This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
A cold and wet Saturday morning dawned after an equally cold and wet . Friday night, spent beneath the trees on the banks of the Waipawa river, below the North Block road-end. Somewhat ‘reluctantly we set off up the. I Waipawa, The rains had washed much shingle and @ebris down into the river, and consequently the river was a muddy brown colour. The river rose steeply and soon we hit the leatherwood. After:a grovel:up a small spur we reachec the Waipawa Saddle, cloaked in mist..and persistently @rizzled upon. Not a place one would wish to linger in so we hurriedly dropped down into the Waikamaka river, for lunch at Waikamaka hut. After lunch with the,Hutt Valleys at Waikamaka we headed‘up a stream towards the Rangi Saddle. A short but steep climb up through scree, leatherwood and tussock preceeded our arrival on Rangi Saddle. A track © leGé down through the leatherwood and -beech,.sidling a small stream to Rangi Creek. Half-an-hour or.so later, after some easy travel down the: creek, we hit the Kawhatau River. From-there.it was merely a nee jaunt up to Waterfall hut, where we spent a night. _— A cold and wet Sunday morning Gawned. ‘(That sounds familiar! ) A thick I blanket of cloud clung to the tops above the bushline. We decided toe go for the upper Kawhatau, as a means of reaching the tops. The river offered reasonable travél, and we were making good progress, ‘until we entered A gorge and encountered a large waterfall. As'it was near impossible to sid@le, or to climb. out of the .gorge, we turned back. Down to Tussock ‘Créek, ‘hang right and we were’ ‘off up the’ creek. The going was steep, through a mixture of ‘leéatherwood, tussock and scree. After ~ 1,600 ft. of climbing we staggered to the top of Broken Ridge, to be’ I greeted by a gale force wind....%e battled our way south along the ridge, over Paemutu, and onto Hinerua Ridge... Half way along Hinerua the mist cleared but the wind increased in intensity,.: ‘Lunch was had on.the e@eenun-’
sheltered side of the ridge before staggering on, heading for the shelter of the bush. Eventually we made it, dropping down to Hinerua hut. Special thanks must go to Mike H. who got us along the tops in the mist and wind_ with brilliant navigation skills. 7 Monday was fine! We dropped down a stream into Smith Stream, and then up to Smith Stream hut. The hut's log book was positively prehistoric, the first entry being in 1568! Over a small saddle, and Gown to Middle Stream after a scramble down into the gorge. After lunch across the farm land. and down to the road-end, where the other T & M parties were waiting. Altogether a really enjoyable weekend. Those on the trip: i Mike Hollis, Mike Moran, Peter Hodge.