Te Hanga Traverse

5 June, 2023

Day 1

Last weekend was a trip to remember. We got dropped off on Sunday morning around 9.20 am at Aongatete Lodge. From here we walked 5.5chrs to Kaurititahi Hut where we would embark on the beef of the journey, Te Hanga Ridge. It was only 4.6km to Puketutu Hut and looking back, we were going in blind. The scrub and mud were ruthless. Route markers were thinly placed.

We walked at a solid pace of about 1km/hr but after 2km just as it was getting dark, we took a wrong turn 300m off course down the wrong ridge. Luckily we realized before we went too far but it took over an hour to get back to where we went wrong. We had been walking for 9.5hrs at this point and following the track in the dark was proving impossible. At 8.30pm after 11hrs we stumbled across a flat spot to emergency camp 800m up on the main ridge. Only 1.7km from the hut, we were so close but also really far. With temps down to 4 degrees and showers throughout the night, we struggled to keep the sleeping bags dry. For dinner, we shared 1 Backcountry butter chicken between the 3 of us as we were low on water.

Day 2

The morning brought more rain, gusty wind, and plenty more scrub to battle. At 11am on Monday, we walked into the hut, 15 hours behind schedule. We made use of the tank at the hut and had a feast before making the 4hr trip back to Aongatete Lodge where we got picked up 32 hours after starting. Quite the eventful trip!