Friday
It was late by the time we got to the Matiri Valley road-end so we followed the track for a short way until we were able to successfully negotiate a suitable campsite for with all the members of the party.
Saturday
Saturday began fine enough as we arose in the dew and wandered through the misty valley to Lake Matiri and Matiri Hut. As we arrived at the hut, we were greeted by a couple of hunters. The cloud was certainly thickening but undeterred we carried on, and climbed up the grunt to the 1000 Acre Plateau. By the time we reached the Plateau the rain had begun falling, with the mist and cloud ensuring the sight of the Plateau remained a mystery. The seven of us crammed into the two bunk Poor Pete's Hut for some appreciated shelter, an extended lunch break and a few all important brews. There was also a lot of discussion about the possibilities of fitting seven of us into this small hut, or whether to push on, across the Plateau to the larger and more appealing Larrikans Hut.
Eventually, the cabin fever got the better of us and with group consensus we donned our storm gear to head across the Plateau. Afterall, if it clears in the morning we would be able to traverse the peaks of The Needle and The Haystack. Otherwise, if we stayed put there would not be that much for us to do. Without any trees for shelter we were expecting it to be at least slightly miserable travel. We eventually began finding waist-deep swampy holes and a number of limestone creek beds to hop across. As we neared the far-side of the Plateau, these creeks were running a little more swiftly, but still seemed pretty innocuous. However, although this particular creek presented few challenges to first two members of the party to cross it, the remaining five members of the party all managed to go for unscheduled swims.Eventually all seven of us made it over this creek and we plodded on to the edge of the 1000 Acre Plateau where we reached a larger stream draining The Haystack. This stream dropped off the edge of the Plateau as a waterfall, so the risk factors in crossing it would be quite different to the flat, limestone creek beds and after the experience on the previous creek it was obvious that we should not ford this one.
We immediately sought to find ourselves three campsites amongst the scrub and out of the bog. This was a challenge, but three suitable, yet fairly marginal spots were found for the night. We set up camp, had a few brews and dinner, hid in our sleeping bags hoping that the rain would stop real soon. We were relieved that by midnight the pitter-patter had stopped falling on our tents.
Sunday
The weather had cleared by morning and we were actually able to see the expanse of the Plateau that we had crossed yesterday, and the peaks of Needle and Haystack that we had intended to traverse - it was impressive, something really unique. After yesterday's adventures, it was a lazy start to the day and as the cloud rolled in again we retraced our footsteps back across the Plateau.Where were those side creeks again? It was apparent that regardless of the relatively small catchments in this area, any precipitation slides straight down the hill and into the pesky little creeks. We saw our friends from the Easy-Medium party who were enjoying some lunch in the sunshine at Poor Pete's Hut. They kindly offered us some of their hot water for a brew as we stopped for lunch. After lunch we rolled back down to Matiri Hut and resisting the temptation to evict our Easy-Medium friends, we set up camp under the beech trees near the Hut. This would be our third night camping, in what was a wet and miserable weekend - who needs huts anyway?
Monday
Monday proved to be one of the least eventful days one could ever have in a Medium-Fit party. We ambled out to the road-end where we were collected by Nelson Lakes Shuttles who kindly stopped at St Arnaud for coffee and cake at Elaine's Alpine Cafe'. All in all, an interesting trip - it gave us a good chance to test out our fly (which did not leak or blow down), and there's no harm in camping out in less than favourable conditions from time to time - that's how you gain experience.