Log Book
February - June 1996

Tunnel Tramp

A map of the track we took

When? 3 February 1996
Where? Waitakere Ranges
Who? Brendan, Darryn, Karlene, Raewyn, Trudy

More than anything, we wanted to go through the tunnels.

Darryn had given us great hopes about the tunnels in the water catchement area of the Waitakere Ranges. That sounded like a very exciting tramp to us. He said that some of the tunnels were as long as 500m! And there would be glow worms too. Unfortunately though, we needed permission from Watercare. Darryn asked them, but they said that we weren't allowed to as we weren't involved in a scientific study. So we got Trudy on the job. She rang up all over the place and pleaded. She said that we desperately wanted to do this tramp. She said we were an conservation group that did lots of good for the environment. She said that we had done every other tramp in the Waitakere Ranges and our lives wouldn't be complete if we couldn't do this one. She said we were experienced trampers. She would have said anything to convince them. Finally they relented (probably just sick of Trudy's pestering), but they said that we had to wear hard hats in the tunnels at all times.

So it came that Saturday morning we arrived at the start of our route, on Piha Road. The weather was fine - a little too hot and humid for our liking. The first half of the tramp involved the usual beautiful native bush. To the releif of a few members, the track that Darryn had chosen this time didn't involve many steep climbs, but was gently sloping. The recent rainfall had rendered the track (which was strewn with roots) quite slippery. Because the track was slippery, we had to keep our heads down to make sure our footing was sound. Unfortunately on this particular track, the branches were quite low. These two factors combined and resulted in several amusing incidents in which a branch came into contact at a moderate speed with a head. Brendan provided us with the first laugh. He didn't find it so funny though and let his stress show by the colourful use of language. What added to the hilarity of the event was that Brendan was carrying in his hands a hard hat. Several similar moments occured before lunch. The most amusing of these was the one where Raewyn walked straight into a branch and caught it on the bridge of her nose. This didn't leave permanent scarring, but it did leave a little bruise that would provide Trudy with amusement for the next few days.

Anyway we got safely to Upper Huia Resevoir and then made our way to Upper Nihotupu Resevoir. We had our lunch on a little piece of grass at the top of the dam. After lunch our real adventures began - we started the Tunnel stretch of the tramp along the tramline. We put on our hardhats and stepped into the cold, dark tunnels. It was a very exciting experience. The tunnels were very dark and we could only see by the weak beams of our pathetic torches. It was very scary for Karlene, whos brother had informed her that the tunnels were filled with cockroaches. We didn't see any cockroaches though, but we were amazed to see glow worms! This was a self actualization experience for us because we hadn't seen glow worms (at least not this close) before. There they were, little sparkles of light in the damp, cold darkness of the tunnels. We stopped and stared at them and gasped at their beauty.

Some of the tunnels were really quite long. The longest one (around 500m) prompted us to sing railroad songs to overcome our increasing feeling of claustraphobia (at times we could neither see the entrance nor the exit, only the blackest darkness - until someone turned their torch on). When we came out the other end we experienced a sudden transition from the coolness of the tunnel to the muggy heat of the day. Kind've like what happens when you step outside after you've been ice skating.

We then got to the end of the track to where Brendan's car was parked. We didn't know it though (except Darryn) and kept on walking through another few tunnels. Darryn then told us we had come to far, so we went back, sorry to see the last of the glow worms. Darryn asked us if we wanted to see the Arataki visitor's centre and we said what a good idea. It was very nice.

Then we went home to Trudy's house and had a nice relaxing spa.

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Mystery Tour

When? 4 February 1996
Where? All around the place
Who? Brendan, Darryn, Karlene, Raewyn, Trudy

We drove all the way over to Greenlane in our formal attire to hop on the bus. We had no idea where we were going - hence the name Mystery Tour.

The bus drove away from the parking lot and we took our bets on which exit it would take from the big round about. We had quite a while to decide because the crazy bus driver drove around it 3 times before it finally got off. The bus went west.

We ended up at Motomoana, much to our dismay. We were told to get off. Then we were told to get back on and we all got a lollipop. We then realised that this was a cunning plan to confuse us.

