This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
by Bruce Pool
It had been a dark dreary Friday. The weather was looking bad and we were going tramping. There was the frantic hurry to get to the Railway Station in time for our 7pm departure. The rush was in vain as the truck arrived an hour and a half late.
Anyway, we eventually arrived at the Kiriwhakapapa Shelter. As the rain was still falling, we all decided’ that the shelter was good enough for the night’s accommodation. An anxious bird nesting in the roof of the shelter, looked on planning it’s escape.
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The next morning the sun was out - briefly. The Easys set off around 9.15 am or so. The trip up to Blue Range was uneventful but scenic. At the Blue Range/Cow Creek turn off it began snowing ... and kept snowing. It was then I realised what I liked most about the tops of the Tararuas in the winter time. We reached Blue Range Hut around 12.25 for lunch. In case readers don’t know, Blue Range Hut is known for it’s rats. We weren’t all aware of this fact until our leader, Sue, briefed us all about the furry frineds. The hut, though small, was welcoming. The next five hours were spent trying to start a fire on the coal burner. The wood was wet and the hut full of smoke. Needless to say, no one had brought the coal. after a mid afternoon nap and conversation ranging from the Sydney Air Show to the identification of rat signs, we started preparing supper. Garlic Bread was heated in the raging fire. This was followed by Beef and Noodles - the actual name of the dish I can’t remember, but it was delicious. Afters included choccie biccies and potato chips. By now the paranoia about rats was reaching its crescendo. So after checking the water tank for drowned rats, we set up the fly outside and retired for the evening. The snow had melted during the afternoon when the sun had come out, the clouds had gone back to Wellington and the air was still (for once!). Next moring the sun came up, not unusually. We rose from our pits and spent half the moring packing. The last hour before lunch was spent sitting in a rocky clearing overlooking Cattle Ridge, Mitre and everything around us. I spotted a couple of red dots on one side of Mitre, believing it to be people. The others didn’t believe me.
At around 11.45 am we set off back down to the road end to meet the Duchess. The walk down took a little over an hour. For the rest of the afternoon we sat, walked around and enjoyed the sun. The truck arrived early - 3 pm, but our expected departure time came and went, as did 4 pm. The Fit trip never showed. At 4.30 pm Sean, the new Transport Officer decided he had waited long enough and we headed for home. Stopping at the farm houses en route out towards Masterton in an effort to contact the club about the missing trip. We spent another hour at Masterton Police Station and finally arrived back in Wellington shortly before 8 pm. The Rats. Blue Range Hut should be renamed Rat Lodge for all the talk about it. The log book contained numerous comments about the inhabitants but we never saw one.
For anyone contemplating a trip to Rat Lodge, your Saturday supper should be: Entree - Raisen Delight, a little known Italian dish of raisens and bread. I refer of course to the quantity of "raisens" found in the hut sink. Main: Ratatui - a combination dish featuring Rat and Tui. Dessert: Rat in the Hole - A turkish dish made from chocolate molded into a mountain with a hole in it. A rate made form licorice sits in the hole. It is important to attach to the rat a long thin tail which winds around the dish.
The Easy Tripper’s: Sue Milner (our intrepid leader), Imogen Frederickson, Paulette Mason, Shane Lazarus, Bruce Pool (scribe) and Leanne Mellon.