Cooking with Fire

Text taken from the club newsletter.

COOKING WITH FIRE by AMELIA WHITE

In the depths of mid-winter, when the weather is miserable, nothing is better than curling up in front of a fire with a good book, right? (especially if that fire is in a hut, surrounded by snow). Well—until you have kids.

Then, in the depths of mid-winter, you hope for a wee bit of sunshine, wrap them up in warm clothes and gumboots, and take the fire outdoors!

For the second year in a row, the club Families Group arranged a mid-winter cookout at Battle Hill, a wonderful site for both summer camping and winter exploring. With the main campground closed at the ford, we took advantage of the fire pad closest to the washrooms and stream to light our fire.

Sending various groups off exploring for firewood and marshmallow toasting sticks, huge piles of wood were found where trees had been trimmed in the main campground, all collected by roving bands of kids, to bring back fireside.

We got the fire roaring pretty quickly, using home- bought kindling (it’s the safer option in the middle of a very wet winter!), and soon had large flames building up our store of useful coals. More people kept arriving, until suddenly we had a crew of somewhere around 40 adults and kids, ranging up in age from the youngest at about 3.

Once the parents got the food on the fire (and the range this year was much improved on last year), the kids all wandered off to explore the nearby stream—which runs low and within sight, so perfect for semi-supervised play. Several got rather wet, and many stones were thrown.

The kids (and adults) devoured a series of scrummy lunch courses. From cheese scones and bacon-wrapped baked potatoes, to marshmallow s’mores (the kiwi version, using chocolate thins), to beef kebabs, damper and pita wraps, we were well served, and I think everyone picked up a bit of inspiration they’ll carry through to next year’s event.

The sun had shone throughout our fire building and cook, and just as most people were packing up to head home it started spitting. A few hardy souls still went to visit the eels on their way out of the campground, while the rest of us headed home, totally satisfied and looking forward to doing it all again in 2018.

61 Dorset Ridge Tarn, Tararua Forest Park