A wander through the Wairarapa
DAVID COXON REPORTS ON A TOURING TRIP HE RAN THROUGH THE WAIRARAPA FOR HIS 4WD CLUB.
As the time to lead the promised Wairarapa touring trip for my 4WD club approached, I realised that I needed a more robust plan than my usual “I wonder where this left turn goes,” and a string of dead ends.
That is not to say that some of my dead ends have not turned out to be very pleasant places, but for this trip a more organised approach was required. I had the general idea of spending the morning exploring some of the dead-end access roads into the Tararuas then in the afternoon loop back to Masterton using the network of back country roads between SH2 and Castlepoint.
Given the nature of the trip I also wanted less driving and more pausing to enjoy places that we often just drive through.
Challenge #1
The first challenge was to try to remember which Tararua access roads gave the best experience, so I picked six hopeful destinations from the articles I wrote for this magazine about ten years ago (where does time go?) and enlisted Ashley and Gillian’s company to run a recce trip a week ahead of the main trip to pick which two or three would be best for the touring trip.
From our starting point in Featherston, our first route was up the southern side of the Waiohine River to an access point onto a gravel riverbed. This was an easy drive, with the last section of the road being unsealed – a repeating pattern for all the roads we took. The access to the riverbed was bumpy and rocky but not actually difficult, and the view across the river was attractive enough for everyone to vote this as our first stop.
In keeping with the very relaxed mood of the day, we had a leisurely break to enjoy just being there before returning to the main road for our next foray into the hills from Carterton to try the road up to the Mt Dick lookout.
I had written about this track in my earlier article, however last time I had tried to access it the track had been gated for forestry. More recently I had heard that it was open again, and this proved to be the case. The gate had been removed and the track was an easy, well-graded, gravel run, with a few steeper sections, leading to a view from the top that was spectacular on the fine day we were enjoying. This was voted the ideal morning tea spot – weather and wind permitting.
A final run before lunch took us through a network of backroads to Mangatarere Valley Rd for a relatively long run up the valley and over a broken-up concrete ford to a small carpark for a very peaceful and relaxed lunch in the grass.
After lunch
After lunch we took a meandering route back to SH2 just before Masterton so that we could use the bridge to cross the Waingawa River. We then followed Upper Waingawa Rd, which ended at a very small car park. While not a suitable destination for our expected convoy of at least ten vehicles, we agreed that this would be a perfect place to visit on a weekday outside of the holiday period.
Getting turned around to head for our next destination, Mikimiki Rd, which is one end of a bush walk along an old bush railway track. The road end had an adequately sized parking area with room for the convoy, and while it had no facilities, the final section of the drive in through the Tararua Forest was very attractive and a bit more interesting than the usual dirt road, earning it a strong vote as our lunch stop for the convoy.
Our final destination was another road off SH2, Kiriwhakapapa Rd. This led to a very pleasant, serviced DOC camping ground with basic but well set up facilities. While spacious, and apparently (another) perfect lunch spot we decided to stick with Mikimiki Rd for the convoy since, while quiet the week before Christmas, Kiriwhakapapa Rd would probably be crowded between Christmas and New Year.
With our route for the morning confirmed, I was able to put together the rest of the trip from records of my previous trips and was ready for the club trip. It was then a week of crossed fingers hoping for another fine day.
Another bluebird day!
Luckily the day of the trip was as good as the previous week, and we arrived at the meeting place at Featherston just ahead of the rest of the participants in what became a fourteen-vehicle convoy.
With me leading and Ashley running as tail, the morning trip went exactly to plan with everyone enjoying the leisurely visit to the three selected road ends and a pleasant time in the great outdoors.
Then, after our lunch break we returned to SH2 and took the good-quality, sealed secondary road from just north of Masterton through Mauriceville, and then, rather than using the equally good, signposted road back to Route 52, we went a little further north to the unsealed link road across to Ihuraua and made our final coffee and comfort stop at the Alfredton domain.
As we were now planning to head south, some people decided to leave and take the Pahiatua Track back to the Kapiti Coast. Given the time and general feeling that the trip was coming to an end, I left the longer run from Alfredton to Tinui and Castlepoint for another day and took the remaining convoy on the shorter, unsealed road through Bideford and back to Masterton to complete the trip.
Back at Masterton everyone seemed to have enjoyed the day out, and to have found the backroad sections to be scenic and easy, albeit somewhat dusty for those at the rear of the convoy.