7-9 May 2021

Leader: Peter Davis

It was awesome to finally complete this trip after 3 previous attempts had been thwarted by bad weather and/or high river levels.

The river this time was nice and low, according to the monitoring station at Kuripapango, and the forecast looked settled enough.

The trip started with a leisurely Friday drive up the Hawke Bay side, including the usual coffee stop at Dannevirke. We started the slog from the Cameron Campsite carpark at Kuripapango at 1.45, climbing in misty conditions. It was nice to get to Kiwi Saddle Hut 3½ hours later, in time to put up tents and get dinner started before it was dark. We had the hut to ourselves.

The next day dawned nice and fine and we were off down the nice track to Kiwi Mouth which after about 40 minutes then followed the stream down. It was a bit rough and slippery in places, but very pleasant all the same. We enjoyed a nice morning tea stop at Kiwi Mouth Hut and then set off for the main event down the Ngaruroro river. This was generally nice river travel, although it had the nasty brown slime on many of the crossings and some tricky sections to navigate. En route we passed a private hut (Jacks Camp) which looked very comfy, and well set up for hunting and fishing. We reached Cameron Hut around 4.30 which again gave us time to put up tents, collect firewood etc.

Overnight it rained, but Sunday morning was overcast and cool yet dry for our walk out. The travel on this section of river back to the carpark was easier, with some gravel sections and tracks. The swimming holes looked beautiful, but the lack of sun and heat meant that no one was daring enough to take a dip. We also spotted some whio which is always wonderful to see. At our first morning tea stop we found out that mice had got into June's pack and eaten through a fair chunk of food (including the plastic bags)!

After a final lunch on the river, we climbed 15 minutes back to the carpark and made our way home, stopping for afternoon coffee at Taihape and then joining the slow flow of traffic.

Those on the trip were:

Anita Benbrook, Jing Zhou, Kate Livingston, Marian Cox, Owen Cox, Peter Davis, Rex Benbrook, Rob Dey, Sue Sparkes, Yingjun Shelton