A group of 4 members of the Upper Valley Tramping Club set out to walk from Sunny Grove in Wainuiomata over the Whakanui Track down to the Orongorongo River and on to the Hairangi Hut where we had arranged

to meet 5 more of our members who had elected to walk to and from the Hairangi Hut via the Five Mile Track. The beginning of the Whakanui Track is well graded but steep for approx 50 mins. It then undulates around, up and down over stones and roots through beautiful bush (nothing as steep as the beginning, challenging in places but not too difficult). It took us 3.5 hours to get to the river, 15 mins to the hut where we met the others and had lunch, and then we tramped back to the five mile track (some of us via the river), which took another hour, then approx 2 hours to get back to the carpark at the entrance to the Rimutaka Forest Park. Having others of the Club come in via the Five Mile Track meant we had vehicles to get back to Sunny Grove to collect our car. The bush is varied and quite delightful. I've been on several tracks in this area, including the McKerrow Track which isn't far from and connects with the Whakanui, but the bush on this track is very different with stands of very large trees, including rimus and ratas. Several times we came out of the bush to small clearings where there must have been slips a long time ago, and now these deep gullies were filled with wonderful ferns, one with an extremely large rata in the middle. Lots of lovely surprises on this track. The day we did it was drizzly and warm, but the bush protected us from the rain. I will definitely be going back in the summer months with my camers.

Reviewed over 3 years ago and experienced in June 2011