This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
airly F# @** &% Easy, thatis. -— Are you in pursuit of a relaxing weekend? Then this is the trip for you!
The keen, or not so keen, souls of the Medium group left for the Purity roadend in the Ruahine Ranges with the usual Friday night departure. To get to the Purity roadend, turn right at Mangaweka, take the first left once over the Rangitikei River, and travel for another twentyodd kilometres. Faithful driver, Dave, delivered everyone safe and sound.
Low cloud and sub-tropical temperatures on Saturday morning aided the decision of the party to adjust their plans. Planned route was Kelly Knight Hut via Purity Hut and the peak Wooden Peg on Saturday, and straight down a high-level river track on Sunday to the roadend.
Forecasts suggested clearing weather on Sunday, so the merry group set out to do the trip in reverse. A one-hour walk across very flat farmland passed quickly (quickened by the stench of a silage pit), and had its finale in amusing and muddy attempts by Natasha, Ruth and Jeanine to negotiate large, boggy patches!
A sign at the bushedge greeted the muddy few with promises of a 1% hour trip to the hut. Still laughing at the cruisy day ahead, a second sign just five paces on, reckoned on one-hour’s travel time only. Two creeks, a slip to negotiate (for which long legs were required), a swingbridge (also requiring long legs) and the approximate time of one hour later the FFEs arrived at a tranquil spot by the Pourangaki River, at which there happened to be a hut named Kelly Knight.
The fire was warm and the hut heated up quickly. Kelly Knight Hut is a clean, 8-10 person hut with plenty of camping areas outside, only a stone’s throw from the river and the roadend (well, virtually).
Lunch/Brunch was followed by a round of John’s game, “Jumping to Conclusions” (a new card game invented by a New Zealander), and an afternoon siesta cut short by the arrival of the Fits.
No member of the FFEs made even the slightest attempt to convince anyone that they actually deserved the hearty dinner and decadent dessert they served themselves that night. A slight
Ruth Parnell disturbance during the night was caused by a possum near-choking/having a coronary on a charred bread bun from the fire which was left outside overnight. Or did it get a whiff of the feet of Harry (Fit tripper) who was sleeping on the verandah?
The valley was awakened the next day by a flatulent symphony emitted from John’s sleeping bag. John’s morning hopes of doing a walk up to the Pourangaki Trig were dashed when greeted by still sub-tropical temperatures outside the hut and beautiful flurries of snow falling out of the sky. Not to mention the relaxed mood of the group rubbing off on him. The hills were clad in low cloud wouldn’t have seen anything except the inside of a cloud anyway.
A leisurely breakfast (by anyone who could in fact manage to eat anything) and a stroll back to the roadend the same way as the previous day, ended a thoroughly relaxing weekend - unplanned though it was. Fairly F#@*&% Easy participants were: Jeanine, John, Natasha, Ruth, Wayne and Vicky.