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What better way to spend a jong weekend than tramping in the hills on a cruisy card-piaying ‘easy trip’? So thought the 22 carefree trampers that set out for a social weekend of lazy walks and lazier afternoons on a beach. Little did we know that someone had found out that the trip was full of new trampers and foreigners and had therefore changed our ‘easy trip’ to an initiation trip. "There are no bears” they told the American contingency, "No poisonous snakes" they told the Aussies - the safest bush around! Little did we know that we were about to encounter ... the NZ Bush. On Friday evening 22 innocent smiling faces boarded the boat in Wellington for a caim, sleepy sailing to Picton. We unloaded and joined the throngs in the mad rush for those weighty packs. Next we headed for our little boat, almost losing about a quarter of the group in the crowd. We boarded the boat and finally departed for Ratimera Bay atter Peter counted us all three times.
We arrived at a lovely sandy beach about midnight and used the lights from the boat to help us figure out the flies. There's a first time tor everything. There was soft grass, running water, a long drop and even glow worms. Surely all good omens for the relaxing weekend ahead. The only problem was that Lyn couldn't seem to find 22 trampers. I think group feaders need a lesson in people counting. We had a good night's rest and were all packed and ready in time for the 0900 map reading. We gathered around Lyn who caimly explained how we were going to head up to the ridge via a little bush bash. We were all about to leam a healthy respect for the NZ bush.
Off we headed with a few seasoned veterans (foals?) forging to the front with the rest of us naively following behind. After 1'/o hours of slogging up the hill through the bush we arrived at a ridge - Great, we all thought - now we only have to tind the path. But after a bit of discussion Marshall climbed a tree, Richard supplied a map and compass and we were soon intormed that we still had a little way to go. By the way, there was a heavy drizzle that continued irom nday night and low cloud. So Ail Higgins used his x-ray vision to explain the beauty of all the landmarks that we couldn see.
The slog continued and finally at 12.30 we arrived - at the path. 22 bedraggled, wet, weary trampers rejoiced. Lyn, Marshall and Al got the billys out and provided us with a brew. A bit of blue sky arrived, which along with the brew did a good job of lifting our spirits. After all, we were still imagining an afternoon (or at least part of one) on the beach. No more bush bashing Lyn promised - just an easy walk. lt was a great relief to walk on an open path - so cruisy walking along with no branches whipping in our faces, no roots sending us into tail spins and no rain! The only threat yet to be encountered was the ever fierce gorse which did a lovely demo job on all the exposed bits. We had a brief encounter with Peter and the fit trip but we had to quickly head off as Lyn was threatening Peter with bodily harm for subjecting all us tender novices to a three hour bush bash. At about 5 o'clock, after a sunny afternoon's walking with lots of great views, we finally arrived at the end of the path. We sat down for a breather before the half hour stroll down the road to base camp. Looking back up the path we noticed a big 'PATH CLOSED' sign. I wonder if it had anything to do with the throat high scratching gorse. So, a cruisy sunny stroll to Camp Bay in Punga Cove. Yummy tea with fresh watercress was Served in an idyllic setting and enjoyed by all. We even had a spare quarter hour before sunset to play a bit of frisbee on the beach. Still no card games though! As the sun set, we decided to skip the traditional camp fire, for purely ecological reasons of course, and instead had an enjoyable evening sitting around the chocolate and biscuits, drinking tea and getting to know each other. It was the first tramp for a lot of us - so we had to listen to Lyn Parry's description of an ‘easy tramp’! Saturday night it rained heavily all night and continued to rain throughout breakfast. So with resignation we headed off - only to have the sun break through 2 minutes later. Off came the rain gear and we began another 9-5 tramp (Didn't someone say something about 6 hours of walking a day with afternoons on the beach?) The sun took a lunch break when we wanted to, so we managed to find sheiter. Graeme got the billy going and opened up the tea room for weary trampers. We were willing to walk all day, forego the lazy afternoons on the beach and not play cards, but we figured a lunch time brew had to be at least one tuxury allowed on our initiation tnp. We had a really enjoyable walk on Sunday, there were lots of good views on the wander around the coast to Resolution Bay. Lyn pointed out some of the native bush. Lana managed to get carried across the one stream on route. Al Higgins saved Michael from a sure death by pointing out that it was a bull, nol a cow that he was about to pat. Richard did us all a favour and volunteered to carry 3 kilos of grape juice over the hill from Furneaux Lodge to Resolution Bay. it was really warm and sunny in the late attemmoon so when we got to Resolution Bay I volunteered to sit at the crossroads and direct everyone to the camp. My directions were so good that Charlotte, Alison and Richard had an extra hours stroll toward Bottleneck. The fact that I'm still alive is testimony to their generous nature and the strength of my flymates. We had another fine evening for tea - lots of sunny weather to dry out all our gear and set up camp. A few fools even had a swimin the sae. Tea tasted excellent, accompanied by a small ration from Richard's 3 kilo package. We splashed out and made a beach side campfire and cooked up some fresh mussels. For the first night the stars shone brightly for all to admire. To ensure that we appreciated then, the wind picked up to such a force that it bent the fly poles and the flys had to come down. So a final and finally dry night was our just reward. Monday! We were all up early for a quick dash over the hill and a true laze on the beach. Yahoo! - a real live ‘easy day’. We departed from the luscious green pastures that had made Resolution Bay such a nice spot to camp - one last look at the view down the cove and we were off. We arrived shortly afler in Ships Cove. Some brave souls headed for the waterfalls and a cold shower, or swam in the sea, but the majority just enjoyed the sheer bliss of having nothing to do and nowhere to be on a sunny morning. The morning was followed by a lunch hour cruise through the Sounds to Picton. We had another lazy 11/5 hours in Picton - enough time to get a burger and a shake and bask in the sun. The sun must have been pretty intense because Mike finally took off his swanndri and received a standing ovation for his efforts. We all headed for the ferry, waited till last call and then made a dash for the upper most deck. It was a great spot to enjoy the sun, the view, and the company. You'd never guess what we did next ... we finally got a chance to play cards! Thank you to Lyn for organising 22 of us on a thoroughly enjoyable tramp. We were 4a really friendly bunch - after all it’s not just anyone you can go bush bashing with. And finaily a really big thank you to those brave nameless souls at the front of the bush bash from someone who went last!
Lyn, Marshall, Al, Sue, Sara, Lana, Michael, Ann, Scott, Graeme, Charlotte, Alison, Michael, Nick, William, Bruce,
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