Routes
Huts / campsites
Roadends
Summits
Passes / crossings
Scenic features
Junctions
DOC Land
Altitude: 634m to 1503m. Gain: 2185m. Loss: 2862m . Gradient: 6 deg (Moderate-hard)
Skills: Alpine weather (2/7) - Occasional rivers (3/6) Winter - Snow/ice underfoot (2/7)
Altitude: 634m to 701m. Gain: 96m. Loss: 51m . Gradient: 2 deg (Gentle)
Skills: - Streams (2/6)
The stroll upstream from Oamaru Hut is easy, tussock flats alternating with bands of scrub – a well traveled, poled track. After 3km it reaches the bushedge, where a typical Kaweka 1.5m-wide highway through the bush starts. From the bushedge it’s a further 3km to the confluence with the Otorehinaiti Stream.
The Oamaru River track runs 100m away from the river at the confluence, so if you intend on heading up the Otorehinaiti then keep an eye on your map to pick out the spot you need to drop to the creek and cross.
Altitude: 676m to 1215m. Gain: 846m. Loss: 888m . Gradient: 10 deg (Moderate-hard)
Skills: - Occasional rivers (3/6)
Off Track route while trying to stay on public land. This route would have crossed briefly into private land near the Mangatainoka saddle, but it is unlikely anyone will mind.
Steady slog up the spur from Mangatainoka Hut. The spur changes direction several times and also flattens out several times which makes it confusing to know when you are actually at the top. Go through a couple of small knolls in clearings that were slightly alpine in appearance. From there start sidling across the slope due North into the saddle. The Ngatira top is flat wide and obvious and very clean of undergrowth.
West through the saddle above Hemi stream then South West along the narrow ridge to Pt 1090. There is some tape around the tree at the high point.
North and then West on the spur before dropping down NorthWest to the Mangapapa Stream. At the confluence, take the South West branch and climb up to the ridge. Deer city in here.
Once on the Otoretunaiti River it is a fairly easy walk down to the Oamaru River. This will be tricky to cross in heavy rainfall.
Track to Oamaru Hut
Altitude: 694m to 1503m. Gain: 113m. Loss: 846m . Gradient: 7 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Alpine weather (2/7) - Occasional rivers (3/6) Winter - Snow/ice underfoot (2/7)
From Te Puke, follow the poled route west for 300m to the top of the hill, and turn north on a well travelled trail towards the trig. This ground trail branches at the trig, with one fork heading NE along the tops. Follow this over Te Pukeohikarua and over the next saddle, swinging briefly west to another unnamed peak which is sidled on the western face. The trail becomes less and less clear as you progress, but going is relatively easy through tussock and low scrub.
You are now at the northernmost point of the clear tops, as shown on the map, 500m ENE of pt1429. From here, follow the spur running just west of north down to the river. The first section is scrubby, but can be bypassed by remaining on the western face in clear subalpine vegetation. Once the beech becomes tall enough, cut right onto the spur and follow it down all the way to the river. Careful navigation is required where the spur 'kinks' to avoid dropping to sidestreams.
Once in the valley floor, travel in in the riverbed. This is stoney and clear of vegetation, but the first 2km (to the first major forks) suffers from numerous logjams and a few scrambles are required. Below this the riverbed is clear and going is easy. Travel on the banks becomes increasingly possible. One small gorge can be negotiated in-water in normal flows. Numerous campspots exist below the first confluence, but none above.
The confluence with the Mangatainoka River is marked by two pieces of yellow tape on a tree. From here a marked, occasionally cur track runs downstream to Mangatainoka Hut, 1.5km away. Several crossings are required but are ankle deep in normal flows.
Altitude: 974m to 1483m. Gain: 560m. Loss: 122m . Gradient: 10 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Alpine weather (2/7) - Streams (2/6) Winter - Snow/ice underfoot (2/7)
From Harkness we continue along the central Kaweka highway. To warm-up there’s an easy 800m section along the valley floor, but then the climb starts. The broad track climbs steadily up the meandering ridgeline, reaching exposed tops 1km before the hut. The tops route is poled and clear.
