This article was published in Tararua Tramper December 2025
The attrition trip - Labour Weekend in the Richmonds
17-20 October 2025
The notice went out early – the first club long-weekend foray to the South Island for years. Two trips were planned to Kahurangi – one group would climb Mt Owen and the other scale Mt Patriarch. We’d take the club van and, as it was Labour weekend, give priority to those who were still labouring. Acceptances poured in within minutes and before long the van was full, and Cathy I were issuing ‘you’re on the waiting list’ replies. Enthusiasm continued and plans were made for some to take a car over the Strait and others to fly.
But the months passed, and the tide turned. People began to withdraw. The waiting list was mined again and again. Two weeks before leaving we didn’t have a full van. Days before departure we couldn’t muster the minimum six and had to change the ferry booking for the van to Kobus’s ute.
2025’s atrocious spring weather had made everyone nervous, and a weather bomb was forecast for Labour Monday. We relocated to Marlborough – we’d explore the Lake Chalice/Goulter area in the Richmond Range.
Logistics, logistics … the joy of leadership. Ben and Franz peeled off to do their own thing – day trips, motels and steak. Mike’s plane was delayed. But at least the DoC website indicated that Staircase Road was open.
There’d been some hurricane level storms that week and Staircase Road negotiates its tortuous way up through a pine forest. Were we happy that we had Kobus’s ute, rather than the club van – Yes!! The first tree falls were amusing rather than scary. Someone had cleared the road but to the bare minimum, carving a small arch below the fallen trunks. The last obstacle though really tested Kobus’s 4x4 skills, honed in the wilds of Africa – he literally had to drive over a massive tree trunk which blocked the road forward.
We reached a lookout point and texted the crew behind. ‘Yes Jake, keep driving, you’ll make it through’, ‘no Franz, don’t bring your old Laser up here tomorrow – you’ll destroy it.’
And the tramping trip? It was fabulous. Beautiful beech forest – with healthy young beech undergrowth, something that’s rarely seen these days. Striding along the top of the Main Range with the world spread before us. Pretty rivers and a lake. Amiable company and plenty of good food. Four huts for the obsessive baggers. And out before the next storm hit.
Friday night: Road end to Lake Chalice Hut
Sarah White (leader), Kobus Boshoff, Jake McClaren, Sarah McClaren, Paul McCredie, Mike Voets