A Stroll in the Ruahines or Done by the Forces of Nature

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A STROLL IN THE RUAHINE RANGES OR DONE BY THE FORCES OF NATURE Robert Cross Done by the forces were Eric Evans (leader), Claire Silcock, Peggy Christianson, Anita Catchpole, Gary Goldsworthy, and Robert Cross. emember the first days of bearing the sinister legend: Ruahine initials FE coulds standi for many things, September? Spring was in the Farm. Proceed no further "I but 'fitness essential' was seldom one air, the blossoms were out. Then a dontrememberthese: sheds", said Eric, ofthem. Indeed, as thel haggard puntsoutherly rippedthrough. Spring was the driver, consulting his map Nei- ers struggledupl below'fitnessequivoout, the blossoms were in the air. ther did anyone else. But it was the cal'a 'and 'fitness emeritus' cametomind. Houses in Wellington lost roofs. A right route - just the wrong reaction, tramper at Claire's uncon- Tongariro National scious was still try- Park almost lost her ing to warn us. She toes. And where had awoken with a were the Tongue & nascent migraine Meats? The By thet time we were Ruahine Ranges. on the tops the pain On the tops, of had become intense course. and she was losing vision in one eye. The storm wasn't Common sense sugforecast, but there gested abandoning were omens. Claire herl but interestingly arrived at the truck enough this was not sans sleeping bag. recommendedbyt the Only the good oflatest Safety in the fices of Geoff Mountains field Crockford enabled guide. Instead we her to return home decided to potter forit. When Claire about the tops beforget pit, forget fore dropping to the trip. This seems SO nearby OtukotaHut. obvious now. Spring snow at Otukota Hut Gary Goldsworthy Conditions were goodandimproving. A deceptively uneventful trip to as wecontinued through to Kawhatau For an hour or SO the ranges became Mangaweka. Except for the incident Base and a night in and around the an island of sunshine. What little at Bulls that, in hindsight, held a ter- Duchess. snow lay about was melting. Dark rible significance. Brian, set to emclouds were on every horizon with bark on a solo photographic mission, Saturday morning saw us completely those in the west advancing. spilled the sauce from his Chinese sucked in by partially clear weather. takeaway all over his white trousers. We attacked the grunt up to Colenso We started down the spur to the hut, The brown stains were horribly sug- with gusto - well some of us did. stopping for lunch while there was gestive of something No wonder Peggy, newly arrived from the States, still an excellent view. Peggy had their message wasmisinterpreted. Yet had never been on an FE trip before. been saying how much she loved we should have realised: You will be Being under the impression that such New Zealand. Wethereforediscussed asdark droplets castacross. thewhite. trips entail thrusting through the wil- domestic violence, child abuse, racial derness like maniacs, she hurtled up- discord, poverty, unemployment, Then there was the portent of the wards for fear of being left behind. educational shortcomings, environbuildings. Strange, unremembered During her long wait at the top for the mental degradation, politicalbetrayal, erections surrounding a closed gate others it had to be explained that the and New Zealander's appalling driving habits. "Still a great place to tures. Claire's medical history is of joyed the transformation. There were bring upl kids though, eh," I said. Anita. course printed annually as an appen- smiles and laughter. Photos were dix to the Guinness Book ofRecords. taken. An easy trundle down to Otukota. A chilling sight on opening the door: The rain pelted the iron roof Wel hit The powder deepened as we climbed. every surface covered in blowflies. our pits. As I settled into a top bunk Soon the track disappeared and the Most were dead. Some were in that bytheli light ofthed dying fire, there was plugging of steps began. Once we peculiartorpor causedb bythecold. Of a crepuscular movement on the wall were out of the bush the wind hit. all the signs this was thel least subtle. beside my face. Something large was Though we were still relatively shel- Those of a more intuitive, less scien- crawling. I sounded the alarm as I tered, the gusts werestrong andi icy. A tific age would have undoubtedly reached for a torch. The beam re- needling sleet infiltrated the snow. packed up and fled. When blowflies vealed an enormous spider, one of We stopped and put on everything. form carpet - scarper - surely an thel biggest I've ever seen ("The maancient proverb. Asitwas, the insects jorityofourspiders, event the common Then began the slog. The snow was weresweptupands shovknee-deep, waist-deep elled outside. Ever the in drifts. Thel leadi hadto romantic, Ericmusedon be rotated, usually when feeling the weight of a the leader collapsed into shovel full of blowies. a drift. The higher we Another little gem for climbed, the higher the his album of tramping wind, the worse the vismemories. ibility. Navigation became tricky. We hit the We were just finishing firstmarker: all right, but gathering firewood we were now on top of when the temperature the Mokai Patea, and dropped and it started conditions were atroraining. Piling inside cious. Itwasn'tfar: across for a brew, Peggy's abtoColenso; itv wasn'tlong sence was noted. Eric before it seemed an inset off to find her. A credibly long way. We shorttimelaterweheard were all cold and tiring. shouts from thel hill be- There was no shelter. hind thel hut. Peggy had Preparing. for the epic ahead Eric Evans Any stops we had to wandered off the track make only made us and become disoriented. Gary went species, are still undescribed "Ani- colder. Really, we werei in a blizzard. up and guided her down. She was mals ofNew Zealand, S. Natusch). It was no place to be out walking embarrassed but needn't have been. This monsterl had clearly beenengorg- unless you were Captain Oates. There's not much thick bush in Wis- ing itself on blowflies for some time. consin. She'd done the right thing. Now there were nonel left. We weret to There were bad moments. Someone blame. Luckily I'd hung my socks on told Peggy it was often like this. There was the odd clearance but we a rafter. More kick than a chlorowere basically hut-bound. Nobody form-soaked handkerchief, as the spi- Reaching thei trig at Colenso gaver us a cared. Otukota is a pleasant spot. der soont found out. My blow by blow boost. But there was no real relief Attention shifted to firelighting and account oft this drama caused panici in until we were down into the bush meal preparations. Both went well. the bottom bunk, where Peggy lay in again and could stop and have some- Wehad chicken and fettucine in front fear. It only made Anita curious. She thing to eat and drink. ofa roarer. Peggy's first ever cheese- volunteered to liberate the anaesthecake was scoffed with grunts of ap- tisedspider. Long afterwards desper- Back at the truck the Medium's were proval. Claire was much better She ate, reflexive brushing-away noises waiting. We changed. The euphoria entertained with readings from her came from the bunk below that follows close-to-the-edge experiforthcoming book on cycling, Prang, ences slowly settled in. A few laughs to be published by ACC as part of Soon after we awoke in the morning as thel Duchess jolted her way back to their How Not To educational the rain turned to sleet, then - magic! the tar seal. Then we all crashed, series. As: an encore, shet toldt thes story hurrah! snow. Thes soft fall of the totally knackered. Fitness Essential, ofherexploding fillings, and described fresh flakes ornamented the valley. after all. some of her concussions and frac- Climbing away from the hut, we en-