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allikat Says: ....or wuss out like I did.Yep, that's right, I wimped out and sent my camera on to the summit without me. I love hiking up big hills, but I'm not great with sheer drops. And the top bit of the Pinnacles is sheer.From the Pinnacles hut, our small group followed the steep...
allikat Says: Just a couple of minutes walk from the Pinnacles hut is the Dancing Camp kauri dam. Dams like this one were used by logging crews to dam up valleys in steep, inaccessible areas, and the felled kauri trees were stacked up and then driven down the valleys, carried by the...
The Pinnacles Hut.: Basic bunkhouse with stunning views.
allikat Says: This was my first experience of staying in a Department of Conservation (DOC) hut. The Pinnacles hut is one of New Zealand's largest such huts, providing basic bunkhouse accommodation for eighty people in two large communal bunk rooms. There is no mains power or water...
Pinnacles Hut: A welcome site at the end of a long hard climb.
kiwi Says: This is the Pinnacles Hut and it is administered by DOC - Department of Conservation. Provided for walkers and to avail them to some shelter, while visiting our forest parks.All bookings and info about the hut is done throught the Kaueranga Visitor Centre, on the road in....
Only One Person per Swing Bridge Please.
kiwi Says: Please heed the warning signs to only have One person on the swing bridge at a time. A few years ago some people abused these warning signs and resulted in a big group of them being killed when a platform collapsed from excessive overloading. Besides, it's far more enjoyable...
The weather can change quickly!
kiwi Says: Never enter the hills or bush in New Zealand without a jacket. We are not a tropical country and it's likely the weather can change without notice and turn very cold. Sometimes the winds and rain seem to come directly from Antarctica and can turn a lovely hot day into a very...
Helpfulness
Luggage and bags: A good backpack. Line it with a plastic bin liner, and if it doesn't have a showerproof cover, make one of your own with another bin liner. The New Zealand bush is dense and green for a reason - it rains!
Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: I wouldn't do this walk without decent walking boots. It covers a fairly steep route over sometimes slippery, rough rocky pathways. Take a waterproof coat, or grab a cheap waterproof poncho from one of the outdoor shops in nearby Thames. Carry a change of clothing - it was such a relief to get out of my wet gear when we got to the hut.
Toiletries and Medical Supplies: Leave the girlie shower gel at home. Unless you really fancy a freezing cold shower.
Camping/Beach/Outdoor Gear: Bring a sleeping bag and the ability to share a room with up to forty complete strangers.
Miscellaneous: Although the DOC website says cooking gear isn't provided, the hut does have a number of stove billies, the odd plastic plate and a couple of kitchen odds and ends. But best to bring what you need. Bring easy-cook camping fare and make sure your pack has room for a bottle of fortifying red wine. Two maybe. All uneaten food does need to be carried back out again, but empty bottles don't weigh so much as full ones ;-)
Updated Jun 3, 2007
kiwi Says: Mostly the track is easy for walking, albeit uphill all the way to the hut though! Being a volcanic area, there are a lot of rocks around, and as you see here, someplaces where the steps are carved. they are a nice size and not too large to trudge up with a pack on back....
kiwi Says: New Zealand was covered in forest before mankind arrived, and we had some amazingly large hardwood trees. When the pioneers came they felled most of these for use in building sailing ships as they were hard and tall and straight. Perfect for their needs. Now the few...
kiwi Says: Not all the steps are uniform and similar to a staircase. Here you see just some minor chiselling just to make foot placements to assist hikers. I guess this was formed for the ponies too, thanks very much. There is a lot of clays up in these hills, so can be very slippery...
Unusual landscape formed by volcanic activity.
kiwi Says: They say it's taken 20 million years for the landscape to end up looking like this. I can never understand how 'they' work that out, however I'm happy to believe it. Imagine a string of volcanoes erupting from time to time. 8 million years ago "they say"..... And as they...
Helpfulness
Favorite thing: From Thames, this is a 14km slow drive along a windy and sometimes skinny road, followed by a 3 hour uphill trek, which for me took 4 hours as I am not very fit. We were overnighting at the Hut, so had packs with gear on our backs.
After settling in at the hut, you can then walk on either that same day or next morning, to hike up to the summit of The Pinnacles. This is made easy by leaving your packs at the Hut and just wearing coats on this climb. The weather can turn quickly and the wind can be cold up there, so I do advise taking jackets.
Fondest memory: This further trek, from the Hut to the Summit, takes around an hour one way. We spent some time on the lookout platform, which makes the stay much easier given that you are not hanging on to the side of a rock! I phoned a few friends while up there, at last we had cellphone reception, haha.
Written Mar 31, 2005
The Coromandel Peninsular has so much to offer the outdoors loving people. From boating, watersports, fishing, to climbing and trekking, camping and driving. You get to the Kauaeranga Valley from the...
Through the Kauaeranga Valley to the Pinnacles.
A jagged summit reaching high above dense, green bush, the Pinnacles had been on my 'hit list' for a couple of years. We finally chose a wet holiday weekend to make the trip and gave our leg muscles a...
Build your own Kauaeranga page
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