Day tripping must have been the thing to do this weekend with 17 fronting up for the day; and 11 out of 12 was not bad for a 7am meeting time for the keen group on a Saturday morning (#13 had already pulled out at 2am), and 6 in one car for the easy/mediums led by the very helpful Jason Kenny who took their 9am expedition up Cattle Ridge.

Billed as: “It should be a good trip, starting in the bush of the Orongoronga Valley before climbing to South Saddle where we should get nice views over the harbour before descending out of the bush to the rugged south coast”. This day trip lived up to expectations with a warm windless day, beautiful sunset, and easy evening walking.

A very enjoyable amble up the valley from Catchpool car park, and then some feet wetting fun in the (much higher than I’ve ever seen it) Orongaronga River, past smoke filled chimneys from huts tucked away in the bush, to the Mt Mathews turn-off and a break for snacks on the riverbed before embarking on the modest 400-odd metre climb to South Saddle.

A quick climb up to the tussocked flat overlooking South Saddle which made for a pretty sweet lunch spot (thanks Achim ) with lots of photos, sandwhiches (mm, just remembered uneaten soggy sandwhich #3 must still be in my bag), and even cups of tea (curtisy of Achim). Awesome to get up onto the tops and get peeks at the sea below the cloud, before descending the Mukamuka which was a cute gully in itself with cool dirt/rock formations and even a tree fern drinking fountain!! Said tree fern had fallen over in the stream and had water running through the trunk and out of a convenient spout (sampled by Jed and Colin).

Fairly well fortified stretch along the coast with local farmers really not keen on letting any kind of vehicle through, and seemingly begrudgingly letting walkers experience this part of the coast (walkers are supposed to go along the shoreline for the last part but we failed to see the sign in the dark so had the pleasure of walking along the dirt road – until we hit the 2m high barbed wire deer fence and decided to go around).

Ten hours and 30 odd kilometres later, Kate and I jogged ahead along the tarmac with head torches glowing, to find our pre-shuttled cars handily parked at the DOC car park (not as handy as the farmer letting people park at the end of the road but never mind). A great trip as a keenis club trip – long day but mostly easy underfoot and mostly flat walking.

The troops: Gina Waibl, Megan Higgins, Kate Williman, Achim Gaedke, Natalie Morrison, Sergey and Nastya Maximov, Emilien Bordet, Colin Bovet, Shanna Kirgan and Jed. Plus Jason Kenny, Siobhan Hillyard, Phuc Le, Ann Fucigna, Sarah Kosling and friend Jess.