My friend Nick had a bunch of friends he wanted to go hiking with, but, who didn’t know eachother. Eventually Nick just decided that we’d all get on just fine and he should organise the trip, so he did. And I mean, everyone was sound except for Jeff*
I’d been to otahake a fewtimes before, but, not in the middle of winter. It’s funny, in my head I’m still sorta late 20s early 30s, and still tramping all the time. The reality is slightly different. In my head this was an easy tramp, 5-6 hours and very straightforward, but, it’s still a decent walk and in the middle of winter everything is a little trickier.
Anyway, Nick did an excellent job organising the weather. It’s was perfect both days, which was no harm because the water was freezing cold.
The hotpools themselves needed digging out a little. Fortunately it’s a very well organised place and there were 3 shovels we could use to dig them out. The water was boiling so some cold water was diverted in from the river, and then it was just a perfect spot to soak and enjoy the stars above.
All in all everyone did super well. The water was up to the waistline on the way upriver, and did I mention cold? On the Sunday morning it was really slippy on the way out, as all the rocks had an invisible layer of ice over them. Once we turned the corner and the sun was able to hit the rocks everything became a whole lot easier.
One difference we did to previous trips was that we came out the Otahake all the way to the Taramakau and then walked down that. It was nice to do a different route, and, I think it probably was easier than via the lake. One to remember for the next time.
Note about the photos: I haven’t kept track of who took what pic. I know Zane took the lovely starry photos – well done him!
Many thanks to Nick for organising. Everyone came back pretty psyched for the next trip (once the legs have enough recovery time)
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