PhilipW
Member • Joined
(Currently based in Masterton, right on the doorstep of the Eastern Tararuas... Holdsworth/Jumbo beckoning from the window as I write. ) Not any more. Stuck in Australia for a while. I grew up in Auckland and my first tramps at 12/13 years old were in the Coromandels and Tongariro National Park. Things have changed a lot since then. At 13 two of us spent all the May school holidays at TNP and shared a hut with two other hunters on just one night!! Otherwise we had the place to ourselves... a remarkable privilege in hindsight. Moved onto an active few years with AUTC; between the age of 18 and 24 I spent 2 of those years in the Southern Alps. Two whole months (in two successive summers) working for a friend as his geology field assistant in Dusky Sound was one highlight, a winter trip from Milford Huts to Makarora was another. Achieved a lot on a very small budget and gear that was hopelessly deficient.
