Forty Tight Hours Hard Labour and Costs

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. FORTY TIGHT HOURS HARD LABOUR and COSTS : and I think I know what some folk will call him! This trip started as is usual at the railway station on Friday lst. February, there vere 19 souls aboard. One was missing, yes she knows! It was led by our l'ixon friend and to add to his inspira tion Pharaoh Walsh was also present. In addition to these two pillars of I don't know what the following were on board- Bernie Napp, Neil Green, Horst, "Hacgis"

Les Sisley, Mick Douche, Ray Brandies, Lloyd Wilkin, John Armstrong, Ivan - : first trip) and two Austrian boys who were Carpenters, then there were Mary West, Judy Walker, Betty Williams, Mary Hall and Doreen Higgs, We left promptly at 9.15 for a change and the usual cacophony of carry on ( no not that sort) accompanied us to Tevin, where after a couple of minutes most péople felt decidely relieved, yes it was hot! Everyone piled into the pie cart to be literally "socked" for a 'cuppa, The truck left Levin without further ado and Taihape loomed up at about 1,30 a,m, what a lot our club members seem to be - no sooner do we stop and everyone takes off at a steady jog trot : the song "June is bustin' out all over" certainly has a meaning for us al lright. Nothing of event occurred between Taihape and It, the latter we hit at 5 a.m, very fogry and dreary, the weather and the travallers were, indeed a match, Bedraggled, rubbing eyes and staggering akin to the proverbial COWS we slowly wended our way over the hill. Lo and behold! inside the hut were three sleeping b ( eauties) to wit ( definitely not wooing) Ted, Eth and Tou, who when asked whence they had come replied # we wal lked" the moral being ofcourse, every silly question - however it was good of them to have thefire lit tea on the go that's what I call real club spirit! Having watched the sun clear away the murk Saturday became clear, fine and warm, the only thing to mar the trancuility was Pharaoh Walsh's riding instructions as to who would do what, where and how, Breakfast, natural lly, was soon over Fnd done with, The time vas 7.15 am, precisely. Now, the writer had not seen the site since the memorable Calcutta week end, ( To enlighten some I the week end the hole was dug, only this time Clive was missing) and consequently upon his arrival on the field he was astounded to see all the spars and things sticking up; thè two walls almost boarded up and the sides of the 'ole lined. The folk working over Christmas are to be congratulated - and as for the hole-Horst dug - well I am sure that he shoul.d be pramoted to H.A.I. from Christmas day. The next thing we discovered was that the "Flying Fox" had become as one supporter put it I temperamental". As time went on we became more and more annoyed with it s: all hands and the cooks were forced to struggle up the track with all sizes of planks which should have sailed up hill on the Fox, Every now and then this infernal - NO b. : machine would give a splutter, cough like a consumptive cow and die, At times we were fortunate enough to see the hoist with 3 pieces of timber give a little jerk and swing to and fro : like a yo yo : and then STOP! Meanwhile ofcourse, Haggis, Lloyd, Ray and John Armstrong were huddled over it, pleading swearing and cursing ( Macbeth was not in it) all to no availo