The bus took off again (going round each round about at least 3 times) and zoomed up to the Waitakere Ranges. This was familiar territory to the Waitakere Rovers as on the previous day we had done a tramp in this general area. When we pulled into the Arataki Visitor's Centre we were amazed. This was where we had been just the day before. So we got out and looked at the beautiful scenery and exciting souviners - again.

Our next mystery stop was a historic house (the Rose Halliby House I think) just up the road. We looked at the historic exhibits and the beautiful scenery.

Still in West Auckland, our next stop was a winery. This was of course quite popular with many of the Rovers. We got to taste many of the winery's fine products. Some of us commented on the fine bouquet of assorted fruity flavours. Others just got pissed. Not many spat the wine out, although some tipped the less pleasing variations into the bucket. The winery did quite well out of our attendence since they sold quite a few bottles.

The bus zoomed off again and the territory became every more familiar to us Westies. Before we knew it we were on Lincoln Road (very close to home). This was for another short stop to make some purchases at a winery. We then got onto the North Western motorway and then onto highway 16. We ended up at Murawai Beach. Us Waitakere Rovers found this quite amusing since we now closer to home than our cars were, but in opposite directions.

We had a very nice lunch at Murawai and then went for a pleasant swim in the surf. We played a spot of cricket, but someone hit the ball a bit too hard. That ball obviously wasn't meant for serious play.

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Women's Climbing

When? 14 February 1996
Where? Rocknazium
Who? Raewyn, Trudy

Sport Waitakere was running a series of activites which only women were invited along to. We thought this was a bit sexist but Raewyn and Trudy went anyway.

We first learnt how to put harnesses on and then how to 'belay' (if that's how you spell it) which means you put your life in the hands of someone below you who's tugging on a bit of rope which is your life line.

The climbing was great fun, though it left our arms and shoulders very sore. Trudy got a big blister on her hand due to her inadaquate belaying technique. We also met some interesting people including a tattoo artist and a spiderwoman Mum.

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Women's Caving

When? 22 February 1996
Where? Mount Eden
Who? Raewyn, Trudy

This involved climbing around in scoria caves underneath Mount Eden. Most of the caves were easily walkable, but the interesting bits came when we had to squeeze through tiny spaces by contorting ourselves into unnatural positions. The instructor had some quaint but revealing names for some of these crevasses - eg the Mail Slot. The most interesting of these was a very tiny gap between two jutting out hunks of rock. You had to get through this one limb at a time and it was very helpful if you could dislocate your joints like Eugene Tooms. Another tight squeeze occured though a stretch about 10m long which was roughly the diameter of a human body. This meant laying flat on your stomach and wriggling through like a creature from 'Under the Mountain' (we didn't encounter any of these much to my disappointment).

Inside the caves was very peaceful and dark, which we found when we had to all turn our torches off and deep quiet. The dark was an all consuming one in which you could see absolutely nothing, and the quiet was a very peaceful one in which you could hear absolutely nothing except your own breathing. Sometimes I wish my bedroom was in that cave.

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Night Clubbing and Casino

When? 24 February
Where? Town
Who? Brendan, Darryn, Karlene, Raewyn, Trudy, Tasha

Karlene's Point of View

For our Informal we decided to dress up and hit town. We decided to go to Park in the Bar because we like the music they play - old stuff that we actually know the words to. We requested some of our favourites, but I dont think we heard them played. While we were sipping our drinks, a handsome young police officer came in to the bar, and started dancing. Erotically. Eventually he had removed all his clothing except a G-String and was letting the bride-to-be of the hens party grope his firm butt. Of course Trudy, Raewyn and I thought this was marvelous entertainment and had a really good look. After he left we also got up and had a good dance. Later on we split up - Brendan, Raewyn and Darryn went to the casino, but I didnt care for it, so Trudy and Tasha were kind enough to look after me in the cafe across the road. A few alcoholic colas later, the others returned from their gambling and we went home.

