Climbed Maungatautari following the Wairere traverse/graded track up to Pukeatua peak as we had previously done the Te Tonga/rough tramping track to zPukeautua summit as we wanted to get a head start to Maungatautari peak.
From Pukeatua summit we head off on the Te tonga track to Maungatuatari peak, it was abnormally disorientating as I felt it was going much further east then the maps suggested and took longer then I expected, but I hadn't taken into account the up and down distance when looking at the map and wasn't using any navigation gear. We took our time as I was accompanied by two 7yr olds who enjoyed snack time, it took 5hours to the Maungatautari summit. We walked past the summit on the Te tonga track (its labelled as the Hicks rd over the mountain track until we meet the up with the Wairere traverse or quad bike track and headed back to the southern entrance this took 3 hours.
Maungatuatari and Pukeatua offered didn't offer heaps of views of the Waikato but the bird life is abundant and it was perfect conditions under the thick forest canopy, shady and with a warm breeze. Also worth noting there is no streams on the Te tonga track so take plenty of water, but on the Wairere traverse had 2 or 3 on the way back which was a welcome releif as we had drunk all 4L on the way there.