This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
“RAMBLING DOWN RUAPAE EASY TRIP - RUAMAHANGA 12-14 MARCH 1993 By Debbie Evans The Curse of Struan. My first tramp for many moons and it was teeming down on Friday night. But the rain couldn't dampen my spirits - it had been so long since I'd been in the bush that the anticipation was enough to keep my spirits high. Not to mention the excellent company on the trip and the fact that it was rated E for Easy! It was the most popular trip that weekend, our numbers being boosted by Darren, Peter and Steven who were too old to do the Medium "Teenagers" Trip, and who had settled for the lesser challenge of the E-Team. "Be at the Railway Station at 6.30", Lyndsay decreed on Wednesday night, and we were. Well, some of us were. Lyndsay's fellow FE's, namely Robbie and Keith had failed to show. As we waited around in the wet, trying to ignore Lyndsay's glowerings and grumblings, we took bets on whether Keith would actually catch his flight overseas on time and finally Robbie appeared. "Nobody told me we were leaving at 6.30, you're lucky I always arrive early", he said before we could hassle him too much. That just left Keith, and we'd just about decided that he had regained his senses and abandoned the idea of conquering Chamberlain Creek when he showed up. A few terse words later and we were off. We, the Easy's, FE's and two TO's (Allen & Sue Higgins) had the truck to ourselves as the Fits and Teenagers had earlier. taken off in a van. There was plenty of room to stretch out in, and while Darren and Steve quietly sat and turned green while exercising great control over their stomach muscles, a few of us wallowed in a wonderful wide-ranging conversation in which we solved ail the world's problems and discovered the meaning of life - it was going to be one of those trips! After a gruelling trip over the Rimutakas (was Lyndsay trying to punish Keith for being late by making us throw up on him?) we arrived in the rain at the roadend. The Fits had taken off, and the FE's fluffed around for at least 20 minutes before finally exiting with ropes, karabiners and talk of a ladder! The Teenagers gazed longingly at the truck, but there just wasn't room, so they were dispatched into the night to grovel around in the dark setting up their fly! The perils of youth! We met up with the 10th member of our party - Carolyn from Linton, and set about squeezing 12 bodies into the truck. This was done by making the two longest bodies, Steve and Peter, sleep in the little pull-out tray above the rest of us! Morning dawned far too early, but it did dawn fine. Allen and Sue had already vanished, and once we discovered how many sandflies there were at the roadend we soon vanished too. Off we set to Herepai Hut where we aimed to have lunch. It was warm and fine, the birds were singing, the brook was chattering and the track was fairly flat - we could feel the world-weariness of city life lift off our shoulders. Life was perfect. Then the track started going uphill. Lyn did her bit for suffrage year by beating all the guys up the hill, while Peter and Steve suddenly decided the Easy trip wasn't so bad after all! Andrew struggled up the hill with 100kg of camera and the fly only to be greeted by Darren at the top with the words “Come on Old Man!". (This is strange I thought, these guys-have-only-just-met-each other and. they're already trading insults. Must be some form of male bonding). Toni and Ilse completed the group as they were leading from the rear (unlike Lyn who was raring to lead). A tinal burst and we reached Herepai. It was bathed in sunlight and seemed an ideal spot for lunch. And what was even better, it came complete with a genuine big black but very dead spider! Ilse had earlier proved to be a little averse to moths, and as Ilse hadn't yet arrived at Herepai devious plans were plotted to see if mothophobics were also arachnophobics!
Toni and Ilse arrived and lunch was munched amidst a game of "I've got more food than you" played between lise and myself. I think Ilse won! Then as we all got up a shrill scream split the heavens as lise met the spider which had very cunningly been placed on her pack! Mothoarachnophobia confirmed! After everything had calmed down and lise's legs had stopped shaking enough for her to walk again, we set off ona bush bash off the side into the river. Not knowing exactly where to drop off it was a wee bit grovelly in places, but we were soon at the river where we had a very leisurely stroll downstream. The only excitement came when Peter fell in the river when we managed to pick the deepest place to cross with the slimiest rocks. Ilse and Toni came along 5 minutes after us, took one look at Peter and calmly crossed in ankle-deep water a metre upstream! Roaring Stag Hut was full of roaring Stag hunters so we set up camp in Kirsty and Anita's spot across the river. In this co-educational, co-habitating, equal opportunity world, our two flies were erected and filled with 6 women in one and 4 men in the other! A serious female-bonding session was about to take place! Soon the serious business of preparing the Chilli Con Carne started, and Eleanor proved to be at least as good a pyromaniac as Lyndsay Fletcher! Thanks to Eleanor the campfire was soon burning brightly, and things were looking really exciting when one of the primuses caught fire. While some of us stood looking helplessly and waited for the explosion, Toni coolly stood up and put a billy over it. This woman is destined for greatness. Dinner around the campfite turned into a Who's Who session, as one by one we all talked a little bit about ourselves and what we did. One of the mysteries of the trip was solved - Andrew and Darren were actually flatmates and therefore legitimately able to abuse each other! Darren and Steve turned out to be brothers, and there were far too many scientists there! After lots of sticky toasty marshmallows, after dinner mints and failed attempts at wax bombs we all retired to our gender segregated flies and some girly and boyly conversation, followed by pure dreams! The day dawned (as it often does) and we discovered that the guys had definitely picked the best spot for their fly, as it had the full sun on it, whereas the women were left in the cold. Lunch was had on the riverbank in the sun and the sandflies, and the unfinished after-dinner mints became pre-breakfast mints. It was just like brushing your teeth! The walk back along the track was enjoyable and Lyn once again made it to the top of the hill first. Once back down to the flats the lure of sitting in the sun by the side of the river proved too much, and we stretched out and had a good long rest. This is what Easy trips are all about! We had a very leisurely stroll out and arrived at the truck about 20 minutes before the FE's They returned still in one piece after having managed to conquer Chamberlain Creek without a ladder! Then we farewelled Carolyn and headed off in the trusty Duchess back to urban life. A stop to pick up Alien & Sue who had also had a good trip, and then a compulsory ice-cream stop in Carterton. The dairy we stopped at was situated Opposite this wonderfully kitsch house that had: humpty dumpties, rabbits, gnomes, butterflies, etc in its back yard. A real must-see! Almost as good as Fred and Myrtle’s Paua Shell House! Then.our two-days-of-escapism-were-over-and-we were back in Wellington. A Superb weekend of good company, good scenery, good weather and good food!
Punters: Toni Van Den Ende (Cool, Calm, Collected Leader), Ilse Seilis (Mothoarachnophobic Food Junkie), Andrew Greer (Paparazzi), Darren Gedye (Disrespectful Flatmate), Peter Knight (Just call me Danyon Loader), Steven Gedye (Wax Bomber), Eleanor Howick (Pyromaniac), Lyn Clark (Just call me Flo Jo), Carolyn Jones (Lieutenant) and myself - Debbie Evans.