Turere Hut – The Brooklyn Group Family Tramp

If you add 4 Venturers, 12 Scouts, 5 cubs, 1 Kea, 7 leaders, 5 parent helpers and 2 international students together what do you get? The Brooklyn Group Family Tramp! Yay!

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Ten of us walked into Turere Hut located in the Orongorongo Valley (beyond Wainuiomata) in the dark (on Friday night) guided by Venturer Ed and his fairy-light festooned pack!? Terry had set off earlier in the afternoon and already had the fire going when we arrived at the hut around 9pm. More fairy-lights (too many for Gary?) were promptly strung around the hut for added festive ambiance.

It rained heavily overnight, with showers only clearing in the late morning. We ventured out after lunch hoping to find an old hut downstream but the river was too high to cross, so we built a dam across a small channel instead.

We were joined by the rest of the tramping party on Saturday afternoon. Nico proved a dab hand at cooking popcorn and many card games were played with varying levels of trickery. Dinner was a big joint effort, followed by bananas wrapped in tinfoil (stuffed with chocolate buttons and marshmallows) and baked in the firebox of the wood fire. Surprisingly successful – thanks to David for the idea!

The party split on the return journey, with the older youth choosing the slightly longer and steeper Cattle Ridge track with the bonus of getting views back to the city at one point. The Cubs and Kea’s got to build there own dams before we all met up at the car park.

On a personal note, I would to congratulate the youth for being especially inclusive with everyone getting the chance to try out and learn new games in the hut, and with youth moving around engaging with each other – whether they were Keas, Cubs, Scouts or Venturers. Thank you too to our parent helpers – may you soon become leaders!?

Yours In Scouting, John