This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
“TT would like to tell you a tale of how, 1. on Sunday 3 September 1995 Mt Climie, 860 metres, got trampled on by the boots of scores of Tongue & Meat Sunday trippers.
It happened like this:
At 10 am all the troops had arrived by motor transport at the far end’ carpark at Tunnel Gully via Plateau Road, Upper Hutt, and our intrepid trip leader, Ollie, announced as she welcomed everyone that this trip was going to be led from the front by her, and who would volunteer to be the’
MT CLIMIE
By Lloyd Wilkin tail-end Charlie to take care of the rear. I beat the rest to the draw and so was installed as Ollie led off to-
Armstrong, Dot and David Catchpole, Neil Carey, Dudley Smith, Juliet Griffiths, John Faber, Lorraine & Barry Nielsen, Heather Jones, Lloyd Wilkin, John & Kaisu Elgar, Kevin & Beryl Smyth, and Carol Pearson, I across a shingle 4WD road which climbs steadily and steeply up through pleasant bush, directly to the two trig Stations at the top of Mt Climie. At the carpark, the altitude is 190m.
On the trip we had Olive Stempa, leader; Georgina Sanderson, Don O’Brien and Ben OBrien aged 8, Judy
I can’t tell you much about the happenings on the way up because I started off in my designated position of tail-end Charlie, and was unable to muster a better performance than my standard rate of climb of 100 metres of height every 15 minutes, which I kept checking with a pocket altimeter, my watch, and my notebook. However, everyone else had a better rate of climb than me. At first I could hear conversation and laughter up the track ahead, but it grew fainter and then went silent very silent and peaceful. At 11 am my ears picked up the faint sound of conversation and laughter once again and it grew louder. As I puffed around a bend, the whole party came into view, relaxing at their morning tea break at height 490m. We arrived at our first goal, North Climie tower and trig830m_ at around 12:15pm for lunch and some welcome relaxation.
Weather-wise, the temperature was a little chilly at 6 degrees C. in the shade, causing extra clothing iy to be donned. We lazed in wea’ sunshine, ate our lunches, drank our hot beverages, and took in the tremendous views towards the west and north. There was haraly a breeze, and immediately below us was the Mangaroa and Upper Hutt valleys. We looked over the Western Hutt hills to Mana Island, Cook Strait, and the South Island, while to the south Mts Manakau and Tapuaenuku plus the Spenser Mountains were visible. To the northwest and north, Mts Wainui, Maunganui, Kapakapanui, and the Southern Crossing were prominent. To view the east we would need to move south to the higher Mt Climie trig at 860m. This we did and found the wooden surround of the trig in the low scrub near its perch, for fierce winds had taken their toll.
From this point the view extended to right around the compass, including Holdsworth, the Wairarapa Plains and towns, and the high peaks of Papatahi and Matthews in the southern Rimutakas. A photo panorama was shot from this summit for the record. Three kilometres to the north east Peak 857 stands out since it is only 3m short of Climie’s height and is the last high peak on the ridge on which we were standing before it descends to oblivion at the NZDA rifle range at Kaitoke. A further move across about 300m of open, mosscovered ground towards the southeast brought us to a point on the lip of the Pakuratahi Catchment, where we could look down at the river area and across to the other branch of the Rimutaka Range that runs from Bawbaw to Mt Rimutaka and then beyond to the Puffer Saddle - the start of the Tararua Range.
—Time—was_marching_on_so_we_re=. turned to the North Climie trig for a quick cuppa from thermos flasks before descending by the same route to Tane’s Track junction where we followed the Tane Track back to the carpark. Ollie was thanked by all for I her efforts for a successful outing and she responded by saying that she wanted an account prepared for the newsletter and had decided on tailend Charlie for that job.
The outing had its lighter moments, including: - .
The indignation of coffeeman at being (accidentally) omitted from the group photograph after indulging in an extra cup of coffee and arriving late. The oratory, gesticulations and war dance (with staff) that followed was only placated after photoman had agreed to snap him personally -as an appendage to the group photo. He was duly snapped in full cry.
Tail-end Charlie striding over to the edge of the Pakuratahi Catchment with the rest of the party well back and stalking-him, not sure whether his mission was a comfort stop or the wonderful scenery. Someone plucked up the courage to ask the question after which everyone arrived to take in the scenery.
Mr Redsocks taking a nap at lunch time, being snapped while sleeping and then being informed about it by junior tramper upon his awakening. Photoman had nothing to wash the egg off his face with.
Coffeeman offered:
Knock, knock Who's there? It’s Thunder, Thunder who?
Junior tramper asked for'a repeat. Much hilarity So that is the end of the tale. Tailend Charlie Geribe)