This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
left Friday night at 6pm and stopped at Palmerston North for takeaways. For anyone with a large appetite, I would suggest the fish burgers — three large pieces of fish per burger. Having forgotten some of his food, Billy ~ managed to buy some precooked chicken for Saturday night’s tea. Apart from Roger briefly overshooting the turn-off from the state highway, the bus arrived with no great mishaps at the Triplex Hut carpark about 11pm.
I’m told that the Triplex Hut is about 10 minute’s walk from the carpark. The easy and medium parties went off to bunk down for the night. After about 15- 20 minutes, there was still no sign of the hut but we could hear the river and could see what looked like a tractor and trailer in the distance. As we drew near it looked like a van then a bus, which looked like the WT&MC bus. It was the WT&MC bus! Another look at the map and some more tramping later, we reached the hut and bunked down before midnight.
Saturday morning was drizzly and cold. There was snow on the tops and on the saddle where we planned to go. We left Triplex Hut about 8am prepared for a damp day. About half an hour later up the Waipawa River, the weather started to clear. At the Waipawa Forks Lodge, the Fit team’s intentions were revealed. They had changed their minds and now planned to stay at Waterfall Hut as well. However, as we approached Waipawa Saddle, we could see them in the distance as they veered off to the left and onto the ridgeline. By this time, the fresh snow had melted and they had decided to stick to their original plan, which was fortunate for us. Six bunks between about 15 trampers does not work.
Larry Cameron
Turning left we travelled upstream and at a junction we picked up a cleared track. As we got closer to Rangi Saddle the track petered out and we had to follow a poled route, picking our way between the (damn I’ve been stabbed again) spaniards. The saddle was very windy and we stopped briefly while the party regrouped and then we dropped down into the next valley.
We arrived at Waterfall Hut at about 4pm and started collecting firewood. Amongst this wood were some very tough branches, which I managed to trample into a tight ball. This was considered to be art and was thought to be too good to burn straight away so it was brought into the hut for all to admire. Brent christened it the “Tumbleweed”.
Dinner consisted of soup for entrée, with peanut satay, rice and chicken to follow and finished off with trifle. There was some discussion about the trifle having only one 40g chocolate flake between seven of us. However, Greg was quick to point out that he also had to carry in the peanut butter and he was after all only following instructions.
For after-dinner entertainment, we had our ritual burning of the “Tumbleweed”. It was spectacular with all the usual precautions being followed before the burning, like removing wet socks from the fireplace. It would be fair to say that the “Tumbleweed” went up in a blaze of glory. Greg was apparently woken by the light; Ferrida and Ruth decided that sitting close to the fire was not necessarily the best place to be; and Brent was inspired to take a photo to mark the occasion.
ee
earns woes ete memmt. mide
The track over the saddle was reasonably distinctive and we made good time to Waikamaka Hut where we stopped for lunch for about an hour. Some of us inspected the “dog box”, which used to be the original shelter, before the hut was built on the other side of the stream. The hut was light with sleeping for about eight on the bench bunks at a squeeze. However, the architectural prize goes to the loo, which looked like either a tardis or a rocket.
There was some debate between Nick and myself about whether this was a sacrificial or commemorative burning. For diplomacy’s sake, I’ve called it a ritual burning. A quick rummage through the food stocks, before the “Tumbleweed’s” demise, revealed a half used container of butter, which we estimated to be at least seven months old (date hut was last used). This butter was definitely alive and was also consigned to the fire.
Trip Reports
There was some rain during the night but this had cleared by about 7am when we left the hut. We made good time out following the track in reverse. Descending from Waipawa Saddle, we met a group from the Manawatu Tramping Club. At about noon, we reached Waipawa Forks Lodge and had about an hour for lunch. We arrived at the roadend by the