Leitch's Hut Track, Whareorino Forest and Awakino River

In April 2025, autumn here in New Zealand, my sisters and our friend went for a hike along Leitch's track. This is one of several tracks you can take to get to Leitch's hut, a sixteen-bunk hut in Leitch's clearing, which sits along headwaters of the Awakino river in the Whareorino forest (west of piopio, and south-west of Te Kuiti in the South Waikato region).

The hut and clearing at the headwaters of the Awakino River are the site of the former homestead of Sam Leitch, who lived there between 1902 to 1922. Sam Leitch was a soldier turned farmer. In 1910 the NZ government held a land lottery for five allotments of native forest. The winners were tasked with clearing them for farming. After World War I, of the eight farmers, only five returned. Sam Leitch's farm was the most isolated. He busied himself with clearing bush, planted macrocarpa trees, and built himself a home. His clearing remains there today.

We also visited Piripiri caves, Mangapohue limestone bridge, and Marokopa falls the day before our hike. We stayed at a campsite in Waitomo that night, stopped over in Piopio (where we got some free carrots), and then made our way to a free DOC carpark. Access to the track is from the end of Leitch Road where the carpark is. This area is a frog protection zone for two of New Zealand’s four species of native frog, Archey’s and Hochstetter’s, one of the few places where they can still be seen in the wild outside island sanctuaries. We found a Gliophorus viridis waxgill mushroom too, which was my first time seeing them.

Time stamps:

00:00 - Intro
01:07 - Clips from Waitomo and Marokopa trip (Piripiri caves, Mangapohue limestone bridge, Marokopa falls)
03:35 - Waitomo Holiday Park campsite
04:35 - Free carrots and spuds in Piopio
05:25 - Leitch's track from Leitch's track carpark
12:31 - Gliophorus viridis waxgill mushroom
18:45 - Awakino river valley
20:55 - Arriving at Leitch's hut in Leitch's clearing
21:55 - A very cold autumn evening swim in Awakino river
27:00 - Looking for invertebrates after dusk
30:36 - Dawn at Leitch's clearing
34:00 - Bye bye Leitch's hut
35:43 - The knights who say "ni!"
37:08 - Emily's turn at filming

I'm a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Hamilton, New Zealand. My videos are a mix of music, and hiking the outdoors. Ceolskog is my folk metal / heavy metal / country rock (and some other genres) band. It is also the name given to this hiking and nature-themed YouTube channel. Ceol means music in Irish, and skog means forest Norwegian and Swedish. I don't have a Patreon, but if you're a regular viewer, and you want to support me some way, you can find my music on Spotify, Bandcamp, iTunes, Soundcloud, Amazon, and YouTube too (of course).

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