at the pools the track becomes tourist friendly; with the ability to push a push or wheel chairs. Solid and rather hard to walk on. We were back at Konini Lodge by 1.00, in time for lunch. Some of the party had stopped off at the Dawson Falls Visitor’s Centre where some judicious spending took place.
Sunday Day 3 – Syme Hut / Kapuni Lodge
Another relaxed 8 am start, for Sunday a four of us wanted to try climb up to Syme Hut (Paula, Judith, Minh, and Nic) the others deciding they would follow the same track as far as Kapuni Lodge (private lodge owned by Mt Egmont Alpine Club) wanting an easier day, and potentially explore other tracks they hadn’t done.
The Track up to Kapuni lodge is a steady climb up the Fanthams Peak track passing the Hillary Seat and Hooker Shelter on the way. The turn off to Kapuni lodge is just before you break out of the bush line, as we continued upward towards Syme Hut we once again encountered wooden stairs (647 I believe someone counted), with the turn off for the Upper Lake Dive Track being near the top of these. Once you reach the top of the stairs you move into what is almost a scree slope but punctuated with large rocks and tussock, making the initial climb fairly straight forward. As we climbed this gave way to very loose scree if you tried to follow the marked route, we ended up varying off slightly to the right of the track where footing was slightly better.
The previous day when we walked into low cloud it had stayed fairly warm, most people had not even required extra layers, today was a different story. As we climbed into low cloud the temperature plummeted, the wind rose, and visibility dropped to about 5 metres, soon everyone was donning jackets and gloves to keep the wind at bay as we climbed. We finally reached Syme Hut at 11:34am, thankfully for the large number of track markers leading to the hut as in the dense mist it would have been easy to walk past it.
We had a leisurely lunch and took some time to warm up, while there is no fire in Syme Hut it is well insulated so with the four of us on top of the 5 people already present it was comfortable inside. As we were about to leave, the mist briefly lifted allowing us to finally see the area surrounding the hut, before we set off downwards. Heading down it was only Minh who hadn’t experienced heading down scree, not being part of the party for the main summit climb the previous day, but she picked up the basics fairly quickly as we headed down.
On the way down we passed about 15 peoples who had plans to stay the night at Syme Hut, given it only has 10 bunks, I imagine they were in for a very cosy night. It was an uneventful trip back with a short detour to check out Kapuni Lodge, we arrived back at Konini Lodge, after 7 and a half hours, eager to have a hot shower and relax for the remainder of the day before we would head back to Hawke’s Bay tomorrow.
Day 4 – Cardiff Walkway
After breakfast we cleaned the lodge and packed all our gear into the Van in preparation to head home. The previous night we looked to see if we could find any other short walks we could do to try to break up the trip back that wouldn’t be major detours, the one track we did find was the Cardiff Walkway.
The Cardiff Walkway is located not far from the Lodge on Taranaki and on the road that would take us back into Stratford, it’s a lovely short walk up alongside a stream though bush for the most part, across a bridge and back down to the road. The car park beside the road also provides information about the geology of the area and there is a marked cutting across the road showing different layers of ash from volcanic eruptions over the last 23,000 years. After the short walk it was back into the Van and off to Bulls for a relaxed lunch, and finally back home to Hawke’s Bay.
Party: Anne D, Christine L, Nic W, Connie F, Susan L, Paula K, Minh N, Selina C, Anton D, Luis D, Lou C, Judith M, Brendan Mc