Why the Rees-Dart? Big mountains to view, often described by others as the most memorable tramp, relatively easy river valleys to follow and a basic circuit with relatively easy track access from Queenstown made this a "must do" tramp.

We had no difficulty recruiting trampers, with an eventual eight starting (and completing) the journey. Six took digital cameras but three didn't adjust for daylight saving and one was another 30 minutes out!?! I have corrected times by adding 1 hour or subtracting 30 minutes. I also took a fixed wideangle lense on my old Nikon F501 and a tripod, but I'm not sure if the pictures were any better for the trouble! So we had:

• Ian Bardsley (ex Hawera) [photos=IB +1hr],
• John Barrell (New Plymouth),
• Jim Sutton (New Plymouth) [photos=JS +1hr],

  On to the pictures

  and story.

• Jim Callaghan (Wanganui) [photos=JC +0hr],
• Alan Rogers (Hawera) [photos=AR -½hr],
• Graham Thompson (Hawera),
• Cathy Thompson (Hawera) [photos=CT +0hr] and
• Keith Blayney [yours truly] (Hawera) [photos=KB +1hr].

All photographs © - media reproduction requires permission