Coronation Weekend in the Ruahines

Machine-read text (unproofread)

Read from the scans by software, so it contains mistakes. Typing it up properly would help blind readers: use Suggest an edit.

CORONATION WEEKEND IN. THE RUAHINES MAY_530th- JUNE 2nd Ethyl was kind enough to. write down for me a little while ago, a few for inclusion in our trip schedule. One of these was think there is a fatality in it; Iseldom go to the place guotatione I seto out for" (Lawrence Sterne 1713-1768). It must be admitted thatI pondered upon these words when we set out from Wellington on a sunny Satrday morning heading north for the Ruahines, and in particular an sarea new tothe Club' I was fortified by the knowledge that the party included those two stalwarts Stan and/or Bill and.y Wallah, to say nothing of that intrepid hunter, Leon, who, together with his rifle attachment, wes, I felt sure, bound to provide us with ample fresh meat. Our destination was the Makaroro River, a few miles from Waker rara where we were fortunate to meet the loc-1 school teacher who kindly offered us his services as far as the Colenso Ridge, which he claimed weB It hours from the bridge. His statement that in following the river we' would hive to. cross about 20 times brought the party to F stite of near mutiny!! I did my best to look inconspicuous and "waved the red flag. l (subversives, huh? Ed.). with the rest. Somehow or other we started off and found that things were not as bad as they appéared, since: i the river had a wide and flat bed, and altnough it was de ep and cold, it was never more than knee.deep. 6ur guide seemed to be under thè impression that we must make tt or bust, which definitely was not theAmpreesion of. the party 2 and by the time, just about dusk, that the party decided to camp, he had.not doubt alneady made landfall. Eventually he departed after-assuring himself that his charges had implicit instructions. We sincerely hoped that he made his way down safely in the blackness of night as his instructions and: informa.tion were extremely helpful. Expecting to be first up next morning, I crawled from the tent into a chilly dawn to aiscover Stan and/or Dill in the act of lignting the fire. How anyone Can volunt rily and willingly get up first in such conditions, I. do not know, 1n the words of a better man then I, "Stan, I salute you"! At 9.30 a.m, we started Aur "ablutions Il again, and soon res.ched the stert of the track, plainly marked with & bleze, a few feet away across the river. Hèading up the track someo@eriously suggested thet we centact Weygeod-Otis And challenge them to try the impossible! (Poor type 1 Ed.)' All grod things must come to en end I and bad things too- thank goodness. We eventually reeched.a plfteau about 800 ft.-1,000 ft. up, where the bush WES more open, E nd where there were some first cless camping spots, water being found about 50 ft. down on the north side. "Tempus fugit" or words to that effect, so after a hurried lunch we pressed on, ever upwards, religiously following the blozes, since we could see no sign of any track. Around 3.30, we of the refr party, heard the sound of ehopping ahead, and wondered 1f we had got to the stege of naving to cut our way through, but it was only Wallah F nd the advance party who had decided it was time to camp. Nothing loath-

1 9 after all we were on holiday- we pitched an early camp. Darkness was soon upon us and a hot mug of soup from the imperturbable Wallah was very welcome whilst awaiting our stew to cook itserf. It was a cold night and a thick frost crackled underfoot as I creptdolefully from the tent into a black morning, (Being miserably cheerful, Ted ? 1 Ed.) to discover once again that Stan and Wallah had beaten me to the fire whi ich was already beginning torblaze cheerfully. Quite understandably most of the party hugged the sack until the last moment, but none the less we were away by 8.30, with a knowledge of what lay. ahead since Stan and Leon had done a iittle reconnaissance with the rifle the evening before. The track which ascended steeply culmineted suddenly at the edge of a great slip which Stan tackled manfully and eventually crossed. Most of us, however, disliked the look of the surface with a sheer drop below, and took to the bush in preference skirting the slip, but striking leatherwnod - ouchl! After much scrabbling about we sank with deep sighs into thick snow grass and sheltered fer a while in the warm sunshine from the cold wind, Toiling upward again we were mystified at the direction 1 "This W. y to the bar! ", until we noticed with amazement BEER ON ICE I Three bottles of beer their heads poking through a patch of snow seemed like a tentalizing mirage. But nc, they were reality andnever more welcome. Since Hfllary has been knighted for his conquest of Everest, surely i nothing less will.do for the atalwart George who had packed those bottles to nearly 5,000,ft. in two dayst tramping without' succumbing to*the temptation. V On we went , leaving :the shelter of a small ridge into the teeth of a cold wind, Before us lay the peak of Te Ataumehuru. During the last fifty feet of the ascent, we could see the peaks of the Hikurangi Range to the south heavily sprinkled with snow forming a perfect background to the deep green of the bush clad valleys far below, With the last few feet of the climb,. the finest view that we had for the whole of the trip emerged before us- Mt. Ruapehu sharply etched against the pale blue of the distant sky and seeming to float on a billowing sea of snow-white cloud., Ngeuruhoei, beautiful in its symmetry, was dwarfed by contrest, though an inspiring sight in itbelf. Later we were to see' also the tip of Mt. Egmont just visible above the clouds I20 miles away. To the north the sky was d.rk, so we pressed on on our Journey south 5 over Merorarea, Maropea and a few other lumps and bumps beiring no other nemes other than blasphemous ones given them by breathless tr-mpers. A word of W arningo to any who would try this range 1 the two saddles south of Maropea are not just gullies, theyre deep CANYONS = ask Diana ! At last in gathering mist, Leon and I (I at any rete to be strictly correct), staggered on to the peak"north of, the Armstrong Saddle eager for the ferst glimpse of our downwards homewards stretch, but our attention was diverted by the"sight of two deer silhouëtted against the mist a IOO yards away. A stag and hind- both fell to Leon's markemanship. When the choicest parts of the Carcases had been collected , we set off

