Well howdy trekkers!
The Inaugural Otoko Horse Trek has
been run and by all accounts we deem it to be a resounding
success.
It would have appeared that the powers
that be had other ideas about this.......let me explain.
The Thursday night before the Trek was
to begin, final preparations for the Friday registrations was
taking place when, I received a phone call from the Marae
Committee to advise our Fundraising Committee
that the marae had to be vacated due to the death of one
of our people and his tangi (funeral) took precedance
over any other plans.
With time of the
essence phone calls were made to the registrants but none
were able to be contacted......an email was then sent and we
hoped for the best.
We could not sit back and wait for replies
so damage control kicked into high gear and an alternate venue
and Trek Route was located and we began re planning the
trek not knowing if we were actually going to have any
participants.
Friday morning arrived and our makeshift
Office consisting of a table in a shed at the YMCA Raukawa
Falls Adventure Centre prepared to take on the hoards.
Our catering
crew, Bessina Pehi, Maude Hall, Amiria
Maraku, Bernadine Patea, Sharon Tamou, Lesley Patea and Tania
Patea, helped tirelessly by committee member, trustee and
administrator Noeline Matthews, were somewhat constrained by
the facilities offered at such short notice but managed to
create menus and food that any high class
restaurant could
have been proud of!
The Band on the Saurday night consisting
of Jimmy MacDonnell, Roger Goldsworthy and Bruce Parr was
absolutely superb, pumping out many a classic hit to the joy
of all the participants.
Seriously...huge thanks must go out to the
caretakers of the YMCA, Robyn and Fred Mann, for enabling us
to use their facilities at such short notice....without their
support at the last minute all credibility for us would have
been lost.
The tireless work from the
Waara family, especially Wayne and Tom, was pivotal in
being able to hold the proceedings together.
With an already hectic personal workload
Tom found the time to organise another trek route on
lands closer to the YMCA.
Wayne the
guide, markee assembler, pickerupper, customer service
person, deliverer, fill in quad rider with his "no
fuss just do it" attitude was a godsend to the organisers.
The quad riders
and photographic team consisting of George Potaka,
Ross Nolly, Vaughan Bourke and Tony Kopic TRIED their best not
to interfere to much with the ambience of the trek however due
to the new unknown route this was not always possible and they
apologise for any inconvenience incurred to the riders.
The benefit of their presence will soon
be available for all to see.
Vaughans photographic
contact sheets are available for downloading here.
http://www.nationalphotographic.co.nz/horsetrek/index.htm
