This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
O-one was interested in Andrew’s trip to the Ruahines, Queen’s Birthday Weekend, despite all efforts at promotion. By Friday night, however, there were nine - Paul Critchley from Taihape, three from the cancelled trip to Tapi - Mark Ryan, and Sue & Allen Higgins - Tod Rutter, Leader Andrew McLellan, First Mate Jo McKenzie, Roger Bolam who most graciously agreed to drive - and Peggy Christianson (words).
We arrived at the end of the road in the wee hours - the road actually carries on but the river crossing would likely have been the end of the Duch- ess so we overnighted in the truck. It was a Clear night and some vaguely considered sleeping out under the stars. In the moming we roused. to heavy rain and 11 trampers had a time together getting sorted out ‘in the back of the truck. Paul arrived, Our first step was into the Makarora River.
We walked along the marginal road and then started up the track to Parks Peak Hut. At 8-900 metres we encountered snow and a friendly fight ensued. I thought it was beginning to look alot like Christmas. The novelty wore off, however, as the temperature dropped.
At- around tunchtime-we-arrived-at- I the hut. Paul had a most impressive prepackaged at home and ready to drop into the boiling water lunch of fresh pasta and home-made sauce with veges. It was partly sunny but
We made our way to Aranga Hut, arriving in the late afternoon. It was a grotty four bunk hut, cold, withno fire and freezing water tap. But we settled in and it became home for the night. There were plenty of brews. Corn chips (mostly broken) and guacamole dip were served by our Captain who did his utmost to ensure our comfort and enjoyment.
Then came lovely curry veges and rice, and after an appropriate time to settle, Andrew attempted frying pancakes on this disgusting pan that we found. The first attempts were actually dismal, as the scum wore off the frying surface, but then came the golden delights that we were promised, with golden syrup served with smiles.
All in all it was a very pleasant evening, except for the condensation which kept dripping from the walls making everything wet.
The next morning our boots were frozen solid. They had been heaved together under a bunk to make room for the floor sleepers and, being squashed before freezing, proved an initial challenge. It felt colder inside (- 4 ©) than out. Some of us bundled up in a sensible fashion, while others carried on the -mache-Kiwi-tradition---bare-legs-ete- - and later froze. We followed the poled route along the main ridge along the tops. It was cold, windy and snowy. By noon we chad seen enough so. we dropped down to the Upper Makarora Hut where we had lunch. (We were concermed for the Mediums, a party of three who planned to go from Upper Makarora Hut up to the tops, from where we had just come, along the tops and down Colenso Spur to Barlow Hut).
It was a debate what to do - our destination was Barlow Hut, but should we cross the river and climb 600 metres to Parks Peak Hut, go along the tops and drop back down to the Makarora River at Barlow Hut, or should we go down the river? The tops way was known and involved a certain amount of effort. The river way was unknown, and looking at the twisting blue line on the map, and testing the cold water... we could not reacha consensus. So, at 2pm Roger, Mark and Tod started their climb and the rest of us started our'swim.
The threesome of our trip made it to Parks Peak Hut all right and went along the tops, but somehow they missed the track down to Barlow Hut and so spent the night at Makarora Hut. Meanwhile, the rest of us had a fairly easy time down the mighty Makarora. We arrived at the hut by 4:30 and made ourselves cosy witha fire inthe stove and plenty of cups-ofsoup that some kind soul had left for us,
~We-were concemed-for-the-Medi-————_ ums as time passed. Our threesome would be okay, we knew, since they had two cheesecakes and Tod's giant $5 eggplant - but what would they do with it? - it was a first for Tod!
We tucked into our feast of tomatobased veges and laughed about Tod and his eggplant. At about 8:30, after
12 hours on the go, the Mediums arrived in amazingly good spirits with plenty of snap leftin their shorts. John (first time out with the Club), singing and whistling, cooked their evening meal.
In the moming we departed at 9:30 and walked two hours down the gentle (by this time) river to the track and waited for the rest of our party who arrived by noon. However, Paul was missing his altimeter and considered that it could be at a certain junction ontop, so off he went. Itlater turned up in his vehicle, so he only had the benefit of a workout and a I trip more strenuous than we lazies in the sun.
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By Peggy Christianson