The 49th Taihoa Hut birthday. A good turnout. Gwenda had a couple of young friends, Mark and Joanna, with her.

I started this gallery early to include some photo's taken in mid Jan - these photo's at the end of the gallery..
When we arrived at the Taihoa a widow-maker (epiphytic mass) had fallen off the west side of the dead rata onto the track. This took a couple of hours to clear.

towards the end are some pictures of huts up the Orongorongo including two of the new DOC huts - Haurangi and Turere. The Turere hut is about 25 min from Taihoa on a high terrace - access is from the Big Bend Track. Haurangi Hut is a further 30 min upstream.