26 1 The performance as described, went on for about four hours, during which time all the 6 X 2 had literally been "dragged" up the side of the mountain, together with a few 4 X 2's, 5 X 1's and the dressed timber. The first marning tea had come and gone, and the writer, for one was becoming quite niggly. At this point Sisley thought of trying his luck with a 6 X 2, so raising it onto his shoulder as one hoists a ladder he reached just over the point of balance, the rear end tipped on to head of Bernie : the c-r-a-c-k could be heard at the Glacier - Bernie staggered regained his stance and clutched a hand to his temple from whence blood began to emerge. Really the way one treats one friends. However with the timely aid of one of the girls he was assisted to the hut and later it was reported officially that Mr.Napp had received superficial injuries only. By now you can imagine that the aforesaid mentioned person who was beginning to lose his sense of humour was the first one to laugh! Well, it takes all sorts. This was only the first of our somewhat dramatic episodes. A little later John Nixon, Bernie (again) and the writer were having a discussion on the lineage of the "Flying Fox" I we were standing at the bottom, where all sterds and finishes and lo! the thing with three 4 X 2's commenced to chug and swing hutwards. We, with a 4 X 2 apiece followed it up the hoist by this time was well away and ofcourse as we had seen this happen all the morning consequently we did not take much notice, However, we failed to see it stop and it was not until some havke-eyed member of the crew gave a startled yell that we became aware that it was in REVERSE... out of control. On looking up we saw three logs hurtling towards us at a fair speed : in retrospect it is funny. Nixon, who had been complaining of all sorts of torn ligaments leapt into the air and took off towards his beloved Egmont; Bernie almost created new Olympic records and Sisley took off towards Pinnacle Ridge; meanwhile the three 4 X 2 's had slipped their sling and were zooming about like torpedoes. Ray Brandies, I should mention was at the bottan all the time and hammering away, oblivious to everything, and it.was only when he looked up and saw us laughing that he wanted to knor "What the h....'s up with you silly jokers!" Little did he knowe After this "minor" episode the machine worked very well, Ray and Sisley were loading the thing every 8 minutes so that things moved along at a good pace, consequently bringing relief to the girls and the chaps alike; the former being in a state of near revolt, Lunch came at 1.15 ( fifteen minutes earlier than forecast by Pharaoh Walsh) you should have heard him perform! The meal consisted of soup, spaghetti and potatoes, really novel - when these girls get married Mrs. Beaton will really be out of date! (Ed, note: BLAME the leafer). Once the meal was over the.gang returned to the scene of crime and disaster and the work proceeded along at a fast pace - by 2.45 all the wood was on the site. The "Flying Fox" really proved its worth and in addition regained its heritage. In the meantime Trevor and Horst decided that a few minor boulders should be removed from the path of the "F.F." thus with crowbars, picks and gelegnite they proceeded to blow whilst everyone retired to a safe possy. The echo around the mountains was remarkable - one almost expected to see Hadrian's Wall collapse! The afternoon dragged on, the sand for concreting was dragged up the dragger uppers feeling so much like three of Snow White's Dwarfs. Inside the hut was a hive of indutry there was banging and dwanging . along with rafters and beams : and outside was : eather boarding, varnishing and puttying going on and inside the 'ole one of the girls was busy painting timber an attractive shade of pink. At first one wondered if it was perhaps for the ladies' shower = but no - this pink stuff was just priming. Dinner time came at 7 - and - there was a frantic rush like a Sydney Wharf stop work meet ting and bods descended upon the Levin Hut all extremely hungt a but nevertheless pleased with the days work. It was, as usual, a noisy meal with remarks thrown around at everyone, poor cooks. It transpired that the trip leader had ordered creamed rice, and as said rice could not be foubd the ladies had improvised with a concoction which was very palatible and filling - the recipe ofcourse remains a secret, with all due respects perhaps this is a blessing. In lieu of cigars and brandy Bernie provided us with a story which is not of the drawing room type and therefore remains unprintable. Whilst weary workers wandered off to the sack the Trip "eader became mostmuroenery and extracted the cost of the trip from the unwary ones who had their eyes and pockets open, Sunday, as isusual with a vorking party came too quicland it befell the lot of the Leader to start up the stove and prepare breakfast.. with the help of Eth and Neill the eggs and wot not were soon on the table and it was agreed during these operations to promote Les to 2nd.engineer Primus (Hon.) By eight o'clock our simple mountain hut was once again tackled with renewed vigour in spite of the weather which had become a little chilly. In the distance Egmont showed its peak for a few moments much to the joy of Mr.Nixon - who when it once again tucked itself snugly behind clouds was heard to mutter # best bar none." Most of the workers continued with the same jobs as on Saturday and the carpenters worked at top speed (Ted D. is considering getting them to build his house). Before lunch all the sand was HEAVED onto the site, the rest of the timber was varnished and stacked. In spite of strict instructions from Trev lunch was announched 18 minutes early. He is now thinking of two things (a) Special time telling classes in conjunction with Alpine Instruction Courses and

(b) having Big Ben moved from its present site to a convenient position on the side of the "dump". Lunch comprised soup ( real breadline stuff) cold meat, and RICE, Yes the rice came to light 1 "three blind mice, they couldn't find the rice! Apart from the usual wisecracks the meal was very welcome and no one finished up hungry. After lunch the party commenced to pack up as the truck was due to leave at 3 o'clock, and the hut was tidied upo The truck duly arrived all the pillows and sheets were shaken ( we'll be wearing pyjamas in the truck next) and everyone clambered on board for homeward boundo The further south we went the hotter it became and I am sure that we could have fried the poached eggs upon ourselves = it was quite the thing to display a bared torsoo Wellington was reached at 11.30 p.n m, everyone was hot and naturally very tired.

One of the Slaves . : Ed.Note : The.object of this article - "A Simple Mountain Hut" is to entice?? members on a working party : in spite of all you have read : the hard work.. the long distance to travel cs it IS FUN and the more workers and more donations the quicker we shall be able to enjoy the luxury of a place of our own, Working Part No.5 This was led by Bernie and there were 19 on the tripo The weather was extremely hot - too hot to work: but quite a bit of work was done. Further work was done on the rafters, the flooring of the tank, the supporting slabs for the stove as well as weatherboarding, the coal box and oiling the weatherboerding. Working Party No.6 15-17 March. Tventy four attended this working party and the hut is now beginning to look like home, The roofers put on sarking & hald the roofing iron which had previously been painted by the girls. More weather boarding was put on and more oiling and varnishing was done. Some of the window frames were put in and glass cut to size. On the Sunday it was unfortunately extremely cold and the ditch diggers did a fine job. It was encouraging to see some of the older hands in the club out this week end. It is hoped to stage yet one more working party before Easter and ofcourse Easter will be zero hour for the final spurt to have it covered in. Finance ofcourse now remains a grave problem and if any members hear of odd jobs that can be done round about please contact the Hut Committee or the General Committee smartly : it will be a big thing to be able to use our own home and thus put money in our own pockets for hut fees : its up to you and its up to all of us. The challenge of tomorrow fascinates me more than the achievements of yesterday. David Sarnoff