Introduction

On December 10th, 2001, Adrienne mailed me asking if I was interested in doing a trip to Barrington Tops; on the very same day Joe sent details of half a dozen walks he'd be doing in New Zealand in January/February to the Sydney University Bushwalking Club mailing list. After a bit of email, it was all organised - Adrienne and I would join Joe for the Inland Pack Track, Adrienne would return to Australia, and I would do the Three Passes and the Copland Pass with Joe (though I was a bit unsure about the latter).

I booked my plane flights and it was arranged that we would meet Joe in Punakaiki on February 3rd. Adrienne worked out that car hire for the week she was there would cost little more than the train or bus to get us to Punakaiki, so we shared the cost of that and a motel in Christchurch for the first night, both of which she booked in advance. Other than that I did little planning. The only really big decision was buying my first ever pair of boots.

Next: to Punakaiki