9-10 March 2019

Leader: Owen Cox

Patrick was originally going to lead this but as he had another commitment Owen offered to step in We left the Kapiti Coast and after the usual food stop at Clareville we drove up to the end of the Mangatarere Road.

The track goes up stream a short distance then climbs up a ridge. Here we passed a person working the track. Our second rest was on the ridge where we had a quick lunch. From here we dropped down the ridge and onto the flat by Sayers. This was empty so some stayed in the hut while others camped. We filled the balance of the afternoon eating, talking and lazing about.

Sunday morning was a little (and only a little) damp, so no-one fancied a bush bash on the other route back to Mangatarere. As we were getting ready to leave a helicopter circled around and landed in the grass below the hut. A Rathkeale school group had lost a 12-year-old near Totara Creek on Saturday afternoon and they were checking if we’d seen him. We later found out they found him undamaged shortly after, somewhere in Totara Creek. We stopped for food not far past the high point and then dropped down back to the cars.

Those on the trip were:

Owen Cox, Marian Cox, Neville Grubner, Elisabeth Hynes, Dave Cox, Susan Robertson, Chantal Heller, Penny Currier, Tony Quayle, Kate Livingston