This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
weekend - in this case the Kaimanawas. Nobody had noticed that it was Friday the 13th but being tough Tongue & Meats this wouldn't have made any difference.
That was until 6.15 rolled round and the Duchess hadn't arrived. Various theories were advanced, the most optimistic being that the drivers had not worked out who was picking up the truck. Ali supposition ceased however, when Geoff arrived in his car with the news that the battery on the Duchess was fiat. The person who had forgotten to isolate the battery shall remain nameless, however he works for Telecom. A group of hardy souls piled into Geoff's car and went off to crash start the Duchess. After ail this, the trip eventually departed the Railway Station at 7.15pm. A bit late but as can be seen, not really their fault. At this point one of the leaders was a bit frustrated that one of her punters hadn't turned up. It turned out that nobody was actually missing and that as the person concerned was a non-member the trip leader didn't recognise them Sitting in the truck. An uneventful trip to Bulls followed with the usual change of drivers occurring after dinner had been bolted down. The Medium trip was dropped off at about midnight with parting instructions from them as to where they wished to be picked up and when. The Duchess trundied off into the night to take the Easy and Fit trips to their intended point of departure. A decision was made at this point that these trips would sleep in the Duchess for the night. The problem
was that there:is only so much space. It all ended well with Geoff sleeping in the cab, Harry under a tree and Struan under the truck. Early risers such as Brian, were threatened with physical harm if they disturbed anybody else when they got up! As it turned out, Geoff was the early bird setting off at about 6am. The Fit trip got away at about 8am with the Easy trip heading off up the hill at about 9.30.
it was a fairly uneventful trip over Urchin with it getting a bit cold with the wind on top. The promised views did not eventuate as the cloud came right down. A surprise awaited the trip at the bottom of the hill on the Waipakahi side when out of a campsite came a guy who looked distinctly like Rambo. it turned out however that a group of three bow hunters were in the valley attempting to convert live deer into venison. When we got there they hadn't had any success.
An extended lunch break was enjoyed beside the river while we got a crash course in the art of bow hunting. Kirsty's continual offers of a hot brew kept the troops happy. This was a task that Kirsty performed right through the trip and it was very much appreciated by all of her group. . After lunch, a short walk up the valley was all that was needed to find a pleasant campsite on a bench just above the river. Firewood was in short supply, however a concerted effort by everyone soon provided a pile big enough to keep things going for the evening. Just as tea was being prepared, Geoff wandered into the camp saying that a) he had shot a deer and b) we had a fire going where he usually camped. The offer of a brew soon placated him however, and he departed for an evening shoot. After the meal, which didn't leave anything to be desired, the conversation lagged as tiredness overcame most of the group. Come 9pm and everyone bar Geoff, Tony and Kirsty were abed. This trio finally hit the pit just after 10. Kirsty was at her best the next morning by providing a brew in bed for her troops and with that under their belts it wasn't long before flies were down and the trip on the move. The fact that it was pouring with rain may have had something to do with the speed. It was an interesting trip down the river as some of the punters weren't used to river crossings. However, the wind on top of Urchin was interesting for at least one punter who came close to getting blown over!
A break for lunch was postponed until we. got back to the Duchess. A pleasant hour or so passed playing cards until the Medium trip arrived and then it was off to the next roadend to pick up the Fits. To use Struan's words, they had been “tying in the mud for an hour or so waiting for us" so were relieved when we arrived.
With Geoff at the helm and most people sieeping or playing cards, the trip to Taihape passed quickly where we stopped for deisel and for Tony to take over the driving.
As usual Bulls was the stop for dinner with the only hiccup being that when Tony wanted to get going, Geoff and Harry were missing. Struan found them in the pub enjoying a sit down meal. When they were finally persuaded to leave, we headed off on the last leg home - Wellington was reached at about 10.15pm.
Even with the weather it was a great trip. Many thanks to Kirsty for being a great trip leader and thanks also to Geoff and Tony for driving us safely there and back.
Punters: Kirsty Woods (Leader Extroadinaire), Sharon Came, Andrea Knoblauch, Noriko Nakanishi, Paula Millard, Fiona Day, Theresa Boyce and Tony Stone.
CONGRATULATIONG........ seees