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Francis - Creek - Shingle Slip knob the trip’schedule said and the pretrip note had our route as just that but it wes not to be. Twenty-orie signed up for the trip but numbers dwindled to 14 by the time we were on the track to Mountain House. We had Mountain House to our= selvés apart from the rats which kept Brian awake. Dennis Gazley was woken every hour as. Brian's watch 'pipped'. Much to Lindsay Cuthbertson! s disgust everyone was up and away before 7,30 the next morning. We met up with Kev at Powell and went on into the interior. At Mt. Holdsworth a discussion and ‘democratic' vote was taken as to which way we should go. The leader won the vote. To make the most of the good weather we were going to do the trip in reverse. s A pleasant couple of hours was spent on the tops with good views. We lunched at & tarn just before Shingle Slip Knob. Kev navigated the route into the Waiohine, Nobody trusted the weather so we left Francis Creek and made our way down the Waiochine. Much excitement was had at the first three crossings with assistance needed from Kev and Owen. ~- Everyone was quite pleased to reach the campsite, put on same ‘dry clotHes and have a hot brew. : Brian Charies had no success with the trout fishing so we had to skip ‘Hor d"horves-and go on to a stew.. A sweepstake on the average age was run. Dale Parsons did the statistical analysis on the data. .The average age was 29 and three people hit the jackpot. After tea it was not long before everyone was in their pits. “. wm Sunday -: dawned calm and clear. We all appreciated Brian's cup of tea in the pit. With’ no takers for Francis Creek we went up onto Isabelle. via a spur upstream of the campsite. We lunched by the tarn on Holdsworth, Dale lost her mug in the tarn and spent sometime searching in vain. our departure: was. hurried along by the sight of 20 *broomstick warriors' ascending Holdsworth; we fled down East Holdsworth. Some went down the Atiwhakatu River and others went down onthe sidle track. We all arrived at the’ carpark in time to swat a few sandflies before the bus arrived. A great trip and Francis Creek is still there to look forward to. Those on the trip: Brian Hunt (Leader), Sue & Lindsay éiithbertson, Barbara & Kevin i Dennis Gazley, Dale Parsons, Owen & Judy Cox, Brian Charles, Miles Davison, Jim Robinson, Warren Thorburn, Ian Wightwick, and — Marcus Kauffman. eaa/2