This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
3 August by Francis Smith This day walk started with grouping at the Railway Station, finding of free meters for the spare vehicles and a pleasant drive through Wainuiomata Valley to the Rimutaka State Forest Park. After more arrivals and organising, a group of ten pairs of frozen kneecaps started up the Catchpool Stream trail and branched off on an uphill climb to McKerrow. Along this ridge, breaks in the forest cover offered great views of the snow-covered peaks of the South Island spread along the horizon behind the Wellington skyline. Soon the conversation swung to snow, giving a change from the heady topics of genus, genes, genies and G- Force which steepness of the hill and shortness of breath had not succeeded in achieving. Lunch at the apex revealed that trampers fall into two categories: those that munch licorice allsorts and those that mutilate them into their constituent parts. Down the ridge some slippery patches were negotiated and a detour to view the Orongorongo River was made for the newcomers. The gentle return trip to the car-park was only marred by cries of "Witch!, Witch!" as we passed a little girl with a vivid imagination and embarrassed parents. Our dear Editor to this day, insists that it was her usual striped long-johns to which the small child was referring. The rest of us have kept open minds! A nice day was had by Phillip Simon, Roger Bolam, Anne Kempster, Austin, Francis Smith, Geoff Crockford, Janet Cussen, John Hoffeins and Jennifer -Roberts.- the J’s Rule, Ok!