We started off with a certain amount of toilet humour inspired by the new Portaloo near the sand-dunes at Wainamu. See the photo of the organised queue waiting for the little room, and, of Eileen, bravely posing to show what a little gem the comfort room is…………. Note that the sun did shine for a few minutes at the start of the tramp………………..
This was a stream bash that officially wasn’t a stream bash, quote, “this is not a stream bash in the true sense of the word” Really? A Clayton’s stream bash maybe?
We started off as one group, but progress was slow so eight of us branched off with Helen to make our own way to eventually meet up with the Wainamu bush track. We clambered round rocks, sloshed through water, retraced our steps a couple of times and, eventually got to a huge waterfall of Niagara proportions. No one whooping over in a barrel though so couldn’t have been Niagara……..After a wet lunch we retraced our steps again, (I was instructed to say that we loved it so much we did it again.) Then we met up with the slower party who hadn’t yet had lunch, and looked very cold and miserable. Up the left of the said waterfall on a scrambly sort of track then in the stream again. Our group, now minus a few, including Peter, who decided that the slow party was perhaps the safer option, bashed up the stream a bit more then up to Wainamu bush track. We got back to the bus at 3.30 and waited an hour for the other lot.
An extreme tramp? Well, it was extremely wet, extremely muddy and, Helen said, to include “extremely confusing”.
A challenge definitely. Alan’s young daughter Lydia said she really enjoyed it. She had skipped through mud not daunted by anything all day. Well done, Lydia.