This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
We left Wellington in the back of the truck, not quite the squashy affair some of us have come to know and love, with only two parties on board: six on the medium and eleven on the fit trips. When we reached the Auahines we sent the Fits on their way into the dark and the rest of us settled for the night in the Duchess. Saturday was a stunning day. We were all keen and eager to get going after we saw Mt. Ruapehu, Ngaruhoe and Egmont from near were we had spent the night. We were obviously going to get great views from the tops today, we thought. Wrong! Breakfast was spent at Heritage Lodge, half an hour away, Here we discovered the joys of a Deerstalkers Association hut - yes, running hot-and cold water, a sofa, a flushing loo, and, believe it or not, a shower. We considered staying here for the weekend - after all, who'd know? But Bill quickly put a stop to such thinking. Soon we were climbing the Tunopo track. It wasn't long till we reached snow and lois of it (who needs an AIC to learn mountaineering?). The next hour of climbing was engrossed in snow fighis. The highlight (particularly for Lee) came when Bill gave us a chocolate fish when we'd reached the top of MT. Tunopo. (Other leaders please note: this sort of reward is a great incentive to fellow trampers). As there was very little to see, we headed down the ridge towards Long View hut. With night falling and pretty grotty conditions, we debated whether to continue or stay more or less where we were for the night. As spending a night in the snow was a first time experience for most of us, we decided to camp out. We set up two tents and began thawing out. Dinner wasn't the ordinary run-oi-the-mill affair we've come to expect on the medium trips. No, Bill had tacos with mince, lentiis and salad, and cheesecake for dessert on the menu. After dinner the weather lifted for us to see the moon and lights of distant towns. The great views (as far as Egmont) made leaving camp on Sunday very hard. We headed down another ridge towards Iron Gate Hut, Our walk consisted of clambering through a dense leatherwood forest - we discovered we were following in somebody else's footsteps - the fit trips! We only managed a short lunch at Iron Gate hut, then only had to walk down the Oroua River on the wet weather track. Lee ended up in the river during one of the many river crossings we encountered. We arrived back at the truck sate and sound and a couple of hours late - better late than never, with everyone having a great time. Punters were: Bill Bristow (leader), Mike Wood, Mike Gluyas, Chris Collins, Lee Wood and Lyniey Whitford.