Despite living in Lower Hutt for almost 6 years, it wasn't until late last year that I finally paid a visit to the Catchpool/Orongorongo area of the Remutaka Forest Park (a mere half hours drive from my house).
So on the 9th of January I decided to head out to the Orongorongo River with a view to bagging some of the many huts in the area.
Leaving the carpark, the track climbs briefly through gorse-infested scrub before entering native forest.
Starting in floor of the Catchpool Valley, the Orongorongo Track follows the path of the Catchpool stream on the true left up the valley. A few of turn-offs to other tracks are passed, but ample signage should keep even the most inept of trampers on the right path. The track is wide and well maintained with a mostly very gentle gradient, despite a net gain in elevation until its highest point (at a shade over 200m) shortly before dropping down to the Orongorongo River
After about 2.5km (~1/2 hour), the aptly named Midway bridge is reached.
It's a pleasant amble through lush forest for another half hour or so before dropping relatively steeply down to the end of the Orongorongo Track at the confluence of the Turere Stream and Orongorongo River. A striking footbridge arches over the Turere Stream to the start of the Big Bend track.
I continued along the Big Bend track, which sidles above the true right of the Orongorongo River heading upstream. Turere Lodge is ~1.5 km from the bridge, located a short distance off the main track. Along the way, a private hut is visible across the river.
The DOC huts in this area are relatively unique in that they are all sole occupancy (or sole occupancy bunk rooms in the case of Turere) and are locked to those without a booking. Turere is a large, modern building with four private bunkrooms and a large communal cooking/eating area. It even feature an outdoor barbecue, which I don't doubt is delightful on a summer evening.
After a quick lunch, it was back to the Turere Stream area in search of more huts. The specific huts I had in mind were some of other DOC huts in the area: Jan's Hut, Raukawa, and Boar Inn. Unlike Turere Lodge, these are located in the true left side of the river.
The Orongorongo river meanders through a large rocky bed, on this occasion forming two channels where I needed to cross to join the trails on the other side. The first channel was clear and very shallow, the main channel on the other hand was wide, fast flowing and impenetrably grey - in short, all the things you're often advised to avoid in a river crossing. There'd been a fair bit of rain recently, and the river was clearly still swollen. I elected to cut my losses, and return to the carpark safe from foolish aquatic mishaps.
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| ...perhaps not |
Luckily enough, the river was a bit more tame this time. The main channel was still flowing fairly fast, but the bottom was reassuringly visible and the water no more than knee deep.
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| Jans Hut |
Arriving back at the creek bed, I saw a hut immediately opposite, so naturally I had to check that out too. It turned out to be Waerenga Hut, a private hut owned by the Tararua Tramping Club.
I was aware that Raukawa Lodge was somewhere nearby, and Boar Inn a little further away. I was also aware my sister was waiting for me back on the other side of the river and I couldn't remember exactly where or how far away they were.
Between this and Jan's Hut being further than I thought, I decided to head back across the river.
Back at the track, it's a bit of steep climb for a short while before the track returns to being a relatively pleasant 5 km walk back to the carpark.
Maps:
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| Turere Lodge |
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| Jan's Hut |
