We hit the road at about 6:30pm on Friday night and arrived at the our campsite for the night at about 11:30pm after a good trip over. I had worked out where we were going to stay for the night already based on a bit of a search around on google earth, but as always, when you actually get there, in the dark no less, it always looks different. Google earth to the rescue again, bit of crashing round in the dark with a torch and ipad, i found the track i was looking for and ended up on the river bed in almost the right spot
A quick set up, hot drink and bed. We had an hour window between 7.30 and 8.30am the next morning to get through the Big Hill Station gate, so it was a frosty early morning start on Saturday!!
Friday nights camp, on saturday morning before we left:
We reached the gate at Big Hill station which was about 10min up the road from where we camped, dropped the permit in the mailbox, unlocked the gate and headed in.
Once through the locked gate, you are on No Mans Road, a few pic's for reference
The boundary gate between Big Hill station and the Ruahine Forest Park:
The last part of the track is pretty un-used looking:
Once through the gate you start climbing, and keep climbing. Road is narrow, but in good condition:
As you near the top of the first ridge the vegetation changes from to alpine scrub
Puddles frozen solid up there!!
We had basically woken up to the alarm, stuffed our sleeping bags away and fired the truck up. No, actually, the alarm went off, nobody would get up cause it was so fricken freezing, so i started the truck up and chucked rusty in the back with them and closed the door. They got outa bed pretty quick after that!! So yeah, it was breakfast time
Found an awesome spot in the sun near the Ruahine hut to thaw out, boil the kettle and burn some toast:
Some seriously frozen ground!!
Continuing on up towards the next ridge from the Hut, the terrain and vegetation was much the same:
But the temperature was dropping, and soon enough there was the odd bit of snow lingering on the ground:
Up on the next ridge the vegetation turns to alpine shrubs and tussock, quite exposed:
A bit more snow on the ground, and the views just kept getting better as we climbed:
The snow on the ground started to get thicker as we climbed also
Even some still hanging in the trees:
Big frozen puddle, not game enough to walk on it though
A few pics of the climb up to the trig:
Little bit of a washed out hill climb, just parts No Mans Hut. It's the worst part of the entire track, pleased it didn't have much snow on it, could have easily got into trouble if the snow was hiding the washed out parts and you just charged on straight up the middle!
Another little fun bit just above the hill climb. Totally extreme
Around a few more corners and up on to the ridge top. Winter wonder land!!!
My Favorite:
The last bit of track before the Trig
Made it. 1300m
Good views:
Thats Ruapehu in the back ground:
I decided that because we were by our selves, i wouldn't drive the last 300m to the last hut. this little stretch here looked dodgy:
Doesn't look like much at a glance;
But the quads were leaving deep ruts;
and there was a bypass........
But nah, just not worth it when your by yourself. It looked like Peat underneath, with not much to winch off, who wants to be setting a ground anchor in the freezing cold
So took in more of the views instead:
It got cold so we headed back down:
Went back down and explore a track by the Ruahine hut near where we had breakfast. The track heads right out onto another ridge to some grassy tops.
Looked promising at the start, but a washed away creek crossing got a bit risky for just one vehicle, so went on foot for a bit:
After extracting ourselves from that situation, it was time to find somewhere to camp for the night out of the wind. i had eyed up a spot on the way in, it was on the next ridge above the Ruahine hut, so we trecked back up and figured out the best sopt out of the wind.
We started off in here in the middle of a thicket of Beech Trees:
Looked like a nice sheltered spot initially:
But the wind was still howling through the trees. The best spot was right out by the road. No wind at all.
So cranked up a fire, threw the oven on, and got dinner under way
Love the fire in the snow shot
Somewhere around this point we got a good snow shower, so we were running round trying to get the awning up in case it lasted into the night. It only lasted about half an hour but was hilarious running round getting our gear together and under cover
40 mins later, piping hot casserole, what more could you want. They keep getting better each time I reckon!!!!!
The bonus of camping out by the road was the view. Napier and Hastings all lit up:
Sunday dawned pretty grey and miserable, so we headed back up to the trig to see if there had been any fresh snow up there over night. Nothing exciting, so we headed back down:
We headed back down to the river where we camped on friday night, where it was bright, sunny and warm
Some lunch and then a quick fish while the awning was drying in the sun
Yes, Alex is fishing with a piece of wood and a guy rope. He though it was business!!!!
Just cause its a mint place in the sun
It was a magic trip and well worth the 2 year wait to get the permit (yes, i applied 2yrs ago, and didn't get granted a permit first time round). Apparently they do allow 4x4 trips up there with the local clubs, so their might be hope. In a months time it would be awesome, heaps more snow around