Raewyn's Point of View

We started off at Park in the Bar and stayed there for quite a while, enjoying the good music. A nice looking male stripper arrived for the amusement of a hens party at some stage, much to our delight. When we felt like a change of scenery, we went walking up Queen Street in search of a nice place. A pink fancy limo propositioned us at this stage, telling us they would give us a free ride to the night club they were advertising. We quite liked the idea of a ride in a pink fancy limo, so we agreed. The club was a nice looking place with not many people. Unfortunately the music was crap, so after using up our two drinks for the price of one vouchers we moved on. We ended up at the casino, but Karlene refused to enter into the place because it was evil, so Karlene Trudy and Tasha sat outside in a cafe while Raewyn, Brendan and Darryn made their fortunes at the slot machines. Actually Brendan and Darryn lost all their money, but Raewyn had the luck (actually good management) to make a profit of more than a dollar after winning up large on her last 10c.

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BP Lodge Presentations

When? 27 February
Where? Masonic BP Lodge
Who? Brendan, Raewyn

Darryn had told us all about the funny things that went on in the BP (Masonic) Lodge presentations so we were prepared for some pretty strange ceremonies.
However the goings on weren’t nearly as weird as we had expected. We were treated to a little play type thing about the Empire Sentinels which could have been the fore-runner of Rovers. The work of the evening was the Initiation of the first watch. A man wearing a blindfold and wrist and feet bindings (at that point I started to get worried) had to pledge his loyalty to the four corners (North, South, East and West) of the watch tower. The acting during this play was somewhat dubious. I don’t think many of the Wor. Bro.’s had bothered to memorise their lines. The ones who had usually got them wrong and had to be corrected. The plot was a little thin also - this was no Shortland Street. But we got through it alright and we may have even learnt something.
After this treat, (or was it before - it was so long ago now) it was the presentation of the service awards. Taikata were presented with the main award for Service to Scouting. Waitakere and several other crews (all those who had submitted log books) were presented with certificates of commendation.
When the formalities were over, we got supper - sasuage rolls, club sandwhiches, pikelets. They even supplied us with free fizzy drinks (and we didn't even pay $35). The ladies of the BP Guild outdid themselves. When I wasn't looking, Brendan was secretely handed an envelope containing recruitement material for the Masonic lodge (for males eyes only). Luckily Brendan can't keep a secret and I was able to scrutinise the material later and make comments on how sexist it all was.

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Mini Moot

When? 1 March - 3 March 1996
Where? A long way away
Who? Brendan, Raewyn, Trudy and some of the time Darryn

We arrived at camp at about an hour and a half late due to some forgetfulness before leaving home and a few navigational errors. We erected our tents the other side of the field from the already existing tents amid cries of "snobs". However our motive was simple - we wanted to get some sleep that night. The first order of business was the AGM. All officers were elected and the Ron Ashley and Cameron Small trophies were presented. We won the Cameron Small trophy for community service. The previous holders were Roskill and they won the Ron Ashley trophy previously held by us. After the AGM we all sat around talking and drinking and we heard about Deans very interesting trip to South America. Saturday we were rudely awoken at 8.00 for breakfast then spent the morning participating in various fun activities. The absence of Darryn was very obvious as we lost the tug of war. After lunch we started our service part of the weekend, building a platform (unlike Cave Creek this one will stay up). Most took part and enjoyed the afternoon. Before dinner or after, certificates were presented. We got a certificate for team spirit, and for winning the Camel hunt (thanks to Michael from bays for his part in this). Dinner was good and after eating our fill we settled back for an evening of playing board games, listening to music and drinking. Sunday morning we got ready to leave and did some more work on the platform.

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Iron Man

When? 3 March 1996
Where? Mission Bay
Who? Brendan, Darryn, Raewyn, Trudy, Suzanne

Once again we offered our Traffic Coordination services to the Iron Man Event. Our real motivation, of course, was the free t-shirt to add to our collection. This year the shirt was white and looked quite smart. At least the colour won't run!

