This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
Tony Stone: This trip started off well witha number’of puntets dropping off at the last minuté. The five-stayers wére’soon however heading north with Lyndsay handling the’ Duchess with his usual’ deft touch. An uneventful journey ensued until we got to Featherstone for the obligatory (only because Lyndsay had forgotten to have dinner) fish & chip stop: After the troops had recharged their batteries the next stop was Holdsworth. Lynley surprised everybody by getting her trip away first (the last tiiié-Lyniéy was at Holdsworth she had to be bodily lifted out of the truck at about '10am’on Saturday morning). The other trip was left Standing:around in the dark while Lyndsay sorted himself:out: This:process:was:hasténed however when thé'mait battery switch was tumed off leaving Lyndsay in the dark as well. A quick walk-up the track-to"just past Mountain Housé filled in the rest of the eVening arid the troops camped for the _ night. The only incident during the night was when a very strong gust of Wirid:caught’a billy’ lid; which in turn ‘hit Tony on the head. Looking back'this was probably an omen becausé while the track'up to Powell was quite pleasant, above Powell and down High Ridge the wind was freezing cold and strong enough 'to force the troops to link’up so as not to get blown off the- ridge.
With Lyndsay putting his firelighting skills to work tunch was enjoyed in a sheltered hollow further down the ridge. After an uneventtul trip down the ridge and onto Totara Flats it was expected that the Easy trip would be there already. However when the troops got to Tony's favourite campsite where the two trips were to meet there was no sign of them. The evening was marked by two events. The first was Lyndsay's insistence that different veges be cooked in different billies. Be warned - it is a time consuming task to separate 5 types of veges into 3 billies after they were totally mixed up. The second event was Tony's cheesecake. After this major culinary effort, Tony, Carolyn and Mark retired to the fly leaving Tony and Lyndsay to oversee dinner. Apart from a spot of rain overnight and a four-legged creature chewing a hole in the side of Tony's pack, a peaceful night ensued. Come Sunday morning Lyndsay left for Holdsworth with the other troops crossing the Waiohine to get to Mangaterere via Sayers Hut. With the river being up after the rain the night before, getting over was an effort and another three inches of water would have probably meant not even trying. The wander up to the ridge from Sayers was fairly uneventful and when we dropped into the valley on the other side a note from the other trip saved us from wondering where they might have got to. One of the good things about the truck became apparent that afternoon and that is that it can get further along the road than a bus and saves the long road walk.
Punters: Tony Alexander (Leader), Carolyn Clissold, Tony’Stone, Mark Bredin, Lyndsay Fletcher