RANGITOTO   ROUSTABOUT  Rangitoto Range Fri 18 - Sun 20 Sept

The second of the Two Rangitotos - last week Rangitoto Island, this time Rangitoto Station on Rangitoto Range in the King Country north of Pureora Forest. The Club had been there three years and one month ago, but of the fourteen people who came this time, only three had done the previous visit. Rangitoto Station had been bought by the New Zealand Native Forests Restoration Trust  in 1989, and is now being allowed to eventually revert to bush. Friday We left The Bracken just after 6:15pm in a van and a car, and after yummying at Ngaruawahia (where we played dodge the doorbell at a takeaway shop) we went right through to Rangitoto Station homestead, unlike the 1995 visit where we stayed Friday night at Otorohanga. This was the farmhouse, built in 1986 and now serves as accommodation for tramping and other groups, working bees and kokako research workers. The two married couples had two of the bedrooms; the other ladies had the third bedroom while the single menfolk slept in the lounge. Saturday As was the tradition, the day dawned with the Presidential Red Bush Shirt Cups of Tea in Bed Service. At the end of breakfast Judith read the day’s devotion from The Word For Today, which was about caring for the needy. She was involved with World Vision and brought along three of that charity’s $30/month child sponsorships, and invited any interested people to take them. Afterwards she put them on the display table in the lounge, along with an anti-abortion petition to Parliament. We tramped into the Mangatutu valley, taking the more difficult white-marker track. This led up and down hill and crossed a tributary of Mangatutu Stream several times - compulsory boot washing for just about everybody! At one stage Judith was heard to sing Great is Thy Faithfulness - and this reminded us that one of our morning-by-morning mercies for that day was to be amongst God’s creation in the bush. Eventually we reached the junction with the easier red-marker track and followed that as it crisscrossed up the main Mangatutu Stream. By the time the track began to leave the stream to climb up to the Ranignui road it went 12 o’clock, and although we found a lunch possy just before the climb, a majority consensus decided we get the uphill out of the way first. Our lunch spot was on the Ranginui road at the entrance to the track. Afterwards we had the choice of climbing Ranginui, the highest point in the Rangitoto Range and an hour along the road, or returning straight back to the house. All but Don and Christine took the opportunity of conquering the range’s highest summit. The road was undulating as far as a little beyond the Baldy quarry, then a steady climb suitable for 4whd vehicles only to the large clearing and the transmitter station atop Ranginui. To get any view, however, one had to stand up on the trig station in front of the transmitter tower. We could see the peaks of Titiraupenga and Pureora to the south, and the faint outline of Maungatauturi to the north. We returned to the house, about 90 minutes walk along the road. Christine and Don had the fire going to greet us. After dinner most of us played either Pictionary or 500 before turning in for a well-deserved game of dream-and-snore. Sunday A rise at daybreak - not only for Mr. Choysa but also Joy and Matthew - 11yr old Matthew was mad on birds (this had been inspired some months ago by a school project on native birds) - and the two of them decided to do a birdwatching dawn walk back in the Mangatutu bush. They set off just as the sun appeared on the horizon, and came back later with several sightings of the endangered kokako. John, Paul, Nelson, Marian, David, Don and Judith took advantage of a glorious morning to climb Rangitoto summit, to the southwest. We set out at 7:30am for the two-hour climb, a gradual ascent along a wide track through mostly bush. We eventually arrived at the first lookout, a radio transmitter station about five minutes from the true summit. A view of Ruapehu in resplendent white greeted us. Other features we saw in the panorama of the southern King Country included Mt. Pureora, Tongariro/Ngauruhoe and the tabletop Hikurangi near Taumarunui. The real summit, marked by a trig and about the same elevation as the first lookout, offered views looking down to the Pirongia area with Mt. Pirongia and Kakepuku in the distance. We could also see Rangitoto Station in the valley with the woolshed and the house. We were back at the house shortly after 11am, and the devotion session we had on the front verandah of the house was more like a mini church service. We sang several songs including Majesty and Great is Thy Faithfulness, with Don on his guitar. A time of sharing followed before Judith read about God’s blueprint and strategy for the lives of each one of us from The Word For Today. A time of prayer concluded the session. It is always nice to be able to take time to think about the Creator when looking out to the countryside He made, and we did so here looking out across the paddocks to the bushclad hills beyond. We lunched, packed up, cleaned and hoovered the house and were away by 1:45pm for our homeward journey with two stopovers. Our first one was at the home of Arthur and Pat Cowan in Barbers Road nearby - Arthur and Pat look after the Rangitoto Station and we were able to have a good wander through their extensive garden with many types of spring flowers in full bloom. The couple put on a lovely afternoon tea, and we were able to admire a selection of Pat’s lovely paintings on the wall of the lounge. Also on the wall was a collection of framed certificates and awards, testimony to all the work they had put in for forest conservation - one was a citation for Arthur’s 80th birthday! Pat’s art was not limited to painting - she performed a short piano piece she had composed with the inspiration of nature. Bread on a bird table outside the kitchen attracted a horde of finches; sparrows were rare. Matthew spotted several wood pigeons perched on trees in an adjoining paddock, and several of us joined him in seeing them. One of the Club members had a bad accident recently and broke her wrist, rendering her incapable of driving and getting about freely. We decided to divert from the main road at Papakura and pay her a visit, and that meant everything to her. She was on the mend, and it would not be long before she would be back out tramping again with us. We offered to arrange someone to bring her in for the Club Night next Saturday at Mt. Roskill, and no doubt that would not be refused! We were back at The Bracken at 7:30pm tired but pleased with our weekend free of any bickering, thanks to our unity in Jesus Christ. COST: $60 ($20 accommodation; $40 travel and food)