21-22 March 2020

Leader: Tony Quayle

The country headed into this weekend well aware of the looming Covid-19 threat but without any activity restrictions. Judging by the number of vehicles at the Tamaki roadend on Saturday it was business as usual for a good number of others too. Any thoughts of leaving tents behind were abandoned at this point.

The first task of the day was the 700 metre climb up the main range at A-Frame. Shortcutting zig-zags was fun at first, but Chantal probably regretted following me up a line that probably took us a good 20 minutes before we rejoined the group further up the hill. A-Frame, when we reached it, turned out to be a busy place, with several 4WDs of sightseers and a small team doing a fine job renovating the hut.

Continuing north, we followed Takapari Road for a bit, before branching off onto a typical Southern Ruahine leatherwood corridor towards Takapari peak. Shortly before what looks like a short, sharp, and overgrown, climb onto Takapari, the track turns sharp right and descends to Stanfield Hut. Although there were only 2 sleeping bags in the hut we elected to pitch our tents on the helipad and practice a bit of social distancing.

The wind got up overnight, and we had our first spots of rain as we finished breakfast, but we stayed dry (just) all the way down the river to the carpark.

Those on the trip were:

Chantal Heller, Elisabeth Hynes, June Shelton, Kate Livingston, Marian Cox, Niamh Dunne, Neville Grubner, Owen Cox, Peter Davis, Tony Quayle