| Group | Leader | Mentor | Tailender |
| Standards | Peter M | Lynn B | Frank |
| Alternates | Michele | Ali | Tessa |
Distance 11km, ascent 640m, time 4hrs 45mins.
There were 32 of us on the bus as we headed away in the direction of the Southern Alps. Included in our number were our welcome repeat visitors, Andrea and Jenny, as well as our returning Himalayan tramping greats, Jan Bb and Alan H.
Our drive to McLennans Bush Road was so unremarkable that one of the highlights, other than Viktor’s superb driving skills of course, was the nice new toilet block in Hororata. Further on, even better was the incredible panoramic view down to the Rakaia bridge and across to the simply breathtaking vista of the cloud-shrouded Alps.
Also impressive were the rhododendrons which are a glorious feature of the Awa Awa Reserve. Apparently the first of the 700 or so were planted in 1968 and some hard-working volunteers are still planting more. There was even a cute new toilet building (one wonders if all these new toilet blocks have been built solely for our ‘convenience’?).
Although using AI to aid in the writing of trip reports is not encouraged, let’s assume there’s nothing wrong with stealing other people’s work. Chris S, past report writer extraordinaire wrote so eloquently in 2018:
As we sauntered through the vibrant rhododendron blooms, our two usual groups formed and at the start of the Scott’s Saddle Track the Standards took the lead. Under foot was a little squishy from recent rainfall, and the tangled tree roots made careful negotiation essential as we proceeded to climb through predominately mature beech/tawhairauriki forest dotted with occasional southern rata. Tentative rays of sun filtering through the foliage were enough to generate that characteristic mossy fug you get from tramping in damp bush. Momentary glimpses of the Plains were visible through gaps in the beech.
More prosaic was Michele’s comment: ‘the first bit was pretty ugly, eh’ which is a great summary of the track. As well as being rather steep, it is also muddy, slippery and hazardous. Some of the 18 Standards may have smugly assumed this tramp would be easy after the trials of Mt Oxford last week. Not so. On the positive side, the weather was superb.
Morning tea for both groups was at the junction of the Scotts and the Ridge tracks. Leader Peter tried to convince the more naïve that the track would become easier from that point. Again, no. However, the landscape and flora did actually change; we tramped through a miniature forest of stunted beech trees, out to an open area of alpine plants, and then on to some screes which were fun to negotiate.
The Alts enjoyed their lunch at the bench seat lookout before retracing their steps down to the track junction, then following the Ridge Track and on to the Opuke Track down to the bus. The Standards headed on further before finding a great spot for lunch, with tantalising views of a moody Mt Hutt enveloped in cloud, before heading back down hot on the tails of the Alts.
Melodious bird song was occasionally heard as we headed downhill. Also overheard: “There’s a lot of dead wood up ahead” which may have hurt the feelings of the two trampers in front of the speaker. Also: a conversation overheard by an Alt: “Is that an aircraft down below?” “No. It’s the Canterbury Planes!”
Some of us height-challenged hikers could occasionally be overheard commenting on how tough some of the rock and root ‘steps’ were for our short little legs. That was until we came across a charming little chihuahua happily tackling the same track. We had also encountered another striking dog along the way, a magnificent Border Collie that looked like he may have had some English Sheep dog in his blood line.
Everyone was proud of themselves for eventually making it down safely, though there were a few muddy bottoms suggesting it hadn’t always been easy. Admiring the rhodos, and possibly the nice new toilets, was a bus load of friendly out-and-abouters, including two previous Bishopdale Trampers.
The Alts had made it back to our bus only minutes before the Standards, and were just in time to witness the drama of a campervan scraping the backing mirror of the very flash bus the rhodo appreciation group had arrived in.
The trip back to Christchurch was rather quiet, which may have been a consequence of the temperature in the bus being overly warm, or just possibly because of our big efforts. The best thing was that we had had such a busy day there had been little opportunity to ponder the dire events which may or may not have been unfolding in the US elections.
Text by Shirls
