This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
THE Fit’s TRIP TO NEILL FORKS 20 May 1994 O nce upona time there were three bears - a great big Father John bear (the Fit’s leader), a middle sized Mother bear (the Medium’s leader), and a little Baby bear, (the Easy’s leader) . They all loved to walk in the forest, and quite often on a nice Friday night they would set off for trips with their friends to remote places.
So the story of the Fit trip bears begins. One moming at Walls Whare, Allen Bear got up really early and made some porridge for Father John Bear and all the Fit bears. He filled a great big bowl, but the porridge was too hot to eat, so the Fit Bears decided to go out fora walk in the forest while it cooled. (Apart from Father John bear who wanted his in bed). However they finally got Father bear up and they all set off. They walked and walked up to Cone saddle and then to Cone Peak, and there they spotted a little house far away ona high ridge. “Alpha”, said one of the bears, “#4@+#\ we have walked a long way” said another. So they all sat down for alittle rest and all enjoyed the brew. The map said that Neill’s house at the forks was down a ridge and not too far away and they were sure that must be a good place to go to. But first they all dimbed and climbed to Neill Peak (ust for a look). And sure enough,
they were on the right track.
Father John bear caught up with them, and they all walked down the ridge following Allen bear and Brett bear, who walked off down a spur to the right because Eric bear, who was behind them (some distance), had the compass! “Humph”, said Father bear. All the bears quickly got back on track and after a long walk, following some honey tinlids on the trees, they came to a little red and green house in the forest, just beside a nice little river in a beautiful clearing. “This must be the house Neill built”, they all said.
The moment they stepped into the house, they saw that someone had been there. “Humph!” said Father John bear in a great big voice, “Someone has been sitting in my chair and broken it’! But it was only the firewood and they all laughed.
“Land sakes! That Goldilocks will have eaten our porridge at Walls Whare by now’, said Pat bear. “Stuff the porridge”, said Father John bear, “We've got fish kedgeree, paviova, cream, and peaches”! (The bears had been wondering why Father bear had been puffing up the hills). And very soon the bears had lit anice warm fire and were eating their dinner in the cosy little house.
Then it became dark and night time, and the bears told stories of long ago, and prepared themselves for bed.
“Somebody’s been sleeping in my bed”, said Michael bear (one of the youngest bears). But the older bears calmed him down as he did not need a great big bunk in a six bunk hut when there were seven other tired bears. But Sue bear took pity on poor Michael bear and said he could sleep “under” her bunk, and Allen bear said he could use his thermarest, so Michael bear was,a happy little bear.
“Someone's sleeping in my bed”, said Father John bear “and he’s still there”, but it was only Brett bear. He was fast asleep, and no matter how hard they tried, they could not wake him up. So poor old Father John bear, after carrying the pavlova, and cooking the meal, and leading the trip, had to sleep on the floor too.
Early next morning all the bears woke up, stretched their arms and legs, (stood all over Father John bear), and cooked their porridge using the firewood that Brett bear had been sawing all night. They ate their porridge while it was still hot, (as they had learned their lesson about going for walks while it cooled), and set off to Cone Ridge.
Greg bear being the very fittlest bear, ran up the hill and arrived at the junction early. “My, what big steps you have Greg”, said Sue bear, and the bears reminded her to stick to the original fairy tale.
All the bears walked and walked and walked up Cone Ridge in the Gnomes forest back to Cone and down Saddle Track to follow the river all the way back to Walls Whare where a duchess was to be waiting . On the way they found a trail of cotton. The bears were sure that Goldilocks had caught her unmentionables in the forest and this spurred some of them on, as they really wanted to catch up with Ms Locks some time over a previous incident.
Finally, they all met up with Mother bear and Baby bear again, but there was no sign of that Ms Locks or the porridge they had left to cool. The Fit bears don’t know what the Mother bear and Baby bear groups did in their fairy tale but they are sure everyone had a great time. One day the bears are going to take a stroll past “The House at Powell Corner’ and write a poem or two with another famous ursine chap. They hope you can join them. Don’t forget to bring your haycom scroggin and honey !
The “Bears” were: I Sela Siu - Trip Leader (Father John Bear) Sue Wiggins (Kindest bear) Allen Higgins (Oldest bear) Exe Blunandt (Tallest bear) Pat Daffy (Muddiest bear) WMickad Duffy (Happiest Bear) Brett Gillies (Newest Bear) and Greg (the Fittlest Bear) PS... Do you know who ate the porridge ?