This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
Budding botanists half-filled the: full bus, Debbie's trip was very popular: The botanist arranged for the weekend had become unavailable, and therefore the job of botanist was left to the ever versatile Ex Paul Hughes who managed an excellent imitation of one. The Friday night destination was the "Cricket ::Pitch", a popular camping spot alongside the Tauherenikau river. . The evening was beautiful, the sinking sun a blazing orange, the starry sky a clear and bright blue, and pest of all the air was calm. . But for some the trip was slow, and thewind later blew. Pm In the dark and on a rough section of the track, Jenny fell flat on her face in the mud, her ankle twisted under her. . The rest of the trip for her was slow and painful but with mich help we all eventually made it to the camp site. . And all that night, at intermittent intervals the wind came roaring up. the valley with the noise of a fast approaching, over-amplified express train. Approximately 25 seconds would elapse between the time See
eee COnt'd 3. was first heard afar, and when the near deafening blast hit. Its force was such that it rolled small river boulders around with gay abandon; one fly collapsed during the night. The Saturday dawned fine but -still.. windy. Rain followed. Undeterred botanising commenced, and Smith's, Creek shelter was visited along with : the site for the club's new shelter. Orchids, epiphytes, ratas, miros, and maires, tawas andtitokis, manuka and kanuka, and many other botanical specimens too numerous to name, were observed, examined, and their names filed away in’ some inner recess of the mind. After lunch ehene was. more of the.-same but ‘in different iocaties and different habitats. Dinner was prepared by Debbie and her tenth of merry mushroom peelers. The beef stroganoff complete with. 5 cartons of carefully carried sour cream was excellent although it could have done with a bit more paprika! Around the fire after a fresh and tinned, fruit salad dessert, the Hughes family turned on an impromptu display of marshmallow toasting and tasting; husband Paul showed-us how to, toast them, Debbie's younger brother showed us how to eat them - in great quantities, On Sunday we arose from our pits late again, in time for some morning botanising, the final session. Lunch was eaten in the rain with the fit party, and then we. left. ‘ Five from the Botany party gece they needed some exercise and left the hard way - via Dobsons.: “Thé ascent took enly an hour which was quite commendable considering that one of the five, Jane, had never been ae ing before. However, some more botanising further along thé way meant — that we were 7 minutes late and were honoured with a one man reception I committee (the Chief Guide no less). It wasn't exactly a peaceful weekend, what with the noise of. the wind, bedraggled-looking daytrippers thinking they were roosters, and a camp of boy scouts just down the river. In fact the boy scouts were so plentiful you could not even be sure of squatting behind a tree in privacy. All in all, however, it was a very enjoyable’ trip and it was also most educational. . Those on the trip: - Debbie Hughes , Paul: Hughes, ‘Raymond Meade, ~— Murray Worsop (Scribe), Glynis Woodrow, Peter Jackson, Rob Whitla, Pam Whitla, Jane Offord, Jenny Greer, David Evans, Karen Abbott, Gael Harding, Iona MacDonald, Ross Gilmore, Glen Smith, Rozlyn Greenfield, Graeme McDonald, Robert Fox, David Shepherd, Vicky Taylor.