A Great Walk King of The Ants
Is it a true back-country walk if the day’s sweat is cleansed by a hot shower, the toilet flushes, and meals are delivered to your hut? My only ever tramp where I was treated like royalty was as a child on the guided Hollyford Track walk, proudly leading the group in my new footwear with my family to boot. Since then my back-country trips have been as wild as the wilds, roughing it by carrying a soggy tent, the hut ablutions being a dip in the creek and those dreaded long-drops full of buzzing flies, spider webs and nose-pinching odours. On my way from Wellington, over the Remutaka Range and towards Cape Palliser on Wairarapa’s southern coast, this is one question I am keen to answer
Just two hours from the city I reach Kawakawa Station. The driveway on the edge of the coast seems to welcome me into the station life as soon as I turn off the seal and sight my first night’s stay aptly named Farm Cottage. What a place; the shimmering sea, the country setting and the cottage as authentic as they
