BP33 covers the grand terrain of the southern Tararua Range astride the Wellington, Horowhenua and Wairarapa regions. 

I love the interlacing of the headwater streams,  small blue lines snaking down from the green ridges, spurs and ribs of the tops, gathering force as they become larger blue lines, often merging – for this is one of the most celebrated features of the Tararua Range – into gorges, marked by striated black symbols that carry a certain warning.

And that’s just the topography. Then there are the lines representing tracks and the small black squares that show huts and their promise of shelter. 

The Featherston map is full of history, too. Sayers Hut is the oldest remaining hut in Tararua Forest Park, although greatly altered since the Sayer family built the original when they ran cattle on the Waiohine River flats in the early 1900s. The unlucky Sutch party passed by here in 1933: four trampers who traversed the entire Waiohine River after a mishap that resulted in severe injury, followed by terrible weather that chased them down this formidable river. The massive search for the missing trampers is now part of tramping folklore, and their unlikely survival remains an enduring story of dogged determination, skill and luck.

Cone Hut, a wonderfully appealing building clad in tōtara slabs, was built by the Tararua Tramping Club in 1946. It’s still managed by the club. Cone was a stopover on the famous Southern Crossing Track, established in the early 1900s as a route over the range from east to west. 

Although the Southern Crossing remains a worthy and notable tramp, it demands good experience, fitness and reasonable weather. So my choice of tramp to profile on this map is instead the lesser-known Holdsworth–Kaitoke. 

This immensely appealing ‘link-the-valleys’ tramp begins from the popular Holdsworth Road end, climbs over a ridge to Tōtara Flats and its large and comfortable hut, then follows tracks down the Waiohine to end at Kaitoke. It’s suitable for family groups and less experienced trampers and has a true sense of journey. There are wonderful areas to camp, exquisite (if cold) blue-green swimming holes, gorge-side views, groves of tōtara trees, flat grassy swathes baked golden-brown in summer, encroaching valley-side beech forest slopes and, of course, the chance to visit the historic Sayers and Cone huts.

It is possible to exit at several points, including directly to the Waiohine Gorge road end and campsite. From Tutuwai Hut a track climbs over Mt Reeves to also reach the Waiohine Gorge road end. This gives a nice flexibility around weather.