Crosbies Hut
Coromandel Forest Park
18 - 19 November 2017
We decided to have an overnight trip to the popular Crosbies Hut which required booking a few months in advance. I was joined by Vanessa, Chris S, Staci, Tim F, Stuart, Jeff, Andy, Johanna and Grant.
Day 1 | Travel to Thames Waiotahi Road-End - Crosbies Hut Waiotahi Track, Karaka Tramping Track, Crosbies Main Range Tramping Track | 8 Hours 15km |
Day 2 | Crosbies Hut - Waiotahi Road-End Crosbies Main Range Tramping Track, Karaka Tramping Track, Waiotahi Track Travel back to Auckland | 7.5 Hours 15km |
We left Auckland at 7.00am to head to Thames which is about 1 1/2 hours drive away. We made a couple of stops on the way before we made it to the road-end. Due to the number of people and different start times we did one of two tracks (shorter/harder or longer/easier). Once ready we put our packs on and started headed in the direction of the hut.
We slowly headed uphill along the track which was of a good standard. We stopped a few times for energy breaks. We managed to dodge most of the potential rain. At times there was some views to admire. We stopped for lunch at the half way point along the track. From this point the track got muddy and some mussles that not normally used got a work out.
We finally reached the hut as the rain started to settle in. Some of our group who did the other track were already at the hut. The fire got put on while waiting for the rest of the group arrive. We then put dinner on and set in to enjoy the evening in the dry of the hut. We had a few good yarns before going to bed.
Got up and had a relaxing breakfast before leaving the hut. The rain was starting to clear. So we then followed the same route back to the car. Since there was rain overnight, the track got more muddy, so we just went through the middle of it all as there was no way to dodge it.
As we were going along the weather cleared, the sun came out so it became quite warm and were able to see some views that we could not see yesterday.
We finally got back to the car, changed into clean clothes, headed into Thames for dinner before heading back home to Auckland.