Thread: Whirinaki Hikoi

Day 1 Upper Whirinaki Hut.

Walked in from Plateau Road end. Just an easy start to the mission.

Next day on to Upper Te Hoe. With heavy packs it took us 7 hours.

But there was heaps of cool bush scenery.



There was a family already at Upper Te Hoe. They walked in from Pukeroa road end. We didn't have a hunt but their son managed to get one.
Next Day it was onto Central Te Hoe.

The dreaded Te Hoe Bluffs.

They weren't that bad really.
We got to the hut in good time so we had time for a hunt. After a feed first.

We tried downstream first. There was an abundance of Ongaonga and the river was swift and powerful,to the point of being dangerous. We turned back and had a look upstream. It was the right call and Oliver soon had a deer in his sights. He thought it was a spiker so smacked it. It turned out to be an in milk hind. Bit of a bugger but an pplhonest mistake.


Central Te Hoe is in a cool spot. Very steep though.

Next day we headed to Mangakahika Hut. Oliver carried the back steaks and hindquarters meat.
Stopped at the Bullring campsite on the way.
Found a huge wok hanging up.


Looking back down towards Centrl Te Hoe.
Mangakahika is a neat spot. Didn't go hunting, but there would be a few around I'm picking.

I put the boy to work getting wood while I put a feed on.


I can assure you it tasted better than it looks.
Next day was a big one. Head to Roger's and on to Moerangi.
There was a couple of choppers at Roger's.

One of them turned out to be an old time meathunter in to celebrate his birthday. He was interesting to talk to but we had to push on to Moerngi.



Next day was another mission to Mangamate.




next day we had a quick hunt and Oliver smacked a fawn.

Today we got back to the truck to be greeted by this.


Bit of a stink end to the trip.
Luckily the truck was still drivable. Unfortunately I left my wallet in my truck.
My credit card got a good hammering before the bank stopped it.
All in all a fantastic trip.
My son has proven himself a good shot and can carry a load as long as required.
Our next trip will have less tramping and more hunting though.
Thanks for reading.