page 10

Easter Trip

We nearly piked ! Yes, my fourth ever (!) Tararua trip just about didn't make it when Good Friday dawned (could you call it a dawn?) with the best rain we've had for weeks.

However, I just managed to get one particularly unwilling member pushed into Pete's car before he ran home, and our two-car convoy set off for the Wairarapa and Kiriwhakapapa.

There, a determined camper was just making his way to the bog, complete with a large rubbish bag over his body and a small one on his head - we didn't look quite so novel.

Tramping through wet bush, I soon decided, sounds much worse than it actually is. For the first time ever I felt some of the utter peacefulness of the bush, as I sat on damp moss on the ridge and listened to water dripping from silent, moss-grown trees; beyond was nothing but muffling mist.

Lunch in the rain wasn't our idea of fun, so we made our way slowly down to Cow Creek. The cage there was an - interesting? -new experience for me, as was sleeping next to the tent wall on a wet night (say no more). BUT (it can't all be bad) the next day dawned fairly clear and our enthusiasm led us to set off at least as early as 10.30am. We tramped up...and up...and up...our progress recorded regularly in the Imperial British measurement of height; 13 ft per millisecond - by Russell, of course. Out of the bush, onto Table Ridge for lunch.

This decadent repast was enlivened with Russell announcing that he was throbbing with recumbent desire.¹, and some mutterings from Jim about the inexperienced waitress...altogether depracated (defaecated?) is all I have to say on the matter.

Seeing all the peaks from up there made it all make some sense to one of my intellect... and it was good to be out in the sun. Two little tarns between Girdlestone and Adkin were a tempting spot at 6 pm; we finally decided we'd do the climb to North King the next morning. A clear, cold evening, a great tea, and a beautiful gold moon rising made for a good night.

The question remaining in my mind is; Did Russell piss in the tarn or was it just the rocks?

A resolution to one day do a moonlight Southern Crossing came out of a midnight water-collecting expedition that I made - and one day I will!

Easter Sunday was eggless but fine and windy, so we slogged up to North King where a lucky accident happily prevented Roussel from having to carry his sugar any further. Big discussion on South King as to whether we'd go down Pinnacle Ridge or over the Broken Axe Pinnacles and out via Holdsworth - maybe if we'd known the outcome of our decision we would've gone the latter way - but who among us had second sight, sixth sense or whatever?

Two or three deer carcasses were on South King; I spent my weekend in forewarned anxiety about being mistaken for one, but someone pointed out that I'm well known for a certain un-deerlike characteristic that would probably save me.

Pinnacle Ridge track was not very obvious and in the end Russell, Pete and I split up from Jim and Jenny and bushbashed down off the ridge to Atiwhakatipu stream, which wasn't all that much fun for one unfit one of the three - but great to get onto the track down there and finally out to Donnelley's Flats by dark. Wondering what had become of Jim and Jenny we trudged to Holdsworth (and I swear that track was three times longer than it is by day), and, throbbing with recumbent desire burst into warmth, light, music and teenyboppers (Wow!).

page 11

One stew of superior quality later, we were just discussing a brew (yes for Lu, Stu), when who should walk in but? They'd come down the stream in pitch dark with one torch so they were glad to be out. We all ended up under a schedule ² with our heads out far enough to see a clear sky and to surprise the local residents with strange conversations.

Party: Jim M., Pete Dench, Russell as in Millington, Jenny, and Lu who wrote this.