This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
by Ferrida Curwood We had a nice trip in the Duchess to the Ruahines with entertainment provided by Ilse and Wayne (honorary chicken), After a night spent at the roadend, we split up and headed off for our separate destinations. The Easy's were heading for a river - best described as wet and cold! In Sue's wisdom, we left the river to make a short-cut. Two hours of uphill later there was no short-cut but we got to see the "dead man". Going downhill we got the chance to clean the bottom of our packs!
Barlow Hut was new and clean. Grant announced our arrival to the pseudo hunters who asked us where we were staying and when Grant pointed to the hut, the reply was a definite "No, you're not!" After some debate about removing the dogs from the spare bunks, we figured that the old hut with the magic mushrooms was better (so was the smoke). We had a picnic along the river on Sunday. The highlight was Ilse's backward press-up in the river! The gourmet dinner that night included a special treat of a once frozen but now melted chocolate cheesecake, carefully transported by Claus who didn't even eat any himself. What a hero!
To fill in rare moments of quiet between Ilse, Austin, and Toni's conversations, Ferrida decided that we all matched characters in the Muppet Show. Most other conversations contained the usual strange humour. That night, our six person hut turned into a twenty two person hut because we were joined by the Medium's. Light conversation soon produced heavy eyelids. _We walked out on Monday down the river in brilliant sunshine; a nice conclusion to a relaxing weekend. Starring in the Muppet Show were: Ilse (a chicken), Austin (The Eagle), Toni (Miss Piggy), Suzi (Swedish Chef), Brian (Animal), Grant (Gonzo), Sue (Beaker), Claus (Fozzy Bear), Hanne (Danish guest star), Ferrida (Puppeteer).