This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
Flashback...
between. Carrying on into and down the Snowy River we at last found a reasonable spot. It was too dangerous to carry on further down the river in the dark. The billy was soon on and a biwy constructed. Don’t try to sleep in plastic survival bags — they cause you to get wet more from your own sweat than the rain. It wasn’t a memorable night, very little sleep — it is always sticky and smelly when you have lots of clothes on. Next morning we found we were only 10 minutes up from the old logging bridge, a few minutes up from the
John Collier
friend at home had rang them up last night, a good intuitive friend. They took our names and reason why we were overdue — on our files forever now!
A good learning experience — especially in estimation of travel times in unknown areas. The initial travel in snow from Table Top to Dennan and down into the bush caused some time to be lost — plus a little in trying to route- find on Rae.
Present This time Howard and I headed UP Rae Ridge. Five hours later (including lunch) we were at the top sidling torches, survival bags, ground sheet, cooker, tea and some soup. That rule paid off on this day trip. The feeder stream into Tregear was passable with only a couple of places we had to sidle around and at about 6 pm we reached Tregear Creek. There were no flat places to bivvy in-
Waiotauru Forks. We got to Otaki Forks at 11 the next morning. As we were driving out a police car flashed us: another reason to put your car make/registration number in your intentions. They were coming in to check the intention book at the Caretaker’s lodge. My around Dennan and on our way to Field Hut. Nothing much to say really, except a small course correction at point 688 on the TOPO map. The route is marked more than it was 5 years ago; however, inexperienced trampers beware, and of course going up makes all the difference.
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