Our job this year was very similar to last year and the year before. We positioned ourselves on the car park entrances and exits and ensured that no car drove into any runner. This is quite a complicated and nerve racking task. On the entrances you have to keep an eye out for cars who want to get in. When one does you have to indicate to them to stop, wait for a gap in the runners and get them to quickly go in. On the exit you have to stop any cars wanting to exit and wait for a gap in the runners. When there is a large enough gap you have to get them to go right out quickly. The most effective way to do this is to stop either one or both lanes of traffic depending on what way they're going. The whole job is confounded by several sorts of drivers.

The hesitant driver

You indicate for this driver to move forward by using the well known gesture. They first take a good look down the footpath and drive really slowly out to the road. They then look to the left, look to the right, look to the left again before ever so slowly accelerating. This is in spite of the fact that someone is standing in the middle of both sides of the road stopping a queue of cars. Meanwhile they are blocking the path of a runner who is getting closer and closer. In a fit of fustration you frantically wave at them and swear under your breath. They don't like this very much and pause a little while longer to give you a good telling off at your rudeness.

The impatient driver

You stand in the middle of the road to tell this driver to stop. They first give a little toot as if you are just blocking their way to see what they would do. Then, when it takes a while for a big enough gap to appear they start swearing and abusing you.

The indecisive driver

You ask this driver what way they want to turn so you know what lanes of traffic to block. They tell you 'right' so you decide you have to stop both lanes. When you tell them they can go they suddenly decide to head the other way meaning you stopped ten or more cars on the other side of the road for nothing.

The inconsiderate driver

You ask this driver if they would mind turning left as it is quite obvious it will take a while to turn right because of the build up of traffic. They protest and say they want to turn right. You explain the situation to them and they tell you they're turning right, not really caring about anyone except themselves. You tell them they have to turn left and they swear at you.

The blind driver

You stand assertively in the middle of the road with your hand in the universal "STOP" position. The driver must think you're just having a bit of fun because they don't attempt to slow down and they swerve right on the other side of the road to avoid you and keep going.

The stupid driver

They attempt to drive into the exit. This is despite the large "NO ENTRY" sign. When you scream at them to get back (runners are heading towards them from both directions) they inisist that you let them in. When you tell them it's illegal to drive in a "NO ENTRY" they tell you that you're not a cop and they can do what they like. They swear at you and then only drive away because you're standing in their way.

Luckly these drivers only made up a small proportion. Actually it was probably about 35%. However the rest of the drivers were considerate and did what you told them without any hassels. Some even said "Thank you" which was quite nice. We didn't have any sqashed runners, but we did have a few close calls. We got a bit stressed out at times.

Later on at night the runners depleted and so did the traffic and the stress. We concentrated on cheering on the runners, and Brendan really got into the spirit. "Only 2 k's to go!" he called out "Com'n you can do it!". We left our post at 9.30pm hoping that the remaining runners wouldn't run into a car.

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Mark & Louisa's Engagement

When? 9 March 1996
Where? Bay's Den
Who? Brendan, Darryn, Raewyn, Trudy, Tasha

The news was that Mark and Louisa had finally made a formal commitment, so Waitakere went along to share in their happiness. We presented them with a present - a bed snake bat that Louisa might find handy. The rest of the presents weren’t nearly so original - but they say you can never have too many glasses (they especially say that if they’re the fifth to give a set of glasses). After wishing the happy couple good luck etc etc, we did a bit of socialising. Then (unless my memory fails me) we went home.

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Beach Bash

When? 24 March 1996
Where? Shakespeare Bay
Who? Brendan, Darryn, Eugenie, Karlene, Phil, Raewyn, Trudy

Karlene's Point of View

It was a fine Sunday morning when we headed for Shakespeare Bay. I wasnt actually competing, I just came along as an extra - in case our team was short. Fortunately for me we had a full team so I wasnt required to do anything physical, however Trudy, Rae, Brendan, Phil, Eugenie and Darryn got plenty of exercise out of it.

