By Connor Sheppard, 15 December 2024
So I've tramped to the Orongorongo River many times while I was growing up. My Grandfather helped build a private hut there when he was a teenager, and he took me there many times. It was not until I realised hut bagging was a thing which made me think "oh wait, there are a few spots along the river I need to visit". I worked out that 6 DOC huts along the Orongorongo river could be visited in one day, so might as well make a day trip out of it!
4 other keen trampers (Jen, Justin, Oscar, Stijn) joined me on this long 23km+ journey to and along the Orongorongo River. We all got to the Hunter carpark at 9am. The first struggle for me was to get out of bed; I had 5 hours of sleep after a party the night before. Would I get through the walk?
We made it to Catchpool Valley Carpark and headed off just before 10am. We were all hyped enough that it only took us 1 hour & 15 minutes to get to the river. It was a really hot day so some were all eager for a swim. We were supposed to turn and go down Browns track on the way, but we all missed the turnoff! We were ahead of schedule so it was fine (and was probably a steep, bush-bashy path).
The river was really calm & shallow so we all could cross easily (except Stijn - explained later on), & individually. We first went to Waerenga hut owned by TTC. Locked (as expected). Then we kept walking along and got to Raukawa! First DOC hut down (although also locked)! We then walked along the river bed, which had some fascinating 360º views. Soon the trip turned into bagging private huts as well; Justin walked to Black Whare and the others followed suit; I turned around and was confused what was going on but I caught up. We made it to Boar Inn (locked again) not long after that and then stopped for lunch nearby. It was so shallow everywhere that we gave up looking for swimming spots. I was not expecting this lack of water! Instead some dipped their feet in near a deeper hole along the river, and Oscar was still determined to go underwater so he bent his face in!
We kept going and made it to Jans Hut (while also bagging Johnstones and Mahoe on the way there). Jans Hut was the first hut not locked, which I was happy because I could write my trip intentions somewhere. Little did I know how close my Grandad's hut was to Jans. We turned up once we got to the river bed and Taihoa Hut was only another 3 minutes! My Grandad lent me a key beforehand, so I unlocked it and we all got inside. Everyone seemed so intrigued about entering a private hut in the Orongorongos, and fascinated with how nice it was inside. We found an Orongorongo River tramping book & a logbook, which distracted everyone else and myself, respectively. Taihoa does mean 'wait a while' so I guess it makes sense that we took a break there. It was cool skimming through the logbook and seeing past entries where I visited Taihoa; and that I could show my friends an important place from my childhood that sparked my beginning to tramping. I hadn't been to Taihoa in 6+ years so I felt happy I was back there and could write another logbook entry in.
Although we had learnt from the book that there were about 50 private or DOC huts to bag along the river, we noticed how much time we had left before I had to go to work that evening, so we had to give up on bagging any private hut we saw in the distance. It was about 2pm when we crossed the river again and started walking to Turere. I did not read the map thoroughly enough to know this was the only uphill bit (minus walking out), so that was a shock to everyone, but we got to Turere pretty quickly. Turere lodge had spectacular views of the river & valleys from its elevation from the river. I made the decision that at 3:15 we would decide if it is worth going to Papatahi hut, or turning back. We saw a very big modern, & steel bridge as we kept walking. It looked very odd to be in a Forest Park 2 hours from a road end, but it still looked very impressive. We got to Haurangi and Stijn had a go with the axe left there. He swung quite strongly; if only we needed fire that night!
We kept walking and got to the bit where you follow the riverbed. Stijn & Jen decided to take it chill and rest while the other 3 walked to Papatahi (does anyone have any tips to convince international trampers how worthwhile hutbagging is?). At 3:10 I made the call that the 3 of us should be able to make it and get back in time. The walk along this part of the river was beautiful; I had not been to this part of the river and thus not seen these views of the valley before! We ran into Emir, a high school friend of Justin & I, walking back from Papatahi. He was doing a solo photography trip. The clock kept ticking, Justin developed an arm rash, and Oscar had some heat exhaustion, all of which could have cut it when so close! We turned from the river to a steep climb up the hill, and we managed to get to Papatahi Hut at about 3:25. We were tired but proud. We got there at the same time as the people who booked it, and they let us in to write our trip intentions!
It was not until 4pm that we reunited with Stijn & Jen, which made me realise that I was going to be late for work because my judgment was incorrect, both timewise to get there, and not considering resting at Papatahi (but completely worth it). The whole time walking, Stijn had the goal to not get his socks wet, and would always look for a shallower spot to cross the river. He was successful until this final river cross where one of his feet feel under (damn it! Better luck for his next river trip!). We were definitely more exhausted walking back along the path next to the river, I had used up most of my energy getting to Papatahi Hut. But still kept up a good pace. Justin's rash got slightly bigger but managed to not get too concerning for the rest of the trip.
Made it to the Orongorongo track at 5pm. Will we speed up so I can get to work on time? We did not have many water breaks which was probably why we were so tired, it was not until we almost collapsed at the top of the uphill bit walking back from the river that we took a break. And it was definitely necessary. Emir had stopped there and he joined us for the rest of the walk back. He & Jen are from neighbouring Asian countries (Malaysia & Thailand, respectively), so it was cool that they could chat & bond from similarities. We made it to the carpark at about 6:20pm, so surprisingly about the same time as it took us to get to the river. We did it! I was sleep deprived and yet that surprisingly did not impair me! I called my boss and she said it was ok if I was slightly late, and I said I will be there at about 7pm. What we did not know was that there was traffic along the drive back due to a crash, which meant the drive was even longer. I dropped off the 4 of them at Kelburn Campus, and I made it to my work on Blair Street at about 7:20. Fortunately my boss was nice, and it was a quiet evening, so I was allowed to go home. I lost 2 hours of pay because of bagging Papatahi. Of course it was worth it!
Very successful & awesome trip; the weather was sunny, the vibes were chill, what views we saw & the number of huts we bagged, and the location was peaceful, refreshing, & personally nostalgic!