When we came out of the trail, it was still 500m to our AirBnB, and that felt like the longest 500m of the whole tramp. So close yet so far! And we were pretty shattered by this point. Boy was it great when we finally got there to take the packs off and see our box of extra food and snacks we’d dropped off on the way past!
I don’t think that we could have done this trip any later in B’s life though. The day from Mid Taipo to Carrington took us 13 hours including breaks! And that’s with B being carried! As soon as she wanted to walk herself, that definitely slowed us down a lot. I’d recommend not doing any meaty tramps like this after around 12-15 months, and that’s only if you’ve got heaps of experience to start off with.
The main lesson on this trip was we need a bigger variety of snacks for B! She ended up eating far too many sultanas, and then not wanting to eat her lunch, as she had filled up on sultanas! So if there was something she could nibble on that was a full meal in one… that’s what you really need!
2022 EDIT: Our snack repertoire is much more improved now. We’ve started taking rice cakes and homemade oat and seed bars as our top snacks for toddlers who aren’t quite chewing fully yet.
Trip stats:
Day 1: Carpark to Carroll Hut – 2.8km / 2 hours
Day 2: Carroll Hut to Mid Taipo Hut – 16.5km / 11 hours
Day 3: Mid Taipo Hut to Carrington Hut – 16.3km / 13 hours
Day 4: Carrington Hut to Road End – 14.9km + 500m / 5.5 hours
Total: 51 KM
Trip was done over 25th – 28th January 2018. B was 15 months old.
KM's are approximate, and will be higher due to the amount of climbing over slips we had to do.
Please do not attempt this or any similar trip unless you are suitably equipped and experienced. This trip is definitely not suitable for children. We are very experienced, and were fine with a baby. However even we would not attempt this with a toddler walking on their own or a small child. There are several sections where a small child would likely fall through, and there wasn't really a path most of the way. There were also massive drop-offs, and the days were super long even for our adult length legs. While the km distances may not be great, the slips add a huge amount to the distance, and the land is very physically tough and unforgiving. A highly experienced tall 8yo may be fine, but they would have to be prepared for how physically tough the track is. Especially the section between Dillon Hut and Mid Taipo Hut.