We started off with a friendly game of volleyball, but got knocked out after the first round (I meant we lost not got hit on the head). Then came the Stroke and Stride. This involved swimming out to a marker, swimming back again then running along the beach and back. That was the simple part. The confusing part was sorting out into teams - we could have 2 people in a team. In the mixed competition you could have 1 runner and 1 swimmer, but in the male and female competitions each person had to run and swim. This caused a great deal of discussing/arguing among us until everybody completely understood what was going on. Once that was over the Waitakere Rover Crew did quite well. Rae came second in the individual competition (Female) and Trudy and Phil won the combined race. We were a bit worried about Darryn when he competed as he cant actually swim. Never mind, he made it alright with his energetic Doggy Paddle style while we yelled encouraging comments (Come on Darryn, dont drown, you can do it!).

After lunch was the not so erotic sand sculpture competition. We were a little disappointed at not getting anywhere because our giant squid was the best and definitely the biggest one we had ever seen. The smallest sand sculpture was a very delicate and well shaped pool table measuring about 1/2 a metre long, complete with balls and a cue, made by Roskill Rovers (I think). They forgot the legs however. I cant remember the rest of them, but they were all quite good.

The Krypton factor was very violent because of at least 10 people at a time running from the outside of a circle to the middle to grab the bottle so they could answer a question. This of course caused mighty head on collisions, grazed knees and other dents, but we answered the questions pretty well. Last was the Beach Pegs. This involved one member of each team lying down on the ground facing away from the pegs, until someone gave the word. Then they would jump up, turn around and grab the peg as fast as possible. The catch was, there was 1 less peg than there were teams. So it was only slightly less violent than the Krypton Factor. Eugenie came 3rd in the female competition and Brendan came 2nd in the male competition, so Waitakere was still doing very well right to the end. Our overall result was third placing with a chocolate bar each for our prize. Even I got one - but then, it takes a lot of work to supervise and encourage your team mates!

Raewyn's Point of View

Here is a summary of the events which I can remember.

Volley Ball
We got knocked our it the first round. Brendan and Phil were ok, but the girls were a bit pathetic, and Darryn had a good strong had, but unfortunately a very poor sense of direction.

Duathalon
This involved a swim out into the middle of the bay and then a run down the beach.
This was a very strategic one for us. We entered two teams in the mixed events - Phil and Trudy and Brendan and Eugenie, and we entered Raewyn and Darryn in the respective Female and Male events. This was because there was only one other girl entered in the Female event, which meant we were assured of a second place. Phil and Trudy did extremely well in the mixed event, coming first. In the Male event Darryn did extremely well completing it considering he cant swim. Raewyn came in a not so close second in the female event, also doing well to complete it.

Krypton Factor
This involved two skills - general knowledge, and the ability to run fast and not care if your knees get shredded on the grass. The teams sat around the edge of a circle and one member of a team was nominated to be the runner. A question was called out and the runners ran in to the middle of the circle to grab a bottle. The team with possession of the bottle got to answer the question. Our team did averagely ok. This event wasnt a favourite with anybody, being very violent.

Beach Pegs
Lying on your front, facing away from the pegs, you wait for the signal to be sounded, then all get up and grab one of the pegs. There is one less peg than there are people, so one person gets disqualified. Kind of a beach version of musical chairs. Eugenie came 3rd in the Female event (largely due to some kind of technical hitch in our favour).

Overall
Waitakere didnt do too badly overall (3rd). Manakau won (a bit suspicious because they organised it). It was a fun day with a bit of exercise and the numerous grazes over our bodies didnt even take too long to heal.

