This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
by Anne Kempster The club truck finally arrived at Otaki Forks after negotiating the rather narrow road to the car-park. The fit trip headed off for Field Hut that night but thankfully we stayed at Parawai Lodge only a stones throw from the river. After a good nights sleep we awoke to find it was one of those days you'd rather not get out of bed - pouring with rain and blowing a gale. . Eventually we were pursuaded by BJ who assured us the rain sounded worse inside the hut and off we headed up the hill, hoping our packs really were waterproof. Morning tea at Field Hut and everyone added extra layers as the temperature was plummeting. We plodded on determined to reach Kime Hut even if visibility was lessening as hail storms arrived. The track was no longer just muddy but had turned into a series of icy mud puddles. Gradually the ground became covered in a mixture of hail and snow and just when frozen fingers, feet and noses began to lower morale, Kime Hut was spotted through the mist.
The fit trip had decided against the Southern Crossing - Packed like sardines for the night most of us were snug as a bug and awoke to find the wind had dropped and it had snowed heavily in the night. — Unfortunately, it was still snowing so visibility was poor. At this point I joined the fit trip on their ascent of Mt Hector. Despite the howling blizzard which seemed intent on blowing us off the icy slopes, we reached the summit - no views, but the horizontal icicles on the cross were interesting. On returning to Kime Hut the clouds suddenly parted to reveal stunning views of snow-covered bush, Kapiti Island, Wellington Harbour and the South Island. The weather playing its usual Sunday afternoon trick. Suddenly the whole weekend became worth it. I realized why they had stuck a hut up there (I had been wondering!). We all just soaked up the views and sunshine not wanting to leave the mountain. Eventually we dragged ourselves away and ran most of the way back to Otaki Forks So as not to be too late for meeting the truck. The Punters: Murray Arthur-Worsop (leader), Brian Johnston, Rob Fox, Toni McKnight, Jez Prior, Annette Cullen, Andrew Bingham and Anne Kempster (scribe). ; Editor’s Note: While it might have been nice of me, somehow it just doesn’t seem quite right letting Toni get off scot-free here. Apparently, Toni had momentarily entertained the troups in her efforts to find out how the mini-generator was started so that the lights could be turned on. For those of you who have not yet visited Kime, it has, like many other huts, false lights and light-switches. Taking pity on her, fellow punters chose to en-LIGHT-en Toni that the minigenerator was infact, a hut ticket box.