As always, the Christmas holiday trip reunion evening was well attended, with people who did not go on the trip as well as many who did go on it, over 40 altogether. This time it was held at the new West Wave swimming complex in Henderson. The evening began with a BBQ at about 6am. Several people arrived a bit early and paid the $5 to be able to have a swim, trying out the wave pool and spas. The BBQ was on a lawn at the back of the pools, and we caught the last of the sun before it went behind the pool buildings. We had a tasty main course of sausages, steak and salads, and even some of the local sparrows were treated to some bread as well. We moved to the activity room upstairs - through the main pool area and changing rooms - for our dessert. Photograph albums from participants on the South Island Christmas holiday trip were displayed on tables around the room, and photo stores all over Auckland would be busy next week making reprints ordered by many of the people there. At about 7:30pm we boarded our epidiascopic magic carpet for the South Island, and within seconds we were in the Ohau valley on the edge of the Southern Alps. Phillip D took us up the Hopkins Valley to the mountaintops and the glaciers. When we returned we went up to Mt Cook village and climbed up to Mueller Hut with Ted Owens to see the terrific views down the valley to Lake Pukaki and up the Hooker Valley to Mt Cook. Phillip D then put on a skit Towards a Brighter Future about the drab colours people wear when tramping. He, Carole, Katrina and David T were dressed up in dark drab clothing, and halfway through the skit they stripped down to reveal brightly coloured shirts and pantaloons, and they pranced around the room. After a briefing from Leo we climbed up the Tasman Valley to Ball Pass with experienced guides from Alpine Recreation. This required ice-axes and crampons - the ones we were given for our trip this evening were a video player and television. It was a steep steady trudge through snow - the expected hard and dangerous ice wasn’t there, to everyone’s relief. And all we needed to wear were our normal clothing - we left our hats, woollies and overtrou at home! It was great to be able to look down into the Tasman Glacier, a sea of grey moraine with patches of ice showing through, and to see spectacular snow-covered mountaintop scenery. Once back down into the Mt Cook valley, our magic carpet was waiting to take us across to Banks Peninsula where we tramped with our Club president along the Banks Peninsula Track. Peter O showed us the glorious coastal scenery and green fields, a sharp contrast to the mountains and snow we had just been to. When we finished our Banks Peninsula tramp the Order of the Bucket knighthoods were given out. To qualify for this honour, one had to complete the Ball Pass trip physically with real ice-axes and crampons. All those who went on that trip over the Christmas holidays filed forward to receive the honour, kneeling down to be tapped on the shoulders and head with an ice-axe and receive a certificate - and a plastic bucket as well!

Warren took us on our magic carpet all the way down to the Milford Track to view two monuments, including the one on top of the McKinnon Pass. These monuments had crosses, and these were to remind us that tramping can be very much likened to the Christian life - a devotional theme Warren had shared at the celebratory dinner in Twizel halfway through the South Island trip. It was back on the carpet for the last time as we were whisked back to the activity room in the West Wave Aquatic Centre, touching down soon after 10pm.