Area: Otago Peninsula, Dunedin

TEN TRAMPERS AND A TYPHOON

Because of the forecast, I was only half expecting anybody to turn up at the clubrooms on Sunday morning (28th March) for Bruce’s, nope, Robyn’s, nope, my trip to Poatiri/Mt Charles. So, I had a back-up plan of going to the Craft Show and/or the Museum. Then, Alison Johnston rang us at 8am to say their whole family would be there. Then we had to seriously get moving, as it was all on. Organising yourself to go on a day walk is really easy. Organising a family, two of whom said that they would rather stay at home and play on the computer all day and didn’t really want to go, is another thing.

We got to the clubrooms at 9am exactly. Phew! Richard ate his muesli in the car on the way down. A cheery few 6 people were there to greet us and away we drove along the Peninsula, in the very windy wind and ominous looking sky.

There was a bit of confusion at the start of the track, as we missed the sign post. How can 10 people miss the big wooden sign post? I don’t know. We drove to the end of the Allans Beach Road. I went to see the people of the house there, to make sure we had the right spot. But alas, there was nobody home, just a whole lot of chickens. Richard and I were on a trip up Mount Charles with the club 14 years ago, where we started from this house. I remember it well, as I was quite pregnant and there was no way that I could make it to the top that time. With nobody around to ask, we hustled up the track as fast as possible, sussed out that there were only big sheep in the paddocks anyway and continued. It was really, really windy at the bottom of the track, but as we got further up the mountain the wind was, well, more windy. Extremely windy! Richard said we must be in the jetstream by now, but it’s just that this is the bit of Otago that sticks out most into the ocean storms.

We hid behind the first bunch of rocks we came to. It was about morning tea time, so Graham produced lots of chocolate for everyone. A storm came through as we finished the chocolate and we had to wait for a lull before dashing out from our rocks to follow the path up the less windy side of the mountain. This was nice. The wind pushed us upwards and not sidewards for a while. We admired the pepper trees. Then we were there on the top. Some of us crawled the last few metres because we couldn’t stand up straight. All that gin and tonic the night before? No, it was the windy wind. Bloody hell, was it strong! After shouting "yippee" "We made it" and all that, we staggered down to the less windy side of the rocks. We admired the views, the insect life (why would an insect choose to live on the top of such a windswept hill?) and did the obligatory summit photo. The kids had a spitting contest, with Vincent winning by sending his spit into the sea past Taiaroa Head.

The next storm was fast approaching. Time to run! Most of us had a great run into the wind on the way down with lots of shouting and leaping in the air to see how far the wind could carry you before you came back down to earth. The smaller people with shorter legs conceded to a nervous tip-toe around the lovely crop of thistles about half way down. But then we were away again yeehaaing into the wind; Alison and Graham sedately walking down hand-in-hand at the back. Very romantic. I think they had a quick snog when no-one was looking, but they’re allowed to. They’ve been married at least 13 years or so.

We had lunch back at the cars and decided not to visit Allans Beach on account of not wanting our faces and legs sand-blasted. We saw the BIG wooden walkway sign as we drove away. Oops! Maybe they should paint it bright orange or something. The trip ended with a visit to Macandrew Bay School Fair. Graham picked up a bag of books. Our family (the children anyway, who do mad things like eating ice cream on cold days) had an ice cream to eat in the car on the way home. And nobody was car sick, thank goodness.

Tracy Pettinger (leader) for Richard, Vincent and Rosa Pettinger, Janet Barclay, James Marshall and Graham, Alison, Christina and Jasmin Johnston.

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