New Zealand Walk
Tackling the Tirohanga
A
s the Corcoran Road carpark came into view, I raised my tired arms above my head like a boxer celebrating a triumph via final-round knock-out. “Yes!” I yelled. “Yes! Made it! Woooohooooo!” My colleagues Glyn Morgan and Nigel Binks laughed at my reaction. “Jeff of the jungle,” my wife quipped later when I told her of my hearty celebration at the edge of Waikato’s Pirongia Forest Park. Raising my arms was itself an accomplishment. As a sedentary office worker, my upper body doesn’t get a lot of exercise. But on this day, a sweltering Friday in peak Aotearoa summer, my arms, shoulders and torso had received their most vigorous work-out in years. The exercise for my legs was, as the kids say these days, “next level”. Our trio of Department of Conser-
vation (DOC) staff had completed the descent of Tirohanga track, one of the most gruelling (by my standards, anyway) tracks in the tree-clad park which covers more than 13,500 hectares. Our time of about three hours and 45 minutes was pretty leisurely for Glyn, an experienced DOC Senior Ranger-Supervisor who can descend the track in less than two hours. Biodiversity Ranger Nigel (10 years younger than me) looked pretty comfortable too. On a group hike, you only go as fast as the slowest person, and in our happy band of DOC staff, I was the slowest….by some margin. We had flown in by helicopter (as opposed to walking up) for a restock and check of the Pahautea Hut, a 20bed DOC hut popular with hikers exploring Pirongia. Our pilot had circled the maunga, giving an incredible perspective on the forest park and the tracks which cross it. By the time
16 Walking New Zealand, issue no 278 - 2021
By Jeff Neems
Communications Advisor. Department of Conservation
we landed at the small helipad near the top, I was ready to get on with it. I had helped Glyn clean the toilets, had a good look around the hut, checked the visitors’ book and enjoyed the gorgeous 360-degree views across the district and off to the Tasman Sea, before we’d set off on the most intense burst of physical activity I have undertaken in years. The Tirohanga Track is challenging: a round-trip (ascent then descent) will take an entire day, and is suitable for Above: Glyn Morgan and Nigel Binks, Waikato District Rangers, at the summit of Mt Pirongia, in Pirongia Forest Park. Photo by Jeff Neems. Below left: Glyn Morgan disembarks the helicopter which transported six DOC staff, undertaking a range of work, to the top of Mt Pirongia. Photo by Jeff Neems.
Below right: Glyn Morgan at the Pahautea Hut. Photo by Jeff Neems..
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