-IOT again dropping sreeply, Posterity will record that I wanted to carry on downwarts into the saddle befcre seeking ar ridge to the south-east, but wo pairs of sharp eyes (You lucky boy, Ted- .) discovered a ridge leading south-east soon after: we left the top, and it certainly looked good. So, away we went and spent another night out in a small grove of stunted beech, It was a raw Tuesday morning, the mist still thick around us, but my spirits were high for as I crawled from the tent there was no sign of Stan or Wallah, This time I had beaten them. But no, on reaching their tent I heard voices and found them wide awake in their aleeping-bags, a primus gotng full blast and a billy of tea just on the boil- I give Up! (Dont despair so easily, Ted- Ed.) Through breaks in.the.mist-it was obvious that we should have to go up before going down. We set forth in a gale force wind, there being no shelter as we climbed higher and the open rtdge seemed endless. Just below the top, a.small plateau gave us a little shelter and through a break in the mist we could see the paddocks far below bathed in sunshine. Only one ridge was visible leading away to the east and down towards the sunshine, so away we went again. Whilst most religiously sticking to the ridge we found it necessitated some awkward bush-pushing, but Wallah and Stan in the front firmly rejected my suggestion that we go down the big shingle e.slide on our right. We were below the mist now and I WES firmly convineed that we should follow the slide down to the head of a 'creek wnich led out into the open country. Mental telepathy must have won the day, since determining, on this course I had made up my mind to insist on it next time we caught up with the leaders. Lo-and behold : those ahead suddenly began to disappear straight, down 8. small shingle slide to the head of the creek. Here we discovered Wallah paternally attending to Rae's ankle which had been giving trouble throuhout the trip, but which had not prevented her from keeping the van without a single complaint. Good on you, Rae. After. a brew,at a suggestion, Leon and Stan set off for the road a-pgee of in case the main party would be a little late having only three hours before: thém to reach the truck ordered for 2p.m. The first part of the creek was steep, and as. we followed its tortuous course, over and around boulders, and tree trunks occasionally bush-pushing to avoid the worst, I wondered whether we might come across a waterfall or that the creek might prove an even worse assault course. than some of the Tararua creeks "I wot of". Lady Luck was with us, efter about an) hour, we were tramping steadily over mossy flat banks, and after Ip.m. we came out'of the bush into. open sheep country. Iiwas I.40 p.m, when we hit the road, much to my gratification, .Stan- end Bill had gone ehead after enquiring at the first house where were we?"T! It is understood they stopped all traffic and sent them to find that b.... truck which arrived

-II- En hour late due to engine trouble. We didn't mind as we could lie and sun bathe in the warm sunsh ine which was so welcome after the wet mist and cold wind of only a few hours before. Many thanks to a grand team of companiens : Wallah Hobbs, Stan and/or Bill Potter, Russ Cummings, Diana Tester, Leon Sondej, Rae Radford, David Bowley, Owen Roberts, George norwood. Leader : Ted Pakin (Not so you'd notice it- Ted's parenthesis, not Edis