How to Lure your Colleagues Tramping: Totara Flats Hut

And other helpful tips

On the rare occasion one might mistakenly fall into the trap of thinking that it might be fun to see co-workers outside of the office. Those of questionable sanity might even think that the great outdoors would be a perfect venue for such a gathering. If this has been you, you’ll also be aware that colleagues are even worse at replying to group messages than they are replying to work related emails. So with all that in mind, it was really a miracle that on a crisp Saturday morning I found myself sailing up the Hutt Valley in the company of Joe and Ilhara, with another car in tow. We stopped for provisions at the Upper Hutt Pak’n’Slave. A good trip planning tip: Make a food plan before getting to the supermarket, then throw it out as everyone will have their own superior ideas of what they want to eat. After what seemed like an eternity we finally escaped with our excessive bags of food and headed over the hill to the Wairarapa.

Somewhere in the process of doing this I became confused as to the where-abouts of the other car and came under the false impression they were in front of us. With this in mind I had no quarms about charging down the Waiohine Gorge access road in my 4WD (although Joe and Ilhara might have bouncing around in the back). The road was a little more washed out than the…