This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
Anon This isa story about two trampers, who we will call Laurayne and Tony, who liked to walk in the hills and forests of a lovely land where there were lots of hills and forests and many other wonders besides. One day they decided they would like to go to a faraway place that they had heard about from other trampers and which was called the 1,000 Acre Plateau. So _ they sent each other lots of e-mails during work time to sort out their plan. But they both worked for mean bosses who could not understand why anyone would want to visit faraway places in the forests of the lovely land, and the mean bosses made them stay at their desks and work very hard every day during the week. Laurayne and Tony decided they would go anyway and they would just have to travel fast to get to the faraway plateau and back ina weekend.
One Friday after work late in March they sailed to Picton on a very crowded ferry to where the nice man from a rental company had left them a car. So they happily drove in the car to the end of the road in the Matiri Valley. It was late by the time they arrived so they put up their tent on the soft farmland grass between the cowpats and settled in their warm sleeping bags for a few hours. The stars still shone dimly through a dreary mist hanging leaden in the valley when Laurayne and Tony started along the track beside the river next morning. But the sky had cleared and the sun was touching the highest peaks by the time they reached Lake Matiri Hut where they had a nice cup of tea and home-made toasted cheese sandwiches for breakfast. Then they started up towards the escarpment that would take them to the plateau. The track climbed steadily through the open forest and both Laurayne and Tony enjoyed the wonderful views through the trees as the sun rose higher above the horizon and a few lazy clouds floated in the blue sky. After walking for quite a while longer they suddenly emerged from the forest onto the flat grassland at the end of the plateau. They had at last arrived at the faraway place where they had planned and waited so long to be. The open tussock and patches of bush stretched away into the distance, just as it had been described to them by the other trampers who had been there before them. Laurayne and Tony couldn’t fail to notice that the plateau was formed by Tertiary calcareous sedimentary rocks unconformablv overlaying granite and related metamorphic sequences within a gently warped north-south striking syncline with monoclinal flexures and flanked on its eastern sides by mudstone hills and its western sides by scarps formed in the weather-resistant limestone outcrop and that the water table was at or near the surface and peat formation was a dominant process and additionally that the vegetation consisted predominantly of beech forest remnants with red tussock and celmisia and other monocotyledonous herbs that had been modified by fire. All this presented such a grand scene that Laurayne and Tony sat for some time wondrous filled. And all the while the Needle stood alone and aloof at the farthest end of the plateau. They walked on through the tussock and patches of bush, past sparkling deep-blue tarns and babbling brooks to Larrikins Creek Hut where they stopped for a short time and had a nice cup of tea and toasted cheese sandwiches for lunch. Then it was time to climb to the top of a nearby tall hill that was called The Haystack. Tt didn’t take Laurayne and Tony long to reach the ridge behind the hut where they left their rucksacks, and without any weight on their shoulders they wandered easily along the weathered rock and tussock slopes to the summit. And there below them lay the faraway 1,000 Acre Plateau. The flat tussock land stretched away to the south, while in the east were bush covered hills and to the west the deep scarp dropped away to a silver river glinting far below. Laurayne and Tony stayed on the top of the The Haystack for some time in the warm sunshine drinking in the wonderful view. And much closer now but still standing alone at the head of the plateau was the Needle. There was no path between The Haystack and the Needle but Laurayne and Tony were able to find a way along the ridge without too much bother. Part way along they noticed hidden deep in a crevice shaded from the sun a small patch of snow that had survived the long months since winter. It seemed a pity to disturb it now but Laurayne and Tony were thirsty and they ate it all anyway. At about five o’clock they stepped onto the very top of the peak that had seemed so distant when they had first viewed the plateau early in the morning. Once more they stayed for some time and in the calm of the evening took in the view that stretched from the shining
Tasman Sea to the distant mountains of the Southern Alps just visible through the blue autumn haze. But by now the shadows were lengthening and it was time to wander down to the gentle grassy slopes below the Needle where there were many deep tarns of clear fresh water. They pitched their tent by one of the tarns and Laurayne cooked pasta without any cheese for their tea while the sun dipped slowly towards the western horizon and the tussock glowed golden in the last rays of sunshine. But it quickly became colder once the sun had set and Laurayne and Tony settled in their warm sleeping bags in the tent after a last cup of tea and some lumps of tasty chocolate that Laurayne had specially carried for supper. Sleep came easily with a lullaby of soft croaking from the frogs in the tarns, and anyway both Laurayne and Tony were tired after the day's adventure. When they woke early next morning a myriad of stars were shining brightly from a dark sky. They packed their sleeping bags and the tent in their rucksacks and started down the slopes back towards Larrikins Hut. The sun had not yet risen from behind The Haystack and the air was cool when they arrived but they stayed long enough to have a nice cup of tea and home-made toasted cheese sandwiches for breakfast. Then it was a pleasant easy day for Laurayne and Tony as they wandered carefree and happy and in no hurry across the plateau back along the way they had come. The sun shone warmly and a few lazy clouds floated in the blue sky. They stopped at Lake Matiri Hut for a luncheon snack of cheese sandwiches but were quickly chased away by the sandflies and wasps. Alongside the track through the farmland there were some blackberries they had time to pick. They drove back to Picton and ate fish and chips for tea, and left the car in the parking area for the nice man from the rental company. Then they sailed home to Wellington on a different ferry that was also very crowded and they watched a Harry Potter movie with no sound. It was such a lovely trip for Laurayne and Tony that they were already thinking about where to go next. If you would like to help them get to other faraway places and read some more stories about their adventures please send a generous donation addressed to: “More Faraway Places, c/o Third Cubicle from the Left, Railway Station Restrooms, Eketahuna’”.
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Yaystack Right: Camp below the Needle US Oe,