Auckland Baptist Tramping Club DINNER AND AGM Royal Oak    Friday 30 July As always, there was a good turnout for the annual dinner, held at the same place as last year, the conference room of the Disabilities Resource Centre. This time the highlight was two guest speakers from the Te Araroa Trust, and that made for a very interesting evening. The evening started at 6:30pm with mix-and-mingle, with punch being served. The newly revamped large display board, with a striking dark green backdrop made from pool table material, was on show, as were the Club Albums from 1994 to 1999, a folder of pages printed from the Club Website, and Phillip’s photo albums of Club trips dating back to 1980. We sat down about 7pm to a delicious roast dinner followed by a equally yummy dessert. The catering was done by the Mt Roskill Baptist catering team. Afterwards, Geoff Chapple and John Diver told us about their involvement in the setting up of the Te Araroa Walkway. This is a project with the aim of making a walking track stretching from North Cape to The Bluff as a millennium project. Towards the end of 1997 Geoff walked from Cape Reinga to Wellington, a trip lasting to September 1998, to reconnoitre a route for the walkway through the North Island. The Te Araroa website has a detailed description of this exercise. Next year (2000) starting January 16, John will start the same thing for the South Island, following a route taking in the seven “top tracks” of the South Island. He said that the route will include the Abel Tasman Coastal Track, Heaphy Track, Wangapeka Track, Mt Owen, Nelson Lakes, St James Walkway, Harper Pass, Arthurs Pass, Cass Lagoon, Wilberforce,  Butler Pass, McCauley River (new hut proposed at $800,000), Mt Cook, South Temple, Ahuriri, Haast Pass, Wilkin, Matukituki, Routeburn Track, Milford Track (will be walkable “backwards” from May 2000; when closed an alternative winter route being Eglinton with a bus stretch), Kepler Track, Dusky, The Hump (new hut proposed), Waitutu, Port Craig, Tuatapere, Invercargill and  Bluff, a route taking in Top Tracks, Top Scenery and, unlike the North Island, keeping away from the cities. Geoff then related his experiences on the North Island part of the route. The AGM followed - this took up very little time, with the usual formalities. The evening concluded with what had become the worshipful theme song for the last Christmas tramp - How Great Thou Art. David led with his autoharp, and alongside the words on the overhead was a slide show of scenes from the Milford Track - a real worship experience! COST: $18