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Otupae and Hihitahi 21-22 November
Exploring the Ruahines and supporting the Pukeokahu community. Saturday saw us join members from the Manawatu Tramping Club, and many others, on a day walk in the area surrounding the Otupae Station. We then drove along the Napier-Taihape road and up to Comet Hut for the night. Sunday we drove to the Hihitahi Forest Sanctuary, south of Waiouru, to do a day walk to Zekes Hut.
A convoy of 4WDs took us across the developed part of Otupae Station to the start of our walk
Heading towards the distant Hermitage and Otupae Range
On the Hermitage, looking across the Makirikiri and Ikawatea valleys to the main Ruahine Range
And in the other direction lies the Otupae Range
About a 3rd of the way from the left on the distant range lies Taruarau Biv, from where we viewed the Otupae Range back on Waitangi Weekend
Towards the top of the range the wind and rain caught up with us
An MTSC tramper battling the wind
Sadly, it was a relief to get off the exposed tops
A couple of pheasants took off in front of Sue and I just here
With Richard Steadman and others at a station hut
Comet Hut, our Saturday night accommodation
Nice new caravan behind the Prado
Sue was keen to bag a geocache off the Gentle Annie Road
The instructions say it's under a small flax bush
Found it, but obviously the flax bush (in front of Neville) has grown a bit
The geocache was quite a way from where we parked
Hihitahi cedars
Hihitahi Neville
Zekes Hut
