Waiotauru hut trip report
Sept 20 - 21st 2025
What a great trip ! 7 Club members headed into Waiotauru Hut on the western side of the Tararua Forest Park for the night. With none of the 7 having been to the hut before, we didn't know the track conditions other than it had been recently cut - and what a great job! We also didn't know how busy it would be, so packed our tents.
Arriving at the Otaki Forks road end at 1030am on the Saturday, we got sorted and headed off in the warm sunshine, initially on the gravel road, before into the bush. After navigating a short gravelly slip (with a rope provided) we continued along the track to reach the Historic Mill site for lunch in the sun.
We continued along the sidle track through the bush with occasional Waiotauru river views, a few fantail flying about, the sun sneaking through the trees and shallow side creeks to cross. Early in the afternoon we came to a large slip, with a zigzag track to the top. We then continued our sidle until reaching the swing bridge at Waiotauru Forks (where the Eastern Waiotauru meets the Southern Waiotauru river).
We then zig-zagged up the hill and onto a 4wd track which we followed through the bush all the way until we had to cross the (Southern) Waiotauru River to get to the hut and our campsite.
4 of our group camped and 3 stayed in the hut (with one additional hunter). After a calm night we packed up and retraced our steps back to the Otaki Forks carpark.
On the trip: Tony, Josh, Finlay, Nathan, Katrina, Simona, and Sandra.
