This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
One ‘trip this Christmas set out with the iintention.of having some good clean wholesome fun. in the Karangarua Valley and other places. There were six hopefuls, namely Trevor Bissell and Don French from Palmy, Malcolm Fisher from Queen City, and Tony Gazley, Dave Wills and Paul Richardson who hot footed up the Karangarua on 27 Dec. last. Up the Karangarua, a hopeless fogs at McGloin; and.a“bash iato the Troyte- occuped a few deys,-a rest. day anda climb of Fettes two more, then a crossing to the Landsborough used up one more, Up the Landsborough and over Douglas Fass to' Harper Rock filled ‘in a day and a climb of Thompson another. Actually Mr Wills scored high points for climbing this 8650 ft Main Divide peak in sandshoes. The big day finally came - up and around the Douglas neve to Welcome Pass, racing an imminent storm (the one that killed three on Cook). Malcolm and Tony opted for another route - over Gladiator and down to Horace Walker-and the’ high Douglas sidle,. Quite tough compared with the high route, but easier than a cold swim. “'Onceé on the Copland it was just about over for the remaining four. A wander up to Douglas Rock, a wet night, a soak in the hot pools, thoughts of Sefton, bumping into foreigners and a quick trot out filled in one and a half days. : We all won and lost points on. this trip. Dave came last as Ret threw his life away....The real winner though was Annette Gazley whose, Tararua:Biscuits.received 2 unanimous vote of excellence, ~ Faul Richardson