This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
If you believe that Colombus proved that the earth is round and if you don't watch the Twilight Zone on TV because it's a load of tripe, I've got news for you and it's all bad. ; The E/M trip proved that you can be driven off the edge of the known world and into the twilight zone. The weekend started off on a shaky footing with half the trip trying to Jeave from the arrivals terminal, then Holli was late and forgot her parka. Next Lana couldn't find her tramping boots. After the usual fascinating three hour boat trip and the bunfight involved in retrieving your baggage, everybody was safely aboard a bus which Eric assured us would not end up in any ditches. Sometime between midnight and dawn we arrived at the road end and crashed out for the night. No need for an alarm clock down there - the sandflies wake you at dawn. We eventually got away at about 9:30 (about an hour after the tubing trip) and after about a quarter of an hour everything suddenly went wrong. intersections where there shouldn't be - no ford where there should be. Tony stopped to ask a local tramper if the various logging tracks had changed only to be told that we weren't where we thought we were and the roadend we thought we had left was about 10k north and we weren't even on the map!! After getting some sketchy instructions on how to get to Rocks Hut from the south (when we should have been coming down from the north) a fairly long day followed with us getting to Browning Hut at lunchtime and then spending till between 6 and 8 pm in getting up to Rocks Hut. It was a long hard day for some people but the view from the tops was fantastic. Plus we were finally on the map!!! As it was Bill's birthday the next day and he wanted to lessen the weight in his pack he shared some of the edible contents of his pack with everyone. Before anyone else knew what was going on Eileen and Katie had done the dishes so that was a nice surprise for everyone. The next moming was spent wandering down to Middy Hut, after Bill's birthday breakfast of strawberries and champagne. Tony and Bill waited twenty minutes with a camera shy weka. After a beautiful cold swim lunch was enjoyed by Middy Hut. Just as we were leaving two other trampers came through and during the course of the conversation told us that there wasn't a 7:40pm ferry on Monday. This raised speculation as to whether or not Railways are stupid enough to book 23 people on a sailing that did not exist. The general consensus was that it could happen. The afternoon was spent swimming and walking our way down to Captains Creek Hut and then a further two hours to a campsite by the river. Over this last two hours Tony and Bill proved that chivalry isn't dead and took turns double packing when one of the punters started to wilt from the heat. The camp was somewhat different with a picnic table and permanent concrete fireplace (Lana took the opportunity to go to bed early and missed the rest of the evening). A relaxing evening ensued, with dinner consumed with relish, followed by a long chat round a roaring open fire. Once again Katie and Eileen did the dishes before anyone else noticed. Holli and Erica supplied the massages where necessary. One by one the punters drifted off to bed. Holli and Bill went for a swim at around 11pm and finally at midnight Tony and Erica realised that they had another day's walk in front of them and also hit the pit. With the beautiful clear evening we didn't bother to put the fly up and slept out under the stars. Monday morning dawned bright and clear and promised to be another hot day. A couple of hours down the track brought us to the Mt Richmond roadend and another 2 hours along brought us to Tinline Creek. The afternoon was
spent swimming and eating while waiting for the tubing trip and bus. All the trips were eventually reunited and an uneventful bus trip to Picton (no ditches) with the obligatory fish and chips and a few beers being consumed on the Picton foreshore. The comfort of the new seats on the Arahura leave a lot to be desired and I suspect a number of backsides were pleased to see the lights of Wellington. Just to round the trip off a little bird tells me the Lana's car battery was flat when she went to drive home. The trip - was it worth it? - Yes apart from the glitch at the start. The weather - excellent. The company - excellent (even though we did have a TTC member with us) Punters Tony Stone (Leader), Lana Bright, Holli Robb, Bill Bristow, Erica Steele (TTC), Katie Wacker and Aileen Maniago