Hi,
What a great weekend - Mike led an amazing family tramp to Paua Hut. The meal was fantastic and we enjoyed the company of other families and their children.
Friday night I went out with Toby to Christine and Tom's place for dinner and left Mike to sort out packing for the weekend. Toby was a bit put out by this as he was looking forward to a quiet Friday night at home doing nothing but watching a movie. He pouted all the way to their house and then climbed into the boot to delay going in. Christine spotted us as she popped out to put something in the rubbish. I mentioned Toby's reluctance to visit and she immediately turned him around and before I knew it, they were racing each other up the stairs into her house. Toby was hooked - and he tucked into a fabulous dinner and watched Kung Fu Panda with Tom. It was a great evening.
Home and to bed for an early rise for the start of tramping. Toby got a lift there with Jack and John (they were on their first overnight tramp to a hut with us - Toby was so pleased to have Jack along) and Mike and I drove in to get a new bite valve for his camelbak (shops were still shut in town so we dropped into Kathmandu in Petone) and picked up Claire and her two daughters - Auriel and Saren.
We were a little late getting to the road end. But Constanze and Christian were there with Gustav and Moritz. And Daniel was there with his two girls - Charlotte and Alice. It was a good walk in. The weekend was threatening storms and it was very humid and mild on Saturday. Definitely t-shirt and shorts weather. We had lunch at Midway Bridge (a fantastic swing bridge halfway along the track). Christian and Moritz left at the river and headed back.
We made Paua Hut with only a few drops of rain falling every now and then. They have hardly had any rain in the last month here and the river was as low as I have ever seen it. The side streams were dry and there was only one braid in the river - a single channel. Usually there are channels you have to cross quite regularly.
The children played and had fun. We put the tape on the trees to remind the kids to avoid playing near the eroding cliff. Oh - did we remember to pick it up again?
Then Mike got dinner started and he cooked up a storm. We now recommend the beef stroganoff in the Tramping Club recipe book. It was great! Mike made a vege one (we had a vegetarian on the trip) and a beef one. It was perfect catering - hardly anything leftover and people ate heaps. Well done, Mike.
When it got darker, we had a campfire outside and Daniel let off fireworks and the kids toasted marshmallows. Great fun. The funniest thing I saw? Charlotte asking John to help her light her sparkler because it wasn't lighting. John asked her to pass it to him. Next thing he handed it back saying "It's a twig". I laughed quite hard at that. It was quite dark by then. I am sure Charlotte had no idea about it being a twig. One firework shot off right past me and Toby and fizzled loudly in the tree behind us. Constanze had been there up until a minute beforehand. Lucky for her. Mind you, in my experience the Germans can handle fireworks with nonchalance.
Mike and I slept in our Macpac tent and Toby and Jack slept in the new Beyond tent. As we drifted off, a slow patter of rain started. Never heard anything else till the morning. The rain had been quite steady all night though judging by the dampness.
We had breakfast - John cooked up bacon and asparagus. It was scrumptious. I am adding that to my brekkie list from now on. Then we tidied and left. The walk back was dry - the rain had stopped at about 7.30am. The river was hardly any different (maybe slightly deeper and faster in places - but scarcely noticeable). Toby had a misadventure on the way back. He jumped off a 2m high bank and landed great, but bit down on his mouth with the impact. He had a nip out of his lower inside lip and said he had 4 wobbly teeth. We told him to be careful eating and not to wiggle them. He calmed down and they came right. I will keep an eye on them though. His two top teeth and his two bottom teeth (front ones). Poor boy. it did upset him.
We got out to the car park by 1pm and all climbed wearily into cars and headed home. It was a great weekend. I love the tramp out there. So easy and yet it feels isolated.
I had to get into work after that though for a few hours. But it went ok. Last night was a fantastic sleep - although the cat was making choking sounds and may have puked up at some stage. Mike will know more.
Time to start the week! Have a great day.
Love,
Angela
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