A junction with a well-trodden track, heading north from the summit, is not marked on maps or signposted. However, it appears to lead off along the tops towards Mangatainoka Hut.
Te Puke Hut nestles in a beech-covered basin at the head of a small sidecreek on the southern side of the ridgeline - 100m off the track. The junction is signposted.
Altitude: 944m to 1089m. Gain: 73m. Loss: 195m . Gradient: 3 deg (Gentle)
Skills: - Streams (2/6)
The head of the Harkness at Tussock Hut lives up to the hut's name – a broad, gentle, V of a valley, clad in golden tussock. The track crosses the trickle of a stream and sidles the western face. The valley becomes slowly scrubbier as we head downstream – tussock becoming low scrub , later rising to waist height. The poled track changes from a foot-worn slot between tussocks to a full 1.5m-wide, cut Kaweka track. The gentle valleysides become steeper and rocky, and finally the track abandons efforts to sidle and drops to the Harkness River – now a couple of meters wide. Some 20 crossing follow – most of which can be hopped across with dry feet intact, but near the end there’s one which always catches me out. Fill your boots! The route should be navigable in all but extreme rain,
The track junction (on the western bank at the major forks) for the turnoff to Harkness Hut is signposted.
Altitude: 935m to 1222m. Gain: 294m. Loss: 244m . Gradient: 5 deg (Gentle)
Skills: - Occasional rivers (3/6)
A rough poled route heads down the valley from Boyd Lodge, passing the airstrip on the western side. Poles are sporadic, and it is possible to lose the track across open low tussock.
The track crosses the Ngaruroro River (less than knee deep, 3m wide, but could flood easily after rain), and passes below a steep truncated spur of vertical river gravel. Soon beyond a metal signpost on the eastern bank marks the turn east out of the valley to Tussock Hut. This is the start of a 2m wide Kaweka 'highway' - a well maintained cut, marked track through first Manuku scrub and later beech forest. This climbs gently to the summit before dropping into the head of the Harkness and exiting the beech just above and opposite Tussock Hut, Poles lead the lad few hundred meters to the hut. 1h45-3hrs
Altitude: 743m to 1041m. Gain: 88m. Loss: 386m . Gradient: 5 deg (Moderate)
Skills: - Occasional rivers (3/6)
A poled route heads up the Ngaruroro from the airstrip below Boyd Lodge, crossing the river after 1km. This crossing is knee deep and fast in normal flows and can become impassible.
The poled route then climbs east to the bushedge, before a cut, marked tramping track takes over, crossing Waitawhero Saddle and dropping into a broad valley containing a tributary of the Oamaru. The track sidles this on terraces on the western bank.
The main Oamaru river is reached after 2km, and must be crossed (small and ankle-knee deep in normal flows). A signposted track junction for tracks to Oamaru Hut and Cascade Hut lies 100m beyond just before the next sidecreek. Good campspots also exist here.
Altitude: 683m to 744m. Gain: 19m. Loss: 79m . Gradient: 2 deg (Gentle)
Skills: - Streams (2/6)
Track
Altitude: 634m to 701m. Gain: 96m. Loss: 51m . Gradient: 2 deg (Gentle)
Skills: - Streams (2/6)
The stroll upstream from Oamaru Hut is easy, tussock flats alternating with bands of scrub – a well traveled, poled track. After 3km it reaches the bushedge, where a typical Kaweka 1.5m-wide highway through the bush starts. From the bushedge it’s a further 3km to the confluence with the Otorehinaiti Stream.
The Oamaru River track runs 100m away from the river at the confluence, so if you intend on heading up the Otorehinaiti then keep an eye on your map to pick out the spot you need to drop to the creek and cross.