| Leader | Mentor | Tail Ender | |
| Standards | Janice | Warren | Glenys |
| Alternates | Ali | Kiwan |
Distance 12.5 km Ascent 500 m Duration 4:15 hours
After a slow commute through the city, we picked up the rest of the day’s trampers at the Princess Margaret Hospital car park and were driven to the Tussock Vineyard car park area on Huntsbury Ave. The 16 Standards took off to the left, over a stile and down the Huia Gilpin Track into the valley to visit the shelter before coming back up to the Summit Rd. The 10 Alternatives went straight on up the 4-wheel track continuation of Huntsbury Ave. And it was straight up – after 2 months of no tramping the author’s lungs and legs were really rebelling! Fortunately, the gradient became more gentle as we made our way upwards. Near the Summit Road, the alternatives had morning tea with a beautiful view to the west of the fresh, overnight snow-cap on the foothills. During the break, a native Canterbury ground beetle was seen scrambling across the track – an unusual daytime sight because these beetles are normally nocturnally active, feeding on other insects and worms. On being picked up, it demonstrated another feature of these beetles by spraying its foul-smelling defence chemical. It was returned to the grassland before we left.
After the tea break, we crossed the Summit Road and followed the Crater Rim Track through the Scott Scenic Reserve and on to near Sugar Loaf where we took Mitchell’s Track and passed to the south of Sugar Loaf and across the road for a ‘pit stop’ at the Sign of the Kiwi. On resumption of the tramp, we joined the Bowenvale Track. Soon afterwards, we met the Standards coming down the Summit Rd. Why the Alternatives circled Sugarloaf in a clockwise direction and the Standards in an anti-clockwise direction is something some psychologist may be able to answer. One feature of this tramp was the number of places where planting had occurred over the winter, with signs bearing information about the plantings. The lush, green growth of previous years’ plantings was also very visible.
The Alternatives had lunch sitting in a nice, protected area below the mountain bike track before resuming the tramp in the direction of Mt Vernon. At this point, they took the ‘low road’ (the Mt Vernon Mountain Bike Track) to the gate near the Archie Lilly Memorial and the Standards took the ‘high road’ to the Mt Vernon summit. From the Summit Rd, it was then a long steady tramp down the Mt Vernon Farm Track to the bus waiting for us in Hillsborough Terrace. The Alternatives arrived at the bus at 2.00 pm and the Standards about 20 minutes later. Before dropping off the PMH passengers, we ended a lovely spring day’s outing with coffee at Zeroes.
Txt by Eric
