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| Pre trip bonding |
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| Start of the climb to Waiopehu |
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| All that was left where my 1984 map showed the hut to be! |
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| "Where's that bloody hut?" |
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| Waiopehu Hut |
Waiopehu Hut elevation is 900m.
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| No views, but no wind either |
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| Ralph Wood Memorial - 1936 |
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| And the newer Ralph Wood Memorial |
"Saturday, February 1, 1936
As they set out from Palmerston North that Saturday midday, the six friends from the Manawatu Tramping Club were expecting an invigorating weekend in the Tararua ranges. But the light-hearted trip would soon turn terrifying.
Led by MTC secretary Andrew Fuller, the men heading for Te Matawai Hut were Ron Arlidge, Ralph Dawick, Harold Ramsey, Albert Waters - and a 29 year old optician named Ralph Woods.
Tje party reached the hut at 6pm; as night fell the wind developed into a storm so fierce they decided to get out - in hindsight an unlucky decision wrote Paul Wood in his 2011 biography The Story of Ralph Wood.
The flooded Ohau River made it impossible to go back the way they'd come, so they took the route to Waiopehu. When they got to Butcher Saddle the howling gale was ripping up trees by the roots in what would later be called "the storm of the century" - a freak cyclone centred on the Manawatu.
"Through torrential rain . . . along the steep slippery track in the roaring wind the men clung to branches of thrashing trees, trying to avoid falling debris . . the constant fight to keep their balance, gear flapping and threatening to blow away, gradual sapping of body heat, the wind and rain stinging eyes, legs and hands . . . they would have been completely soaked through, with heavy wet packs . . . the visibility was probably very low making it even more difficult to stay on track."
In 1936 the areas was still largely uncharted, Paul Wood noted. Waterproof clothing had only recently been invented, and hypothermia was still not properly understood. "As 6:00am (Sunday) approached they had still not reached the summit of Twin Peak . . . they had probably been out in the storm for eight hours on a journey that should have taken three . . . no food, nowhere to shelter."
Nearing the top of Twin Peak, Ralph Woods, suffering from exhaustion and exposure and being carried on Andrew Fuller's back, "finally succumbed and died." His companions laid him out rolled in a blanket, marked the spot and for a while went separate ways.
After many more harrowing hours, the men eventually stumbled out of the bush, alive."
[From the Manawatu Standard]
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| We join the Te Araroa Trail |
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| Very happy to know only 30 minutes to go |
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| Te Matawai landing site |
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| Te Matawai Hut |
Hut elevation is 884m, 18 bunks, smelly, musty adn complete with moldy mattresses. The type of hut that encourages you to move on early.
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