Route: Tararua Road, Gladstone Road, Poads Road to Ohau River carpark. Waiupehu track past Waiupehu Hut, Twin Peak, and Richards Knob to Te Matawai Hut. Track/route past Pukematawai Peak, Butcher Knob, Drocophyllum Hut, to Nichols Hut. Track/route past Mt. Crawford, Junction Knob, Shoulder Knob, to Waitewaewae Hut. Track to Otaki Forks. "Southern Crossing" track/route past Fields Hut, Kime Hut, Mt. Hector, Beehives, Atkinson, Aston, Alpha, Alpha Hut, Hells Gate, Omega, Marchant Ridge, to Kaitoke. Highway 2, Opaz Drive, Gemstone Drive, Akatarawa Road, Bridge Road, to start of Hutt River Trail. Hutt River Trail to Lower Hutt (Waione St. Bridge), Port Road, Marine Drive and habor shoreline to Days Bay. Dominion Post Ferry from Days Bay across Wellington Harbor to Wellington.
Towns/services: Te Marua (store), Upper Hutt (everything), Lower Hutt (everything).
Maps/route guides: S25 Levin, S26 Carterton, R27 Wellington, Tararua Parkmap (274-02), Terramap Tararua Recreation Area (edition 2, 2003; contains all terrain needed and substitutes for S25 and S26). "Route Guide: Southern Crossing of the Tararuas" by Ian Fiske (NZ Tramper). Chapter on southern crossing in book "101 Great Tramps in New Zealand" (by Mark Pickering, 2000).
Supplies: Package to Levin Post Shop; re-supply by exiting and re-entering at Otaki Forks.
Route notes: (1) In my opinion, the crux of this section is the track just past Dracophyllum Hut, over Puketoro and Kelleher knobs. There are some fairly dangerous and challenging slips and rock scrambles around Puketoro knob. I wouldn't necessarily go through there again if I was alone. (2) The exposed tops travel is not poled to Shoulder Knob but the track is easy to follow, although I was repeatedly warned it is much more difficult (and often impossible) in rough weather, with high winds and zero visibility. (3) When I got to Otaki Forks, I had enough food to continue on with the southern crossing, but decided to go out and rest and wait for good weather, as the section from Ohau to Otaki Forks was quite exhausting and also wearing on the knees. (4) All the huts were quite comfortable; Waiopehu Hut is brand-new and beautiful, and Waitewaewae Hut was my favorite of the trek so far. (5) The last 100-m of track down to Alpha Hut is made confusing by a poorly placed poison warning sign on the ridgetop, just past a clearing where the track breaks off the ridge to head down (north) to the hut. There is a large pile of rocks to indicate the track leaves the ridgetop here, and the ridgetop track is not as well formed past that point, but still, the poison-warning sign has lured at least some trampers down the ridge past the hut, and might have in my case if I hadn't been warned about it. The main track continues from the hut and rejoins the ridgetop farther down. (6) The Hutt River Trail is an enjoyable and flat way to get all the way to Wellington Harbor from the exit of the Tararuas at Kaitoke, requiring less than 10-km road walking along Highway 2 to reach the start of the Hutt River Trail. (7) When I walked Highway 2, there was a road-widening project ongoing, which meant that for much of the way from Kaitoke to Te Marua, there was a broad parallel dirt road where construction was underway. On a Sunday, the construction zone was empty and quite good walking. Once the construction is finished, it is uncertain what the highway will be like. Right now, only one blind curve along the entire 10-km was dangerous. (8) There is really no way to walk from Lower Hutt to Wellington; there is a bike path along the Highway 2 motorway which is separated from the main roadway for some of the distance, but the remaining part along the motorway would not be good for pedestrians, and walking along the shoreline commuter rail tracks is prohibited. So coming out of the Tararuas at Kaitoke means a ferry crossing of Wellington Harbor. (8) The walk along the harbor shoreline from Lower Hutt to Days Bay is quite nice--partly road shoulder, partly a de-facto shoreline walkway/bikeway on the roadside, and partly on beach or along a Marina.
Page updated January 12, 2004