This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
ne sunny day in mid- February, Homedale shopkeepers peered at a circle of T&Ms voting on the footpath. The result was 14 in favour of Mt McKerrow and 1 in favour of Green Stream, so off we went. Our passengers were dropped at Hine Road carpark while all our drivers then positioned the vehicles to the Catchpool for a smooth exit at the end of the tramp. Two vehicles were used to return the drivers to the top of Sunny Grove. Drivers and passengers were reunited at the track junction just above the rooftops at Sunny grove —each group arriving by the two different tracks in the area. Earlier, the 13 regulars on this tramp had welcomed two new chums, Debbie and Andrew Winter, both from South Africa and who are settling in NZ. The route to the top was firstly eastwards, following the Whakanui track to the vertical
Lloyd Wilkin it crossed over into the headwaters of Nikau Creek far below. At the signpost we had reached the ridgetop leading to McKerrow. Nearby was the source of Turere Stream which empties into the Orongorongo River alongside Jacob's Ladder. Thus, as we set off southwest towards McKerrow, the Turere Stream was on our lefthand side and the Nikau Creek on our righthand side for about five minutes, then Skerrets Creek once again was below us on the right and ten minutes further on we passed by the scene of a wartime crash of a Kittyhawk fighter plane in which Flt. Sgt. TV Marchant lost his life.
Further on, a track sign proclaimed “This way to the Boys’ Brigade Camp” on our righthand side and probably indicates the spur which separates Skerrets Creek from Scholl Creek. By noon, a layer of cloud overhead ‘and a fresh wind from the northsignpost where we stopped for ' morning tea after having looked back to admire the view of Wainuiomata and Wellington from a height of over 500m. Here, the track to McKerrow leaves the Whakanui track by a right turn and the direction of travel changes from generally east to generally southwest until the Catchpool is reached.
The pattern of streams in the area interested some of us too. We Had climbed the spur separating Skerrets Creek on our right from Nikau Creek on our left. The track up was mostly high above Skerrets until near the top where
-west caused us to seek some shel- I ter for our !unch break which was taken just short of peak 680m. A passing hunter with rifle stopped to say hello and then he recognised one of our number. We looked on and listened as recollections of about 4 decades ago were swapped. ' On resuming the tramp, we : climbed over peak 680m to find another indicator of a side track to-our Tight; this-time-probably— down the spur which separates Scholl Creek from Grace Stream. — On the ridgetop track we ran into less favourable track conditions in our quest for the McKerrow summit. There was an amount of fallen timber around and in some places across the track, and the track itself was overgrown with ferns and the like, which hid obstructions from view causing one to shuffle along rather than to tramp. And _our progress resembled that of a caterpillar where the front end extends itself forward and then stops dead while the tail end catches up. At one point, a leaning tree with its roots mostly still in the ground was swaying in the wind to the extent that as each of our party passed it by, they were being lifted up and down in the process.
The summit of Mt McKerrow (706m) was reached in the afternoon and shortly afterwards the track turnoff to Jacob’s Ladder came. into view. Ours was the righthand option down Clay Ridge to the signposted track crossroads, and then right again via Grace Stream to the Catchpool carpark.” By the time we approached Grace Stream the sun was shining brightly and getting low in the sky which, when combined with the tall timbers in that area, made a very attractive bush setting. The last job was to return the two car crews to their vehicles at Sunny Grove then it was hi ho for the big city and home. On this trip were: Neil Carey, —Dot-&-Dave-Catchpole, Barry. Cook, Kaisu Elgar, Ron Fayle, Juliet Griffiths, Lorraine Nielsen, Don & Ben O’Brien, lan Scott, Evelyn Wickham, Lloyd Wilkin, and Debbie and Andrew Winter.
WT&MC Marchl997