This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
by Neville Ashley The November 15 medium trip to Kapakapanui was a real eye opener to me. I had not been tramping in eight years or so, and was, quite frankly, surprised by the number of changes which have come about. Etiquette certainly has undergone a drastic and revolutionary face lift. Under the old rules, everyone had to carry their own pack, but I must thank my fellow tramper, . Alan MacLachlan and Toni Van den Ende, for informing that anyone in blue shorts must carry everyone elses pack as well as their own. Likewise, the new rule relating to the fact that the person with the hairiest legs (which coincidentally, happened to be me) must cook all the meals was a bit of a surprise too. I was privileged though, to be allowed to carry the first aid kit, although in my earlier tramping exploits, the first aid box did not contain four packets of biscuits, a leg roast of lamb, two pair of binoculars and five gallons of milk. Still, unencumbered by packs as they were, Toni and Alan were amazingly gracious in helping me to cross streams, climb banks and vault gullies. I can honestly say that without their help, it woulda have been very difficult to balance three packs on my back whilst trying to achieve this all by myself. Dinner time was a revelation. I had been looking forward to the Chilli Con Carne with some relish, thinking that my efforts to carry all that food to the camp-site would be sufficient to allow me the privilege of relaxing whilst my comparatively fresh companions prepared our meal. Imagine my surprise when I discovered, thanks to
my more experience and enlightened friends, that only those wearing green boots were traditionally allowed the pleasure of cooking a Saturday evening dinner. Boy, I sure would like to get a copy of the Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Rules. Hopefully, there will be a complete novice on my next tramp! Broken back, dislocated shoulders and blistered feet not withstanding, it sure was great to back into the bush again. Toni and Alan helped to make the trip a real pleasure, not to mention an astronomical learning experience. If only I had known that the person with the synthetic bag had to pitch the tent