This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
Gourmet trip to the Kawekas - 31 May - 3 June (Te Puea Lodge and Mangatainoka Hot Springs) by Bruce Pool Have you ever been driving somewhere and it’s seemed like you’d never get there? That was how our EASY trip to the Kawekas began. The Journey to the Kawekas only took eight and a half hours! After stopping in Woodville for supper, Lyndsay preceded to show us every dead end road in the Bay of Plenty. I thought I had seen NZ, I was wrong. At 2.30 am we arrived at camp, a ford, 5 kms from the Makahu road-end. To give Lyndsay his due, the road was narrow, had a frightening drop on the right side, it was pitch black outside and we still arrived safely. Half our trip crew, who had travelled in the van with Allan, were nowhere to be seen. We presumed they had ended up in Gisborne. A few hours later the sun rose and the FE’s set off on their way, followed by the FIT’s an hour later. Quite by surprise we located the van complete with Trip Director, and the rest of our group at the road end. It was after 10 am. Allan offered lolly pops to all and by midmorning the EASY’s (including Ilse and Andrew who had to be persuaded out of their pits) set off in pursuit of a warm soak in the promised hot spring. Over the next five hours we past through amazing scenery walking high above beautiful deep rivers full of fish (so they said), and down through the forest. We stopped on a three foot wide rock ledge some 12 feet above the river and balanced precariously there for lunch. Rain started falling at 1 pm bringing a welcome cool down as we staggered over the last two hills before arriving at the Hot Springs. A group of the fitter trampers in our party ran on ahead, had put up a couple of flies and had taken up residence in the hot pool by the time the rest of us arrived.
Supper was served around dusk. When the request for food was sounded piles of pate, cheeses and crackers poured from the various packs. This was followed by Apricot chicken and vegetables. I am sure the dish had a name, but it escapes me. Sipping Champagne from flutes, we ate as if we had never seen food before. Dessert was cheesecake covered with a splattering of tinned fruit. Coffee and tea rounded off the meal. Mike, Andy and Allan donned formal attire (white shirts and bow ties) while everyone else dressed against the cold. The rest of the evening was spent in bed. It was the earliest I had been to bed for years - 7.30 pm. A few braved the cold and draped themselves under the hot water of our recently acquired hot spring.
After two hours sleep the night before, conversation was not a high priority.
Sunday proved a memorable day. Our fly, which comprised of Andrew, Ilse, Tanya, Leanne and myself opted to stay in bed until 11 am. We then had a soak in the hot pool, followed by lunch. One third of the EASY group took off at 11 am bound for a nearby waterfall while another third went for a walk in the same direction. All returned back within two hours after losing the track and having a bush bash.
The afternoon flew. People bathed, rested and talked and thus a new type of trip was created. It is to be called the "EASY. (aka Bloody Lazy) Trip". One arrives at the road end, camps for the weekend, stays in bed most of the day and doesn’t move more than 100 feet per day. This rather accurately reflects how far we moved that Sunday. Sunday supper kicked off with more pate, cheese and crackers. After the appetiser was cleaned up, the green pork and vegetables were put on. "Green Pork?" you say. Well, yes, it had been sitting in packs all weekend and was somewhat off-colour by Sunday night. Consequently, we ate vegetarian that night. Even the eels didn’t like the idea of green pork when this was thrust into the river by a couple of the more keen fishermen and women in our group. The remainder of the night was spent visiting the FIT and FE groups in the neighbouring campsite. They arrived late Sunday afternoon. I must mention the Pooh Tales. On Saturday evening, and again on Sunday evening, around both the FIT and EASY campfires, all those childhood memories (or were they nightmares?) were brought back, listening to the exploits of Pooh, Piglet and all their friends, as Phil, Allan, Andrew, Karen and Susanne read a chapter each. Alan gave impressions of a maniacally depressed donkey which sounded rather like Marvin from the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. Monday morning saw a change of pace. We were up by 8.45 am. Intending to cross the ridge past Makino Hut, we set off before the rest of the group. However, the plan changed somewhat after the first 30 minutes of hill and we decided to return the way we had come on Saturday. Again the journey was picturesque. One doesn’t always realise how different the track is when you’re going the other way. We arrived out at 12.45 pm. The FE’s were waiting and the FIT’s arrived soon after.
Roger Bolam’s FIT’s ran down the hill to the truck unaware that this had already been tried and that most of the EASY’s were too tired to be impressed. However, as the Duchess Crept back up Makahu Road, Roger stayed to take a photo of the truck negotiating the narrow road. He then jogged up the road after the truck. Now that was impressive! After that, the journey home was uneventful. A welcome stop for icecream outside Napier followed by burgers and fish ‘n’ chips in Dannevirke and arriving in Wellington at 9.20 pm.
Most Notable Comments
Allan: "Here have a lolly pop and forget who drove the first 5 kms while you lot walked". Tanya: "Isn’t Steve well-endowed". Apparently hot spring water magnifies body parts. Andrew & "No we didn’t put the fly across the track, someone Bruce: built the track underneath the fly". Mike: "Its my bowl, so I deserve a second helping". Karen: "I’ve cut my knee again, I think it needs stitches". Byron: "If I creep over here with my video, they won’t notice me". Sue: "My mother told me never to take candy from strange men".
Crew List Allan (Trip Director), Steve Patience, Joy Hooper, Angela Yoeman, Ilse Seilis, Andrew McLellan, Andy Sweet, Karen Serjeantson,Tanya Loveard, Mike Pratt, Susanne McQuoid, Jo Mattingly, Sue Walsh, Byron Anderson, Lisa Dowdall, Phillip Lake, Leanne Mellon and Bruce Pool (scribe).