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Moot

When? 6 April 1996
Where? Kerikeri
Who? Brendan, Darryn, Raewyn, Trudy

For various reasons (most of them something to do with the fact that we're poor) we were unable to attend the entirety of the Keri Keri Moot. Not wanting to be obvious with our absence, we decided to do the whole thing on a budget. Trying to convince people that we were genuinely 'at' the moot was as times a bit tricky. When asked what room we were in, there were several different strategies. Darryn said room 5 unless that was their room - in that case he said room 6. Trudy just said 'we haven't sorted that out yet' or 'we're sleeping outside'. Raewyn (being a terrible liar) usually just told the truth which was that we were staying in a camping ground.
We arrived at moot on Sunday morning, just in time for the service project (Waitakere is always keen to do service!). This involved carving a path through the bush in record breaking (but not leg breaking) time. After lunch was the start of our moot experience - the shooting trophy. We teamed up with Hillcrest for some pretty slick performances in the apple bobbing, cart riding and hitting the ball with big long bendy stick thing event. We weren't so hot on the archery though. Much to Trudy's disgust and Brendan and Darryn's entertainment, the girls competing in the apple bobbing stripped down to their bras and even further. Trudy and Raewyn were releived they had completed in the event before the rules changed. After we completed the events, Trudy and Raewyn were taken for an extra cart ride by those strong men Brendan and Darryn. They got a little carried away though, as did Raewyn and Trudy when the cart when hurtling towards a solid, stationary object. Raewyn and Trudy, concerned for their safety, hurridly jumped off the speeding cart, just before it plummetted into a large tree. It was all a bit like a wild west move - apart from the fact that everyone else was more worried about the tree and the cart than Raewyn and Trudy. At night time was the Medieval party. Due to the impromptu decision to go to the moot, our crew had hastily put together some pathetic costume attempts. Darryn's creative endevours were admirable - somehow we managed to make a passable Hercules costume out of some old shoe laces. The dinner took a long time to be served - resulting in a few restless bread rolls exchanging positions around the room. When it did arrive, it was indeed a feast.
The party entertainment was an Irish band who played some interesting music. Trudy got right into it and danced Irish Jigs all night. During the night, a cleavage competition was carried out. Our own Trudy got into the semifinals, much to our extreme surprise. At midnight it was time to leave the ball, but Darryn and Brendan didn't want to go due to the finals of the cleavage competition. In the end we had to drag Darryn away. Luckily most people were too drunk to realise we were leaving the premises to sleep in tents far away from the noise.
Next morning was the usual leaving ceremony, after which we left. On the way back home Trudy drove into a bridge, denting the side of her car. No injuries, but I think Trudy has learnt her lesson - if you drive into a bridge don't tell anyone else or they'll hassle you about it for the rest of your life.

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Web Page Night

When? 9 April 1996
Where? Raewyn's House
Who? Brendan, Darryn, Karlene, Raewyn, Trudy, Tasha, Jeff

Our crew was invited to Raes place for the opening of the Waitakere Rover Web Page. We got to see it on the internet. Cool. Once that was done we could look at other stuff too. We looked up Barbie and found a whole heap of information about barbie dolls, including a page done by an enthusiastic collector. She had some quite good Barbie jokes.

Then it was Jeffs turn to think of something to find. So we looked at all the pornographic pictures we could get to. Most of it we couldnt see properly, because you had to pay money, so we only got thumbnail sketches.

We also tried to find information about mini car clubs, but we couldnt.

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Rocknazium

When? 10 April 1996
Where? Rocknazium
Who? Brendan, Darryn, Eugenie, Phil, Raewyn, Trudy, Tasha

Belayer Ready
Climber Ready
Climb away . . .
Raewyn and Trudy enjoyed it so much that they dragged everyone else along so they could experience the thrills. After an introductory course we got straight into, starting with the easy ones first of course. The guys caught on very quickly and were soon tackling the more tricky ones with some success. The girls were a little more hesitant, but tried their hardest. Actually Eugenie and Trudy were quite good, but for Raewyn, being pathetically weak and unfit, it was a struggle. As the night went on we got more and more tired and started to make mistakes. These include Brendan doing something ghastly to Raewyn, which caused a bit of an argument about Brendans carelessness. Darryn also got very careless and let someone (I cant remember who) drop a few metres before the rope tightened. After that we decided that Darryn didnt have the concentration to be a belayer (thats the person that stands below and holds the rope to stop the person climbing from falling to far if they slip). We stayed for quite a while, but it got harder and harder as time went on. Try as she might, Raewyn just couldnt make the one with the ledge, and the more she tried, the more frustrated and tired she got. She eventually gave up on that and went home.

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Shooting with Bays

When? 21 April 1996
Where? Birkenhead
Who? Brendan, Darryn, Eugenie, Jeff, Karlene, Phil, Raewyn, Trudy, Mystery Guest

Bays Rover Crew invited us to a shooting gallery to fire a few rounds. Some of us were a little nervous having never touched a gun before, but they showed us how to use the rifles and how to hold them safely. We went upstairs, and 5 people at a time got to shoot. You had a piece of card with pictures on it to aim at.

