Friday The Aucklanders found the reason for a slow trip in that the southern  motorway is full of other Aucklanders doing the same thing so the trip to Thames took 2.15 hours after picking up Foster our driver we headed to the road end of the Kauaeranga Park. Gearing up was a lot easier with no tents and very little food. The first ¾ hour we managed without head lamps and we over took the Sellar family who had started earlier. The track is very easy to walk in the dark, but as Penny kept reminding me she came for the views, no views just amazing stars. It took 2hrs 10min to do the climb and after a hot drink we bedded down for the night. There was not a lot of people in that night, yet  Saturday the hut was fully booked 80 people no thanks. Saturday The weather was overcast and a quick trip up to the Pinnacles for the views, the track up is a lot different now than when I last went up 25 years ago. With the weather closing in we made a smart get away. The track to Rangihau starts back at the junction of Pinnacles track with the good track turning into a fairly hard next 2 hours. The track is steep and very rutted in places but you can look forward to a better track on the back half down to the road end. There are 3 rivers to cross on this trip and it would not be wise to attempt this trip if it had rained heavily during the night. Due to the weather we spent most of the time in the clouds again Penny asked about the views no much luck on that part of the weekend. I took 5hour 30min approximately to complete this section.  The Stellar family returned via Billy goat track on the Saturday to their car.  We arrived at road end to find the cars and then proceeded to the our bed and Breakfast with its own outdoor hot Shower. Good food and a good night sleep always helps.

Sunday We headed for  Broken Hill and did a circuit which included the mine shaft off Collins Track  doing this walk in 2 hours from Puketui Valley Road end. The tunnel mine shafts is worth well the climb and explore and will give you some idea as to what working conditions were like back then in mining for gold. After this we travelled back to Auckland arriving at around 3.00pm COST: $85.00 (hut $15, bed and breakfast $20, food $10, travel$40)