4 nights, November 1985: Trampers were: Alan Rogers, Alan Leopold, Ian Bardsley, and me, Keith Blayney. This was my first tramp with Ian's group. We started with a 300m grunt from behind Te Aroha up over the Tui Saddle (passing the old Tui mines), then we swung north by the Mangakino Stream to Daly's Clearing Hut, near old logging works. The big kauri was beyond this, but the sheer drop and magnificent views from the top of Ananui Falls was awesome.

After Waitengaue Hut, we went to the eastern edge of the Park before heading up the Wairoa Stream with its many Kauri dams, and stayed in a pleasant ponga shelter. Rather than stay in the 18 bunk Waitawheta Hut the next day, we worked our way up a badly eroded track in the rain onto the Kaimai Range to a 3 bed, rat infested leaky NZFS (?Upper Waitawheta) Hut. Guess who ended up sleeping on what was left of the floor? The last section involved dropping down the historic Waiorongomai Valley, dotted with old gold mines and tramlines, some with very impressive slopes.