By Clemence Williams, 05 August 2023
The beginner's tramp to Atiwhakatu hut promised easy fun times, with an adventurous side mish to Jumbo, and it delievered! (Mostly).
On the 5th of August 2023, 14 trampers, new and old to the club, rock up to the Hunter carpark. While this is not particularly interesting information, it serves the purpose of giving a shout out to Will's van & the commendable DIY ducktape job keeping it all in one piece.
The Holdsworth road end greeted us with a chilly (bordeline freezing) breeze & an active LandSAR operation. Comotion aside, we had a lovely carpark lunch, accompanied by a debate on the best tuna flavours (Lemon pepper all the way, you can't change my mind). The start of the track also sees us cross paths with the "McGregor biv snow mish" team, who speeds ahead (only to be briefly caught up with like 20 minutes later, how embarassing).
Now, I would like to say that so far the promised "fun" was delivering. I was particularly stoked because my tramping curse (in which I was forced to pike or be cancelled on for my last 15 or so planned trips) was finally broken. Rejoice! But alas, my (possibly contagious) curse strikes Alex a 1/3 way intro the trip, and she's brought down by a gnarly root. Possible concussion, maybe a broken wirst, the fun and easy times are going downhill. With foraged twigs coming to the rescue as an impromptu splint & a she'll be right attitude, Alex rises like a pheonix from the ashes & is good to soldier on.
We reach Atiwhakatu hut without any further hiccups and marvel at its size (can't remember the last time I saw a DOC hut with seperate bunk rooms & main/kitchen space). Unfortunately, no one successfully manages to light a fire, but no matter! We are in for a classic yet fabulous nacho dinner & several rounds of chameleon (thanks Kate for introducing me to my new favourite game). Speed bumps (or rather tree root) aside, this trip was a certified S-L-A-Y...
...But wait! There's more!
Party of five (Kate, Kevin, Daniel, myself, and the legend herself Alex) set of for Jumbo hut at 6:15am the next morning. I wish I had more to write about the uphill itself, but I was still half asleep for most of it. We were, however, greeted by a delightful sunrise which broke the canopy ~7am. Further up, patches of snow splattered themselves across the bush and eventually formed a thick blanket. The snow was a personal highlight of trip, even though it sent me slippin' & slidin' all over tha place (genuinely lost all my coordination). Around 8ish we finally break the bushline and make it to Jumbo. It's full hut & someone is baking a fresh loaf of bread (I cannot even describe how amazing it smelt). A beautiful view of the Tararuas/Masterton/Pacific Ocean is enjoyed for too brief a moment before we have to mish back down.
We reunite with the Atiwhakatu crew, have a porridge brekkie, and we're all off again! The tramp back out is just as lovely (many cute dogs!), & we are all left with a great sense of unity as we collectively curse at The Root™ on our way out.
Shout out to all the new trampers that joined us, hope you had a great time & see you again soon!