This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
, I eaving the station at 6pm ona Friday night, we thought we would be at the roadend too early. We were wrong; it was nearly 9:30 when we reached the road end, thanks to a crash at the Fisherman’s Table.
Despite this, everyone must have slept well, because an 8:00am start was achieved without a word of encouragement from the leader. Three crossings of the Ngatiawa River filled up everyone’s boots nicely and set us up for the climb up to Kapakapanui. The climb through the bush was enhanced _with views of Waikanae and the prospect of a view from the top _ drove us on. Towards the end of the climb the trees were covered in a layer of green hairy moss creating a mystical feel.
29th August 97
We reached the bush line that ends just short of the top of Kapakapanui, but the cloud robbed us of the view. Lunch was taken in the tussock on the top with tantalizing views of the valley below through the cloud. It was just clearing when we went back into the bush.
A bush covered ridge led away from Kapakapanui towards the Waiotauru saddle. We emerged at the saddle to see two 4WDs go past. They had driven up the old logging road from the Akatarawa Road. __Renata Hut was not bad considering that DOC does not maintain it. Another good night's sleep was had after consuming dinner. The next day we wandered down the road to Waiotauru Hut with a great view of the Southern Crossing. The hut is well worth avoiding and the bridge next to it had seen better days. After passing the hut the track became overgrown with toitoi which made a mess of our legs. We were a little worried about getting to the roadend on time so we organised an advanced party. We needn’t have worried though, because the slow party made it with time to spare. An enjoyable trip to a new area for most of us, thanks to all.
“We were — Rob, Chris, Paul,” Sylvian, Sue and Allen.
Cheers!
[Photo captions and page text that interrupted the story:]
Rob Tindall