Standard route:  Leader: Chris Snook   Tail-ender:Richard Milburn 

Alternative route: A democratic group – all eight were both leaders and tail-enders!

    ‘Trees must be planted!’  And from all over Christchurch 31 stalwarts of the Bishopdale Tramping Clubread the summons. Notwithstanding the rain pelting on their roofs and the knowledge that the ground beneath their feet would be ‘glorious’ mud , they rose from their beds, collected their heaviest wet weather gear and trusty shovels and obeyed. There is nothing quite like an order from Stan!!!

 But the rain cleared, the temperature rose, the wind was very light and it turned out to be a quite a good day. Driver Colin helped us load all the extra gear and equipment and we set off to meet Ranger Di Carter at our usual planting site – and she was delighted to see so many.  But she had some bad news. There had been a slip through an area that we had planted last year, and the root system of the relatively new plants had not developed enough to hold the soil. So about half the group  – those who didn’t mind a really muddy experience – were given the task of planting 191 kanuka bushes in the steep-sided slip.

    And the rest did the usual job of digging, planting, adding the purple cardboard and grass to keep out the weeds, and surrounding the plant with a green plastic screen to keep out the rabbits. By morning tea the work was well underway and it was a sit or stand affair as things were still pretty damp underfoot. 

    All was accomplished by 11:15 or so, and off we trudged back up to the bus. At this point 23 members and our visitor on his third tramp, Rory McWilliam, chose to walk over to the Sign of the Bellbird for lunch and then follow Totara Log, Bush Road, O’Farrell’s and Titoki Tracks down to Governor’s Bay. The rest de-booted and hopped in the bus for a ride down to the Annandale reserve. That was a lovely ride as driver Colin, instead of following the more usual route, headed west on the Summit Road to Gebbies Pass giving us some beautiful and rarely seen views. They then followed the waterfront track over to Governor’s Bay Hotel. Both groups arrived about the same time and the photo shows that a good time was had by all. Driver Colin collected his passengers and we were all back at Bishopdale well before three.