| Leader | Mentor | Tail Ender | |
| Standards | Peter M | Alan | Judy R |
| Alternates | Les G | Ali | Moira |
Distance: Standards 12km, Alternates >8km
With Grant driving, 36 of us set out for a walk among the limestone rocks of Prebble Hill. We welcomed visitor Debbie B, Selwyn’s guest Elizabeth and the long looked-for return of Steve G. The requisite toilet stop in Springfield was done alongside a bevy of other buses, one apparently driven by our former driver Viktor. Then we were on our way to Porters Pass – random fact or pub quiz answer, take your pick – Porters Pass is higher than Arthur’s Pass and is the third highest point on the South Island’s state highway network – points of which further north are of national significance.
Dropped off at Castle Hill Station, we were all walking (13 Alternates and 23 Standards) by 10.15am. Down the incline to a robust newish bridge which the farmer later in the day said had been put there for trampers and climbers and animals generally. Not for cars. When the weather threatens the bridge is removed by a crane. There was some conjecture from trampers about where the crane might come from. Up the other side to walk along farm tracks, beside a deer fence (containing some large healthy swedes, no deer spotted), the smell of honey signalled a cluster of beehives. Then the climb to the saddle and the top.
What a day it turned out to be. By lunchtime the sky had cleared. Following the recent rain there was emerald green in the valleys and all around us those rocks. Sandwiches never tasted better.
After lunch, aside from the trudge up from the bridge, it’s all downhill in the best possible way. Keeping track of her charges kept the Standards’ tailender on her toes as trampers were lost from view descending behind rocks. Rocks that look like gigantic marbles, pancake stacks or as one tramper tenderly said, the Pietà. At the bottom there’s a scramble along the side of the Porter River and some welcome river crossings to cool hot feet.
The Standards were all there at the river but in maintaining balance crossing, one tramper lost her prescription reading glasses. In their pink case they fell out of her pack. Seeing the glasses brightly bobbing away meant a loud shout went out to the tramper crossing further downstream. She scooped up the case, momentarily lost her balance and dropped it. Providing back-up was Elizabeth (subsequently revealed to be in training for a 50km trail run in Vietnam) nimbly sprinting along the riverbank. The case was scooped up for a second time. A big thank you to Selwyn’s guest Elizabeth for the rescue.
Back at the bus the Alternates had been waiting for half an hour. They’d met the farmer and some successful trout fishers. The bus ride home was quieter, grateful. A day to remember.
Text by Jen C
