This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
After a monumental muck-up at the station by a person (who shall remain nameless but is an ex-chief quide} forgetting to pick up one of the combis, we were left with 20 eager tramps and only one van: Well the Fit Trip (being the Fit Trip) leanec into the vehicle with looks of we shall not be budged on our faces and after begging a fly off Dave (as we had unfortunately mislaid one of our members) we sped off into the gloom. After an uneventful ride up (apart from finding out why Stu is destined > to be a bachelor for the rest of his days) we were soon setting up at — Kawhatau Base. The troops got away by 6.20 and after a play on the cage, the grunt up onto Hikurangi Range began, where we had a quick “who could sweat the most competition" and by the looks of her Janine won: Lunch was had near Hikurangi where the tone of the trip was once again lowered (for some reason the main topic of conversation seemed to be bodily functions: was this perhaps a reflection on some of the trip member's? ) . i en oe Trudging along we aventeallys reached Mangaweka where we were treated to a very impressive glider display, we gave him a standing ovation frantic-= ally hoping he didn‘ t crash, as we were a bit too exhausted to go rushing off sticking ‘bits of broken body together. * ' We decided against going down Trig or Iron-peg Creeks and so opted forgoing further along the tops and down what looked like a reasonable sort of spur. Well, we went great guns until we hit the bush-edge and decided upon the direct approach. Various layers of skin later we stumbled into the hut, where we spent an interesting I nite, anc_learned..a new method of cooking “macronic". First throw §& pints of boiling water all over the floor, sprinkle liberally with nocdles, - Drush up and Serve. Next morning after that 104 hour day, the “troops were a bit sluggish I so it was slow travel down the Kawhatan River; we had-one fairly succéssfyl attempt at breaking @ leg (but some people can never do anything right) ang one pretty severe dizzy speil; were we cracking under ~ the strain? The Base was eventually reached an hour or so late, where a nasty trick was: played on Barbara and the Leacer went ‘walk abouts. " : ) - . 2 ens : meen _ Tramps strolling: . . » , ou Dale Parsons (leader), Janine ‘Tooley, Barbara I Stu Lusty.: