This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
Saturday morning and set off mid-morning up to the. Ketetahi Springs on route to Ketetahi Hut. The fine weather’ allowed us good views of Pihanga and Lake Rotoaira during the ascent. After "dumping" our gear at Ketetahi Hut, some of us: were content to relax in the sun. close to the hut. Others went back to the springs and dug out the pools to wallow in for a few hours (literally). During the afternoon we°all too frequently noticed that small groups of trampers: kept arriving at the Hut and that we already had rather a large party and more people coming (the Fits). How many people can you squeeze into Ketetahi Hut? As it turned out - dozens! !
Dinner on Saturday night was a special event. Lyndsay even wore his best shirt and tie (plus shorts and tramping boots) Brian Johnston (Gadgetman) had also bought along a pocket television! So, with our five course meal and television, you can imagine what other trampers present were wondering about WT&MC trips! Sunday turned on another brilliant day. So three of the Easys (Tanya, John and myself), under the guidance of Mark and Brian decided to check out Tongariro Central Crater. This was a real highlight of the trip for me as I have never tramped over snow before. After donning crampons and borrowing ice-axes, we set off. The sights at the top were awesome - snow covered Central and Blue Lake craters, the Red Crater, Ngaurahoe, Ruapehu and the Kaimanawas in the distance. The tramp down from the hut was a bit (quote) "tigery" (unquote) in places as the track was still icy. However, a very easy and nearly uneventful tramp back - hope Melanie has mended now after expert attention from the "Bush Hospital".
Thank you Tanya and Lyndsay (leaders)
Punters: Brian Johnston, Toby Regan, Peter and Miriam Cullim, Kara Lipski, Jez Prior, Toni McKnight (scribe), Tanya Loveard, Sue Walsh, Andrew Greer, Mark Latin, John Sim, Mel Prout, Lyndsay Fletcher.
dsw = JU 14 -16 June e Spani T by Jo McKenzie Its 7pm on a miserable Friday night (and Keith has actually turned up!). But no sign of the Duchess ... so, who broke the garage key then, eh? Finally we arrive at the road end. Only to start our moonlight trek (all of about 10 minutes) to find a comfy resting place for our pits. Once this was accomplished, our mission for the weekend was revealed - "Don—da est~ta lam=-ma mort-tes" - to find the dead llamas. With the aid of our intrepid “Spanish-Canadian-Honorary-Kiwi Blokess" leader and our complementary sheet of essential spanish phrases for making small talk to anyone who would listen, we were set loose to track down the elusive beasts!
Next morning, we were joined by two more keen trekkers of the “Roads" variety. The expedition party was finally ready and sent into action. Powell Hut was reached close to high noon, with no sign of llamas. After lunch, the crew got "dressed to kill" - the quest was Mt