Callaghans Ridge
Rain drops covered the windows, this was the start of a wet adventure! On Wednesday 28th September Ruma Waru once again set off on a William Pike outing. Meeting in Ruma Waru we checked our gear, collected some essential supplies for bivvy building and were reminded of our car groups. Mum and I had Lucy and Aden in our car. We piled in and set off towards Dillmanstown, where we would then go down a road to the start of the track. Along a bumpy gravel road we drove turning a few corners on the way until we finally turned up at a big sign. Most cars pulled onto the side of the road to let their kids out because of the lack of space in the carpark. Our car was one of them. The rain was pouring as we climbed out of the vehicle.
Everybody hopped out and we waited at the sign for our teacher Ms Kemp and her car group. Once they arrived we walked to the carpark while the other adults did a car shuffle to the other end of the track, so there would be vehicles there when we arrived. We then got into our checklist groups, my group was Lucy, Charlotte and I. We were the dream team. We ticked off heaps of things before starting the track! I was even kind enough to accidentally tell everyone where a rimu tree was. So was Ms Kemp who yelled out something like “there’s a kereru” this happened to be one of the items on our list, thanks Ms Kemp! Throughout that whole wait we were all getting drenched! Trees sheltered us a little and finally when the adults arrived including: Jo, Angus, Rachel, Laura and Luzanne, everyone soggily started the tramp around 9:30am.
Trying not to slip we trudged along the muddy track. Using the checklist soon became very difficult as the rain washed the whiteboard marker off. We found chicken wire on every bridge to help with stability but couldn’t exactly tick it off. There were many undulating parts throughout the track and everyone did great on the uphills and down. We kept going through the amazing bush filled with terrific trees and raging rain. Mum was at the very front and a big line of children followed. We stopped quite a few times to let everybody catch up and to make sure everyone was alright, also to have a snack, then kept moving.
After a few soggy hours we arrived at our lunch spot. I was so glad it was lunch time. We got all of our bivvy equipment out, this was some rope, a pocket knife and tarpaulin. My group, which consisted of Lucy, Charlotte, Hayley, Mum and I found the perfect spot and started building our bivvy. We tied the tarpaulin to some surrounding trees with rope and that was it, our bivvy was complete. We scattered underneath the bivvy and unpacked our lunches. Suddenly an awful smell filled my nostrils “ that’s stink wood” mum said and she was right we had built our bivvy right beside a stink wood plant, ew! We ate our lunches in our bivvy out of that annoying rain. Soon enough the yell came for us to pack up our lunch and bivvy. So down came the bivvy’s and off we went.
It was pretty much downhill from there and I was really glad! I was nearer the back tramping down the hill. We talked and laughed and had a great time. Lucy and I and some others jumped in all the puddles and all sections of water flowing down the track completely forgetting about the challenge to keep our feet dry. Splash! Along the way I slipped over on a very slippery log, ouch! And then behind me Hayley did the exact same thing. Such an annoying log! We continued until another sign was in view.
Everyone posed for a quick photo and video then we kept going. The track turned into a bit of a four wheel drive track for the last part of the walk. Lucy and I were splashing in all the puddles we could and had so much fun. Soon enough we popped out of the track into the Goldsborough car park and sheltered ourselves in the information shelter. When all the children and parent helpers had arrived at the car park, the kids whose cars were there hopped in and headed off, while everyone else waited for the car shuffle to happen again. Heading back to town was definitely cold and wet but mum cranked up the heater and we drove home, first dropping Lucy off at around 2:30pm then picking Aden’s things up from school and dropping him off. Everybody was looking forward to a nice warm shower!