3-4 January 2026

Leader: Peter Davis

The “Love our Huts” campaign was the catalyst for this weekend.

Saturday morning saw us leaving Paraparaumu at 8.30 with a drive over the hill to the Wairarapa. We stopped at the Lady Girl café at Pirinoa for a morning tea. This is a quaint, rustic place where we lingered, hoping the drizzle would disappear (it didn’t!)

We had a short drive down Lake Ferry Road before turning onto Whakatomotomo Road then after a few km’s it was a bumpy ride along a forestry road to our start point.

The walk to the hut was straight forward, following a 4wd trail that weaves in and out of the Tauanui River. After about 60 minutes we arrived at the hut and those in tents found their spots and put them up.

After lunch we set about cleaning the hut. With 14 of us, we divided up the tasks and got stuck in.

The hut was scrubbed and sprayed on the outside, vegetation was cleared around the edge of it, and the windows and tub cleaned. The inside had every surface wiped clean, the mattresses scrubbed and the fireplace cleaned out. Firewood was gathered, cut, and stacked in the wood box. The toilet was also scrubbed clean on the inside and out.

In the late afternoon we enjoyed some wine/beers and nibbles, then had dinner. As the drizzle had finally stopped, we spent a pleasant evening around an outside fire.

Sunday dawned fine and after breakfast 9 of us headed up behind the hut to climb Te Maunga while 5 stayed back and relaxed and did a bit more cleaning up.

The route had recently been remarked with pink tape and branches cut, so the climb was more straightforward than we had anticipated. After close to 3 hours, we made it to the top where there was a nice clearing and views. After an early lunch we raced down the hill in 2 hours, joined up with the others, and headed back down the river to our cars.

We had a well-earned ice cream stop at Pirinoa General store and then headed home.

Those on the trip were:

Craig Watkin, Elisabeth Hynes, Julie James, Kate Livingston, Marian Cox, Mark Robertson, Owen Cox, Peter Davis, Petr Kure, Sandra Rowland, Tony Quayle, Yingjun Shelton

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.