During these July winter school holidays, our whanau and friends got together at Dundle Hill – A cabin perched on top of a hill 10 minutes from Waitomo (Dundle Hill is a private farm walk – check out their website for details and to book).

Our group consisting of 11 children and 11 adults, ranging from 5 years old to 66 years old, some of us having low fitness up to moderate fitness took off from the carpark and climbed up through farmland to reach a ridgeline. From there we followed the ridgeline in and out through farmland and bush until we reached the start of the deer trail. From there the track takes a steep ridge down to the valley floor.

It was during this decent one of the kids bags took a tumble down the hill 🤦‍♂️….. It was put down on the ground at a rest stop and slowly tipped over, only to tumble over the edge and continue to somersault for what seemed like eternity, we could sit there and stare, listening to see if it would eventually come to a stop. When it finally did I managed to walk down the track a bit and walk in along a contour to where I thought I heard the bag stop ….. and can you believe – I found it!

Once at the valley floor the track took us straight back up another ridge to Dundle Hill. The sign post stated “The last slog” and slog it was, straight up. Of course it wasn’t so much a slog for the kids, who barely seemed to break a sweat.  It was here the group seemed to spread out, everyone went at their own pace. All up, the walk in took us nearly 5 hours – with many, many stops and breaks and walking at a slow pace.

The cabin has plenty of space and provisions, very comfortable and cosy and a great place to chill with the whanau. We had planned to stay two nights to spend some quality time together, though two of us had to walk out after one night, but that still left 20 at the cabin enjoying whanau time.

The walk out consisted of a steep downhill that took about an hour – it was super slippery in the rain. There was a 10 minute detour to a wet cave that was pretty cool to see, otherwise 1.5 – 2 hours from the bottom of the steep decent saw you back at the car park through the farm track at the valley floor.

This is a great place to book and getaway with a large group of people. Check out the video below of our whanau winter school holiday adventure 👍

Anita 🥜 🌿✌️