John left Christchurch in the morning, Stan and crew departed mid-afternoon and Kerry’s carload managed to get away at 5:30pm. At Hokitika, the night car turned one street too early and got lost! Consulting a GPS phone put us right and we got onto Stafford Street, and arrived at the holiday house at 9:30pm to find the others happily installed.

Saturday morning dawned fine and clear. The team were away by 0815 to the other end of the lake. A roadside photo-stop at Dorothy Falls was worthwhile. We headed up the steep Mt Brown Hut track through rata, kamahi forest. Most of the group had lunch at the beautifully located hut with great views of the lake and snow-capped mountains. This is the first hut I’ve seen that provides binoculars for sight-seers. There is a wood-stove but the small amount of fuel must have been air-lifted in. Most our troop left for the long descent at 12:30. By 1pm cloud started to roll in around the hut. The youngsters—including Darcy—took Kerry’s car back to base with the second car following later.