For Queen’s Birthday weekend the Club decided to run two trips simultaneously in the Tongariro National Park. Barbara led a pack-carrying trip starting at The Chateau, staying Saturday night at Waihohonu Hut then climbing up to join the Tongariro crossing at the Emerald Lakes and continue to Ketetahi Hut, coming out to the Ketetahi road-end on the Monday morning. Alasdair led the easier option, staying at the Tongariro Holiday Park as base - this included a walk to Lake Rotopounamu, a visit to the Te Porere Redoubt, and dining out at National Park, with the highlight being a day tramp to the Tama Lakes on the Sunday. Friday We left The Bracken at 6:15pm in a rental van, while two cars left separately by arrangement with their drivers. The van stopped at Ngaruawahia to pick up Steve and for a quick comfort and yummy stop, before carrying on via Te Kuiti and Taumarunui, arriving at the Tongariro Holiday Park near Mangatepopo sometime after 11pm. Saturday We were all extremely pleased to get our heads off the wentilillos while it was still dark, to sit down for breakfast at 7am - yes the easier group, who did not set out for their tramps till 9am counted it a special honour to be out of bed early to join the others.

A fine day the previous day had turned overnight to drizzly rain, but that did not stop the pack-carrying group from setting out from Whakapapa for their three-day expedition. Once the van had returned from dropping these people off, we piled in and went to Lake Rotopounamu for an easy and sheltered two-hour bush walk around the lake.

As we were setting out on this walk, the phone rang - Joy had decided to pull out from the pack carrying group as she was tired, so Alasdair left our group to take Gary back to the holiday park to collect his car and bring Joy back to the camp. At the far side of the lake the track followed a beach, lovely even in the rain. We were out by midday, and back at the holiday park for our lunch. Afterwards we decided to enjoy a walk around Tokaanu Domain and a soak in the hot pools. Tokaanu Domain is an active thermal area, being a patch of native bush riddled with steaming hot pools. In one place we could see the original changing shed for the hot pools back in their heyday. We enjoyed a soak in the private pools before going into the public pool. The private pools were hotter than the public pool, and were fed directly from the hot springs unlike the public pool which contains chlorinated fresh water heated by the thermal waters. Afterwards the van travelled directly back to the holiday park while Gary’s car load enjoyed a coffee in Turangi. Our dinner back at camp consisted of generous servings of rice and chopped ham, the same fare the pack-carrying group would be eating at Waihohonu Hut. Afterwards Margaret shared from a book by Rick Warren on interacting with other people that her church homegroup was studying. People were created to be interdependent and social, not individualistic as worldly society dictates; God hates loneliness. A few of us watched the All Blacks beat France in the games room; there was little else to do at the camp so the rest of us were on the wentilillos fast asleep before 9pm. Sunday It was a special privilege and honour for all of us to get out of bed while there was still a full moonlight, and to have brekkie in the tummies well before sunrise.

We left the holiday park in the van and Gary’s car at 8am headed for The Chateau and the start of the track to the Tama Lakes. Unlike yesterday it was a glorious sunny morning. We split up into two groups - a faster group led by Alasdair, and a slower group with Gary and Joy.

We set out along a well-formed track through open tussocky scrub and native bush, with views of the peaks of Ruapehu, and Ngauruhoe wearing a thin cap of early-morning mist. We took a short break at the edge of a lava flow. Linda took over as frontperson from the Taranaki Falls junction onwards. All the bush had been left behind; the terrain was open tussock and scrub all the way. As the track made a steady climb we had magnificent views of Ruapehu. We descended through a gully then carried along across rolling country to the junction with the track to Waihohonu. From there it was a short walk along flat tussock to an outlook over the Lower Tama Lake. The poled track then climbed a spur to come out on a ridge overlooking the Upper Tama Lake. As we climbed the spur we had views looking back to the Lower Tama Lake. A quick walk to the top of a peak was rewarded with views out to Ruapehu, now capped in cloud, the Kaimanawa Ranges to the east,  the Chateau and Hauhungatahi to the west, and of course the Upper Tama Lake. The ridge overlooking Upper Tama Lake made a great spot for lunch. About 12:30pm we began our return walk the same way back to the Taranaki Falls junction, then descended a large flight of steps to view the waterfall. A sign warned us that the track below the falls could be impassible in places due to upgrading work, but in fact we were able to follow this unimpeded as we carried on downstream. We passed through an area of beech forest then finished our walk across open tussock country. A visit to the DOC visitor centre and an icecream at the local coffee shop were a welcome break before we headed back to the Tongariro Holiday Park, where our leader Alasdair shouted us to a soak in the camp’s spa. At 6pm we left the camp to dine out at the Schnapps Hotel in National Park township. This lovely pub was where the day-trip option for the Club based at Raurimu went exactly two years ago. The mains, ranging from about $18 to $25, were generous and delicious; a few of us paid $12 extra for desserts.

Monday This time we did not have to beat the sun in getting up - we sat down to breakfast at 8am. After packing our bags and vacating the cabins we set out for the Te Porere Redoubt, an easy walk from the holiday park, while Alasdair drove the van to the Ketetahi road-end to pick up the pack-carrying group.

A short roadbash brought us to the access road to the redoubt track, then a five-minute walk through the bush on an easy path brought us to the lower of the two redoubts that were testimony to the Maori land wars of the 1860s.  We were able to walk through the trenches of the fortification as well as climb a viewing platform. A ten-minute uphill walk through bush brought us to the upper redoubt, where we had an outlook towards the area west of Lake Rotoaira. We were back at the camp a little after 10am, and did not have long to wait for the van to arrive with the pack-carrying trampers. Everyone from both groups squared up with Barbara, who had organised the two options, for the costs of the trip.

The van and one of the cars stopped at the Tokaanu Hot Springs for a quick swim, then the van travelled across to Taumarunui for a quick lunch break EWYT style, each one grabbing a quick bite from a bakery for lunch on the move. At Ngaruawahia Steve was dropped, and we arrived back at The Bracken soon after 5:30pm, just as darkness fell. Then home by cars and taxis for a good night’s sleep after an absolutely wonderful weekend. COST: $140 (travel $55, accommodation $60, food and incidentals $25)