This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
Lake Surprise Easy Tramp November 2 to 4
by Andrew Trembath
We had two willing punters and one trip leader ready and looking forward to the trip, even though the weather forecast wasn’t looking the best. We did have a backup plan if it was needed.
After a good trip to the campsite up the mountain road we decided not to bother with the fly and to sleep out, as it was a lovely night with the stars out. The moon popped up in the early hours of the morning making the whole area very light. After getting up and boiling the Billy for my group the rest of people came alive and looking for hot water, which some got as I am a kindhearted person. We started to pack up and got ready to drive up the road to drop the other trip off, and then packed up the bus to head to lake Surprise.
As I said the weather forecast was not the best for the weekend but it was a cracker of a day. We decided bugger it and still go to Lake Surprise and worry about what Sunday deals to us. After packing the bus up we headed off to the Mangaturuturn hut to drop off our gear before heading up to Lake Surprise for Lunch. After walking/sliding for a while we started to drop down to the waterfall, which we had to get down. A lot easier than it sounds - it’s just picking your way down some rocks and there is a marked poled route there, to follow. After we got past the waterfall it was a nice stroll down the valley to the hut. We decide to have an early lunch as the weather started to turn on us, while having lunch we could be made of money as two Germans turned up and asked do they sell food here - we got a good laugh out of it.
After lunch we headed up to Lake Surprise for a look around and a few pictures of the area. It only took us about 45 minutes to get there and it is worth it if you get the chance to get there for a look. Then it was back to the hut and a rest and a brew up before getting the dinner ready.
I really look after the punters on my trip as I got the fire going and cooked dinner for them. I must admit that once the fire was going Simone kept it going for us. After a nice spagbowl we ate Robyn's toffee pops and had an early night.
We woke up to a wet, windy and cold day. After a hot brew and left over dinner we packed up, and cleaned up the hut and headed out early to pick up the easy/med trip. We decided if it was a crappy day we would both be out early and do the café thing at Ohakune. It was quick trip out back to the bus to get out of the weather which was so bad. Once there I had to move the bus further down the road so we can get changed and dried out before picking up the rest and getting off the mountain. Once we were dried and changed it was off to Ohakune for lunch.
After lunch the rest headed to the pub for a beer or 5 (poor trip leader had to drive so he missed out) as we had a few hours to kill before we had to be at bulls to pick up the cycles.
Then it was off to Bulls to pick up the cycles and more coffee and ice creams before heading home. It was a good quick trip and we were back in Wellington by around 6:30pm.
Thanks to the other bus driver Stuart Douce for helping with the driving.
On the trip were Simone Musin (soon to be a member) Robyn Darcey and Andrew Trembath.