6 November
The van left Pukahu at 6.30 AM and we picked Brian up at the Whittle Road corner making 9 disembarking at Makahu Saddle. There was a brief stop at Rissington to admire the mammoth redwood sculpture depicting 2 soldiers. Kathy’s four were waiting at the Makahu Saddle carpark, Julie, Eileen & Tamsyn had already started the climb up and Mark arrived with John and Jade shortly after us. This made a total of 19 heading for the cairn. We were all packed up and ready to leave the carpark by 8.30 AM. It was a misty morning, cool, but calm which was great for the upwards climb.
We had the usual stop at Dominee and regrouped before continuing upwards into the mist. The last of us had arrived at the cairn at a minute or so after 11 (or so we thought). It was still misty and cold, so Peter, Brian and Joan convened a short service, followed by group photos at which point, John & Jade appeared (we thought they were going to stay at Dominee with Anne). We then made our way back down to Dominee. There were not as many alpine flowers as there were last year but still the Kaweka tops were very picturesque and as we descended the mist cleared a bit giving some interesting landscapes to photograph.
We were back at the saddle by about 2.30 and shortly after we motored on down the hill to Pam’s Puketitiri Palace for a sumptuous afternoon tea.
Party: Julie T, Tamsyn M, Eileen T, Kathy E, Darrell E, Samara E, Carlee E, Mark H , John H , Jade M , Clint B , Derek B , Brian S , Anne D, Nicholas W, Joan R, Nat B, Peter B & Glenda H.