Christmas in the Wilkin

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CHRISTMAS IN THE WILKIN This trip was listed as "E" in the schedule, and in fect, the party were never on the march for more than ten hours in any one day. Noone scaled any 10,000 ft. peaks, was berighted or suffered from snow-blindness, no dramatic rescues were made/from the Tasman Saddle, and indeed, the only use the ice-axes were put to, was for tent-poles or for chopping up venison. The trip down to Wanaka was uneventful, and after a final noggin at the pub a rather disturbed night was spent on the beach where odd couples from the local dance kept stumbling through camp in the small hours, Peter Miller thinks its worth at least 30/- ? On the launch trip up Lake Wanaka we shot several geese; a number of .22s were mounted in the forward ouarterdeck, and a 12 bore in the stern well. The geese would dive when approached and were usually wounded by the .22s to be finally despa tched by the 12 bore, which almost blew them out of the water. One goose was hauled up to Top Hut the day we arrived making a pleasant addition to our first meal of de-hyd. The first two days were spent lugging our packs to Jumbo Flats where a base camp was set up. A four-day trip up to the north branch was then made. Open river flats alternated - with hilly "bush-pushing". Disappearing Lake was attempted by two of the party who all but dis appeared in the attempt. A camp was set up near Lake DIANA with Mts. Castor and Pollux towering aloft, At this stag e it would/not be wise to say too much about the ducks that abounded at Lake Diana. Peter's rifle was one which due allowance had to be made for wind, arift, trajectory, range and condition of barrel - anyhow they tasted very nice after an hour in the pressure-cooker. A trip was made to Lake Castellia at the source of the north branch. Here some cheeky keas showed considerable interest in Owen's pack buckles, but rather scorned Bob's (captive) razor. Our diet consisted of appetising dishes (?-Ed.) such as rice and apples, rice and de-hyd. meat, rice and sultanas; then as a pleasant change, we had burnt rice and apples, burnt rice and sultanas etc.,etc.,; and of course to vary the diet for the Sabbath, we would have burnt apples and rice- yes the diet was well-balanced and the rumblings abd ominal from half-cooked de-hyd. competed with the booming and crashing of ice-falls from Caster and Pollux, Fortuna tely, there was a fully-qualified 11 garbage guts* in the party and all utensils were licked clean at the end of every meal. Of the fauna seen on the trip, hares, rabbits and varied duck predominated; exar mples of that exotic species the ENZED ALPINECLUB- ORIUM were found about Jumbo Flats, and they were rat ther startled when some rude Tongue and Meats felled a large dead tree across the retreat to their whare-iti. Of the flora the PINUS PONDEROSA could be seen near most campsites. Two contagious complaints contracted by the merry men were brown-spot and white-spot, the former being caused by moth-holes in bathing costumes. This account would not be complete without some reference to the many excellent and varied soups prepared at night, An excellent fish soup was made from pieces of green venison, cocoa, peppor, and broken bi.scuit. The meat-based version consisted of, hare bones, cocoa, peppor and vegamin. These soups served well to clean ones mouth and teeth, and of course, they could always be used as an embrocation for twisted a nkles and broken collar-bones, A pleasant side trip was made up to the head of Wonderland, but time did not permit of penetration into Siberia. All too soon we had to rendezvous at the edge of Lake Wanaka, and after visiting Pigeon Island we were back in civilisation. Almost immediately the rot set in: beards were shaved off, we ate and drank in a civilised manner, and wild life was no longer in jeopardy. Stomachs soon recovered from their diet of de-hyd. Most of the party lost from five to eight pounds, but Garbage Guts had put on six! And so we said farewell to the happy valleys, taking back pleasant mer mories of the Jumbo and the north branch, where men toiled lazily in the morning sun and ducks flew overhead. Party: John Wood, Bob Williams, Trev Walsh, Peter Miller, Frank Lipsc.ombe, Graham Paterson, Owen Roberts,