1. Rabbit (sighting?): You get 2 shots, to see how far out they are, and then you know whether to aim a little to the side or not.
2. Targets with numbers: 1 shot for each target, and you get 10 points for hitting the bulls eye or whatever number you hit.
3. Large target in centre (application?): 5 shots at your own pace, trying to hit target.
4. Small target at bottom (grouping): You shoot 5 times and try to get them as close as possible.
5. Deer: You shoot 5 times really quickly and try to Kill the deer (hitting the black circle!)

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Tramp with Howick

When? 4 May 1996
Where? Phia
Who? Brendan, Darryn, Eugenie, Trudy

Darryn organised to take Howick rovers on a tramp that best suited their fitness abilities. A nice short pretty walk.

We drove to the end of Glen Esk Road in Piha, where we started our walk. We walked along Bryers walk, Connect walk, Winstone walk and then back home. Sometime during the walk we past a beautiful waterfall.

Waitakere rovers have done this tramp before but since we had our unfit Howick rovers with us we shortened the tramp to a walk.

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Area Service

When? 11 May 1996
Where? Motomoana
Who? Brendan, Karlene, Raewyn, Trudy

Trudy and I arrived at Motomoana in the morning and began enthusiastically picking up the leaves and weeds that had been cut, to make pig piles for the wheelbarrow later. It was then we discovered it would be a good idea to have gloves. The leaves also contained nice big blackberry bushes, and lovely gorse.

Fortunately we found some rakes, so when Brendan and Rae arrived later, we were all happily raking up bits and making big piles here and there (to be collected later in the wheelbarrow).

We then took turns taking the very full wheelbarrow down a narrow path to a great big giant pile of leaves and weeds. We had to take turns because the walk back up the hill pushing the wheelbarrow was even more exhausting than the walk down.

Afterwards I had a go with the weedeater, which was very heavy. I think I accidentally cut into a few trees instead of cutting the weeds around them, so I put the weedeater back fairly soon. Trudy and I unfortunately had another appointment, so we had to leave early. Reluctantly of course.

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Down Periscope

When? 15 May 1996
Where? Wairau Park
Who? Brendan, Eugenie, Jeff, Karlene, Raewyn, Trudy

To support the moot bid we all went along to see Down Periscope for a very special (ie expensive) price. The movie was generally quite funny, about a submarine driver and his wacky crew. As expected it had a happy ending. The scene most often recalled involves the sexy woman and what happened after her uniform got shrunk as a practical joke.

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Zoo Dinner

When? 25 May 1996
Where? Auckland Zoo
Who? Brendan, Darryn, Jeff, Karlene, Raewyn, Trudy, Tasha, Peter and assorted parents

We had a few problems with sickness that day, but luckily Brendan’s parents were able to fill in and the tickets didn’t go to waste. The weather was lovely rain - perfect zoo wandering atmosphere. Luckily I had an umbrella.
It was meant to be formal dress, but a few of our crew members let us down by wearing ordinary boring clothes. These people including Darryn (who doesn’t have anything but jeans) and Trudy (who looked like she was going to work). The dinner was really nice - a BBQ with nice salad and potatoes. After dinner a bit of a party started up and we got into the boogy of things. Things started heating up, and it was time to strip off a few layers of clothing. When I returned, everyone but Karlene and Darryn had disappeared (from our crew that is). Karlene informed me that they had gone for a Zoo walk. I was a bit annoyed because I had wanted to go for a Zoo walk and they had left without me! So me, Karlene and Darryn went for our own walk to find them. Darryn really wanted to see the MacDonalds Rain Forest but we couldn’t find it. We went past the crocodiles, the otters and other unrecongnisable animals (the zoo was very dark at night time). Passing one enclosure some big black shapes suddenly made very loud scary grunting sounds. Karlene and Raewyn screamed and ran and clung on to each other and to Darryn. Darryn just thought we were stupid. It’s amazing how creepy seals sound in the dark! We then wandered past the elephants and giraffes and finally found our way back to the party where we met up with the others. Raewyn, Trudy and Peter then went for another Zoo expedition. They found their way to the MacDonalds Rainforest (it’s amazing how helpful signs can be) and said hello to the apes (who were not very responsive - they may have been asleep). Karlene and Darryn meanwhile also found their way to the Rainforest, but completely missed Raewyn, Trudy and Peter who were at that stage probably off to see the big cats or the birds. Soon after this, the clock chimed ‘time to go or you’ll be turned into a pumkin’ so we left.

