This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
by Pete Barnao
Saturday dawned wet and cold as a small group of WT&MC crusaders emerged from the murk of sleep to find themselves huddled together under tiny Kiriwhakapapa Shelter. "Oh, precipitation", one was heard to utter, but several were to discover that they couldn’t just roll over and awake in innerspung comfort in a Wellington which lay slumbering some 100 km to the south-west ... then there was the icy span to the loo.
In the bush-clad interior of the Tararua Ranges, Cow Creek beckoned. It was a mission to some. To others it was a challenge. But to all it was simply there.
And it was cold.
One by one, warm sleeping bags were relieved of their tentative occupants. The journey was soon to begin.
It didn’t rain for all of the journey up and over the densely forested Blue Range. A rowdy encounter with a frolicking pair of North Island Kaka was soon followed by a further plunge in an already sub-antarctic temperature. As the author struggled to maintain circulaton to vital regions of his hypothermic anatomy, his leader, Jo McKenzie, was quick to reassure him that he did not really have problem dandruff. No, it was snow that was settling on the author and the surrounding landscape.
Like rain, it did fall from the heavens, seemingly only a few short metres above. Unlike rain however, it soon cloaked the surrounding vegetation in a glistening mantle of white, highlighting in intricate detail every twisted limb of every windshaped tree.
Onward we marched. Uphiil soon became downhill and snow once more gave way to rain. A steep descent to the Waingawa River was then negotiated before we arrived at Cow Creek, our destination for the weekend.
AS unanimous decisions go, the choice to spend the night at Cow Creek Hut (accommodation six) over other adjacent locations was not one demanding great amounts of deliberation or time. Unfortunately, there was seven of us so someone was going to have to sleep on the floor ...
A fabulous feast was followed by wine and cheese and then Rob set about realising his long held dream of sleeping continuously for 18 hours. It was a goal he was not to achieve.
When all awoke at about 8.30 on Sunday morning, Rob had fallen 8 hours short of his quest, and Andrew McLellan was found to be sleeping on the floor - the unfortunate result of a conspiracy of thoughtlessness the previous night. He was not heard to complain. With such a late start, the climb back onto the Blue Range was undertaken with a "strictly business" approach. Many were both pleased and surprised at the ease with which they had conquered the grande ascent.
An uneventful afternoon’s walk was completed in record time, bringing us once again to the solace of Kiriwhakapapa Shelter where we contemplated an interesting weekend’s tramping and waited ... and waited ... and waited for the FE’s to arrive.
...-and waited ...
But that’s another story.