Not Pirongia Without Mud

By Jack Anderson

In June 2022, I was cooped up in my bedroom, trying not to catch COVID from my family and out of significant cabin fever spawned the idea to climb Mount Pirongia. Two years and one month later, on the weekend of 27th-28th July, it finally happened. Outside the Clock Tower I assemble with five Americans, a Fin, a programmer, a pilot, a nurse, a film archivist, an infrastructure analyst and a German sea sponge cancer researcher. Oh and another civil engineer!

We hopped on the southern motorway. As the Tron is a major cultural gem of the North Island, a stop was made there to allow international students to appreciate the sights, chiefly PaknSave. We procured miscellaneous ingredients for Mediterranean bowls.

After arriving at Grey Road at 11 am, we started hiking up Tirohanga Track. Marc was deep in the world of his audiobook - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and we requested a book update, which he supplied in the form of a three-word summary. This became an ongoing and entertaining feature of the trip discussion!

After stopping for lunch at the trig station, we continued to the first of many rock scrambling/ chain sections, easily my favourite part of the hike. Mt Pirongia, the highest point in the Waikato at 959 metres, is an extinct stratovolcano - meaning the region has some remarkable volcanic rock formations.

We climbed the observation tower as sunset arrived, filling the sky with gorgeous pastels. An hour later we arrived at Pahautea Hut - the last stretch illuminated by headlamps. Dinner preparations began on our bizarre Mediterranean bowl smorgasbord, with an array of fresh vegetables, falafel, peppers stuffed with cream cheese, feta, olives and copious amounts of brown rice. For dessert was a classic - PaknSave chocolate mud cake, shared with some other hikers. The night sky was incredible; with virtually zero light pollution we saw several shooting stars and pointed out some southern Hemisphere constellations to those new to Aotearoa.

At 8:30 am, we departed Pahautea Hut and headed along Makaukura Track. After passing through a swampy patch, not managing to avoid the notorious Pirongia mud, we descended back into rainforest. Discussion focussed around life goals (Brody’s include opening a psychedelic therapy centre in Mexico, so stay tuned for that), and the relationship between language and thinking - with Anna recommending ‘The Island of the Colorblind’ by Oliver Sacks.

Back at Grey’s Road, we said our goodbyes and hit the road. On the way back into town, we made a donut/ coffee stop then listened to Harvest Moon covered by a band from Reagan’s hometown in Michigan. Three word summary of the trip: worth waiting for!!!!