Steve was to pick his parents up at 5 o’clock, so set his clock radio for the appropriate time, only to discover that the radio station only opened their broadcast at 5.30. Rather embarrassing for the poor lad. This, of course, we only discovered much later, when we arose. After breakfast, all 6 of us piled into the car, and drove out to a spot from which we could go on a hike. The trail followed an old, disused railway line, much too steep for an engine to run up – at one time materials for the hydro-electric dam at the top of the trail were winched up it. It was in pretty bad repair, and at one pace broken completely, so Steve, Val and I – we were going to do the whole trip, so had gone on ahead – had to scramble through the mud to where it re-started. Much to our surprise, Chickie – Steve’s parents struggled thro’ it too, and we all walked on together up to a lookout point. Then we 3 carried on from there.
Val + I were just ahead, and Steve, running to catch us up, put his foot thro’ the flume that the trail was on, a sort of square, wooden pipe. He slipped + fell, but fortunately did not hurt himself too much. The walk was dead straight for quite a while along what was effectively a boardwalk, + then transferred to a round metal pipe, about 2’6” in diameter. In places it was about 20 feet off the ground, and crossed rivers etc, but it was easy enough to walk on, and made a nice direct route straight to the dam. At the dam itself, there was a bit of a scramble up the side to get up on top of the wall + see the lake. We paused briefly to drink some apple juice, then set off again, taking the first bit by a different route. Val slipped + hurt her knee but it wasn’t serious, + once back on the pipe again, we returned with considerably more confidence + speed. Steve’s dad came out with the car + took us back.
Tried the Motor Vehicle dept when we got back, but they had lost our papers. In the evening, Val made pasties for tea (they were delicious), + Crystal, a friend of Steve + Chickie’s, came round. We sat around + I got pretty drunk on tequila sunrise – a nice evening.
Apologies to Steve for calling him “a poor lad”. Otherwise a most enjoyable walk. Me getting drunk does seem to be becoming something of a regular feature, however; good job I have turned into such an abstemious chap.
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