This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
BY ERIC EVANS
It was a fine Friday night in late April which saw us sharing the roadend with the Hutt Valleys. We set off into the night, the three musketeers, and made steady progress with torches blazing. Thank God for spare batteries. Passing the Hutt Valleys and charging right along we soon reached the new section of track which lived up to all our wildest expectations. After a 20 minute, 500ft climb and detour to the new bridge to Mitre Flats Hut, we finally arrived there about midnight. Greeted from within by what sounded like a huge Doberman, we were surprised to find "Spot".
Morning dawned fine against all statistical odds, (Please take note Harry!)
The climb up to the bush line and beyond to the snow burned up the muesli and succeeded in waking us up. Tod plugged the steps - Paul moaned that they were too far apart. As normal, the leader dropped behind to check for stragglers - there were none.
The knee deep snow slowed us down as we waded over Peggy's, then Mitre (stopping for a photo session) then up to Brockett for lunch and a brew in the sun. The views were splendid and a peak-naming session ensued making the most of the fine weather. Our eyes focused across the valley to see the new Jain Ridge Hut near the turnoff to Dorset Ridge. itiooked-really flash and-we knew we had to check it out. :
We wandered on to Girdlestone for a half hour break for another Tararua gazing session then headed down to the new Tarn Ridge Hut which sleeps 20. The less than a month old hut was in an ideal spot and commanded terrific views out toward Bannister and Arete and the head of the Waingawa. We knew at this point that the trip had to be shortened due to lack of daylight hours and had to settle for a night in the hut (sounded like a good excuse anyway).
The Hutt Valley Fit Trip spent the night with us and.we had much to talk about. An enjoyable Critchley Stew was devoured with ecstasy.
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The crack of dawn arrived too late for us. After a quick breakfast and a hasty get away, we were soon on our way to Girdlestone stopping for an extensive 20 minute photo session. The day was the clearest I'd seen in the Tararuas for ages. The views were awesome - out to the Kapiti Coast. over to Hector and......... - eat your heart out Harry!!
We continued on up over Atkin then up on to North King where we stopped for a quick snack. The photo session had put us behind schedule so we set off down a most enjoyable spur and raced out to the road and a drive around to Holdsworth to pick up the Mediums. A most enjoyable trip was had by all.
Those on the trip: Paul (let's take another photo) Critchley, Tod (Step Plugger) Rutter and Eric (let's get going) Evans.