A leatherwood jungle makes travel along the crest of the Southern Ruahines extremely difficult. Instead, we traverse a series of ridges and valleys to work our way south. The trip took us from the Kumeti road end through to the Coppermine road end.
Saturday - We went up the Kumeti stream then a steep scramble up onto the ridge and along the track towards Maharahara peak. Then along to the Kiritaki Hut turnoff and down the steep drop to the Oruakeretaki stream followed by a brief climb up to Kiritaki Hut. Sunday - We headed up behind the hut and down to Raparapawai stream. Then down the stream for a while, followed by another steep up onto the ridge. This whole sequence of up and down was then repeated again into the Mangatua Stream. Then farmland, we were able to head for the Coppermine car park.