The 12 members who came on this tramp all met up at 9 am at Dragway Road near Meremere where we split the group with Val leading a group of 6 from Dragway Road southwards towards Rangiriri and Peter taking the others to Rangiriri to then tramp northwards back to Dragway Road.   Although we were aware of the extensive roadworks at the southern end the road access had been closed for this weekend having been open a few days earlier when we had checked it out!   Consequently we changed the southern start/finish to where Plantation Road joined Churchill East Road.   This was in some ways fortunate because it removed 2 kilometres of the boring road, or adjacent to the road, walking we would have done.   The 18 kilometre route is part of the Te Araroa trail and much of the northern part was quite close to the river.  It had been dry for the days beforehand which made the going very hard and uncomfortable underfoot especially at the northern end, however it also meant that there was no problem resulting from the river being in flood.   The two groups met as planned for lunch and most importantly to exchange car keys for those continuing south.  As expected the walk took about 5 hours including stops to admire the views, the large golden carp in the river, take photos and have lunch. Peter led a brief reflection during the lunch stop likening God's all embracing love to the unseen magnetic force which aligns our compass needles and keeps us heading in the right direction.