Round Lake - Leader: Peter Wise
The trip leader was thinking of getting going on this trip at 5.45pm on the Friday after work but this didn’t suit some participants. So we set off at 5.45 Saturday morning instead. This style of decision-making set the trend for the rest of the weekend. Derogatory thoughts about the leader’s early starts were often mumbled out aloud by one team member, to the amusement (and encouragement) of everyone else.
By early Saturday we had passed Lake Cobb where Marianne, Mary and Jim had a refreshing dip, and had arrived at Round Lake after another 45 minutes climb. This was wilderness country when we arrived but very soon it became a busy little camping ground as 8 one/two-person tents sprung up plus the Club’s dome tent. Ian and David climbed to the top of Mt Gibbs just after noon, then along the Peel Range for some great views. The rest of the team preferred to wait til later to do a similar trip when the temperature was a little cooler.
It was that night the fun began. Just before midnight the wind came up. First we would hear the wind gusts racing down off the peaks then the sound and feel of the tents being battered – everyone spent a restless night fearing for their tent. And yes it happened: the Club’s dome tent came down, permanently, due to a sudden extra-strong gust of wind. Peter, Mary and Marianne were awoken by the snapping of tent poles and the tearing of the tent fly. Peter crawled out of his sleeping bag to examine the damage - not much that could be done and, as it was not raining, he crawled back into his sleeping bag. The almost 2 metre high dome tent had now become a three-person bivvy bag. The scene on Sunday morning was quite different to that of early Saturday evening. Not only was the weather overcast and threatening to rain plus strong winds, but the tents….. The Club tent was flat on the ground with the broken poles sticking out through the tears; Jim’s tent – actually a fly held up by four (borrowed) Leki poles looking like a circus tent – was still standing but just hanging in there; Uta’s tent had disappeared but no, not due to the winds, but Uta’s desire to arise at the earliest peek of light and dismantle her flapping beast!
We retreated, via the round-about route to Fenella Hut where we stopped for an hour or so and a cuppa and a chat to two families there, then back down the valley to the cars. A stop at Toad Hall in Motueka for coffee and icecream as well as much hilarity and further derogatory comments towards the long-suffering leader. Those on the trip were: David Blunt, Ian Pavitt, Grahame Harris, Jim Maxwell, Lindsay Twiname, Mary Honey, Mark Graesser, Marianne Hermsen, Neil Thomas, Uta Purcell, Yvonne Kyle, and leader Peter Wise.