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Background Information

When? 21 June 1996
Where? Kawau Island
Who? Brendan, Darryn, Eugenie, Karlene, Phil, Raewyn, Trudy

Last years stuff up was still clear in our minds when we organised this trip. For this reason we tried to leave ourselves with as much time as possible. However we were on a strict timetable and any delay could be tragic (meaning a missing ferry). At 4.00 Karlene was picked up from her work. At 4.30 Raewyn was picked up from her home. At 5.00 we met Darryn at Brendan's house and swapped cars. At 5.30 we picked up Trudy and her car from her work. At this stage we were still on time. Trudy told us she knew the best way to get there from where she worked. Little did she know that her route was in the middle of major roadworks. Our long delay stressed the more stressed out members of our crew to some extent. By Orewa (MacDonalds stop) we were very much behind our schedule. We had to meet Eugenie and Phil in Warkworth at 6.00 but we didn't leave Orewa till 5.40. We reached Warkworth by 6.15 and raced from here down to the Sandspit wharf. Sandspit was closer than anticipated though and we reach there by 6.20, plenty of time to get our gear out and our cars parked.
We arrived on Kawau without incident. Our little batch was up on the hill behind the Ranger's house. Most of us found it ok but Eugenie and Phil somehow ended up halfway over the other side of the island (exaggeration - half way over to the next bay really). That night Brendan and Phil went out with their big guns to kill some living animals. The rest of us lounged around drinking Trudy's beer and talking - the subject seemed to always end up on sex. Before we went to bed, Brendan, Darryn and Phil wandered around in their underwear much to Trudy and Karlene's delight.
The weather was pretty horrible on Friday night and we expected it wouldn't be much better the next day. We were meant to be planting trees but the Ranger told us it was too rough to do this (it involved a boat trip to Motuora Island). On Saturday Jeff (the Ranger) confirmed this and told us to come down to his house and sit by the fire. Raewyn and Trudy kindly offered to make him a Kiwi Survey database in DBase - it sounded like a simple enough job for 2 computer science graduates. Brendan chopped some wood and Eugenie folded Jeff's clothes. Everyone except Trudy and Raewyn (who were involved in writing Qbasic programs to dissect text files) went for a walk to examine a fallen shed. At 2.00pm we all hopped in Jeff's boat and went over to the Fishing Club to have a few drinks and watch the Rugby. Trudy drunk 5 Kahlua and Cokes, was very loud and got on really well with Jeff's 11 year old daughter. After the game (the All Blacks won of course) we boated back with Trudy driving - quite a nerve wracking experience.
We had dinner at Jeff's and combined our mince and pasta with other ingredients to make some spagghetti bolagnasy stuff that fed 14 (us, Jeff's family and 3 others who were staying on the island). The evening was spent having a few drinks and talking by the fire. That night Trudy, Raewyn, Brendan and Karlene sang the others to sleep with lullabys including Bright Eyes, the Rainbow Connection, Ebony and Ivory and Moonlight Shadow. It was done in brilliant 4 part harmony and we managed to project our voices very well.
The next day it was still raining but everyone (but Raewyn and Trudy) went to fix up a shed anyway because we felt so guilty for not doing much the day before. Raewyn and Trudy were still stuck on Jeff's computer. It was meant to take an hour but of course there were problems. We gave up at lunch time and decided to fix it up at home on and send it to him in the mail (the computer program that is, not the shed). At 3.15 we caught the ferry. We'd got about 100m from the wharf before we turned back because Trudy thought she'd left her wallet behind. We had a pleasant trip back and stopped as per usual at KFC.

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