Tramp Reflections 806 - Waipa River Valley

1 February 2009

All change! The original plan was to walk in the Kaimais however; this clashed with a reccy Lynne had been planning to do for HTC with the Wanderers. So after checking with the Wanderers it was agreed that 5 HTC members would join them on their tramp to the Waipa River Valley instead. They were Sheila Toppin, Lynne Ironside, Janey Nolan, Adrienne van Hellemond, Louise Carter.

The Waipa River is the major tributary of the Waikato River, the junction being at Ngaruawahia. Its catchment area measures approximately 1,100 sq. miles and is one-fifth of the total catchment for the Waikato River. The headwaters of the Waipa River lie within the Rangitoto Range, the main tributaries joining it at Pirongia and Otorohanga.

It was a glorious day when a total of 43 trampers met outside Hamilton City Council Offices. Peter Scott from the Wanderers was to be our tramp leader for the day. With everybody aboard, the coach headed for Otorohanga and from there to Rewarewa where the coach turned off the main road onto the property of Arthur Cowan, things got a bit scary here; many of us breathed in deeply and held our breath as our driver navigated the full size coach down a very narrow, winding road which dropped of steeply in places… all credit to our driver he did a magnificent job!

We started our tramp dropping down through the bush and past an airstrip to the valley floor. From here we walked up stream, crossing several times. The river was very low so a fair amount of algae had formed in the river bed, however this did not track from the beautiful scenery around us. We were still able to find to decent water holes for those who wanted a refreshing swim and those that swam in their tramping gear soon dried out in the hot sunshine.

We climbed up a steep hill out of the valley, with fabulous views looking back through the valley. At one point open the climb out a few trampers had to move quickly to make way for some woolly four legged trampers that had decided to stampede across their path! After a short pleasant walk through some paddocks, we walked through the back gate of the Oliver’s property. Having 40+ trampers turn up on your back lawn is not exactly everyone’s idea of a quiet and peaceful Sunday, but we were expected and made very welcome. After a 10 minute rest and a chat we made our way to where the coach was picking us up.

Thanks to Peter Scott for a very relaxing and enjoyable day. Peter is from the Wanderers Tramping Club and can be contacted on. 07 854 5478. Landowner’s permission is required for this tramp from Arthur Cowan 07 8730808 or his farm manager Ian Buchanan 07 8783126. For the Oliver Property the contact is. Rangitoto Lands Co. 07 873 0609.

Sheila Toppin

Photographs by unknown (Fuji FinePix F480, Olympus FE340,X855,C560).