Max Smart Memorial Trip - The Sequel

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Max Smart Memorial Trip The Sequel Roger Cole The Max Smart memorial plaque was passed over to John Watson at a party at Jenny and Ralph Jorgensen's place after the trip into the Matakitaki to find a suitable spot for it to be located. John Watson headed back into the Matakitaki Valley with Vida the following Easter (1996) to complete the memorial to Max. ohn and Vida walked in via the same route past hours locating the plaque. John hadn't been as close to Downie Hut and East Matakitaki Hut. About an hour the base of David Saddle as he had thought. Using the (or so he thought) below David Saddle, he found an sealing compound in conjunction with natural sand from ideal spot for the plaque on an island with views up the river, the pointing was soon finished to John's high and down the valley. John hammered away for hours standards. We sat for a while and had a couple of brews, with a star drill and eventually got it established on a thinking off the master and wishing he were with us (perlarge rock. A magnificent achievement, but as the rock haps he was). There was no thunder this time! was uneven John felt that another trip was necessary to We continued the trip down the river past Bobs Hut, point the plaque up properly to avoid water freezing noting in the hut logbook that Bill Hargreaves (Xmas behind it and pushing it off. '96) and Jim Kettlewell (Easter '97) had been through So New Year's Eve '97 saw John and Vida meeting this area since our original trip perhaps the Tongue Ralph Jorgensen and I - off the ferry at Picton with their and Meats are adopting this valley. We then headed up trusty Skoda. Stopping only to buy sealing compound the west branch and over the unnamed pass into the for the plaque and of course a brew, we caught the wa- Ada Valley. It was all SO very beautiful. ter taxi up Lake Rotoroa and were walking up the We camped at thel high lake hoping to climb Gloriana, D'Urville Valley by late afternoon. but the next morning the wind was roaring and the sum- The track had recently been improved so walking was mits were cloaked in cloud So we headed out. Ralph easy. We saw many people in the D'Urville below Moss was keen to use his fishing rod at least once more. Pass, but higher up we came across only one pair. The heavens opened as we walked down the road The weather was brilliant and a brew at the top of from Lewis Pass to Maruia Springs to meet our wives, David Saddle whilst taking in the views out over the but we considered ourselves to be very fortunate to have white tops of the Spenser mountains, was fantastic. We had a few great days in the wilderness to recharge our continued down into the Matakitaki and spent a few batteries. We'll be back in the next millennium. Ralph, Roger and John by Max's plaque Vida Watson Tramping and Mountaineering 1998