November 1990: Trampers were: Ian Bardsley, David Taylor, John Barrell and me (Keith Blayney). My Nikon F-501 had packed up, so I took a cheap Minolta. However, without a polarising filter, many of the brilliant sea colours never turned out (that's my excuse anyway).

We flew to Motueka, then got delivered to the track start at Marahau. This is a well maintained and busy track, so despite the bad weather, we found the Anchorage Hut full and had to pitch our tent in the pooring rain. Nowdays a booking systgem prevents this sort of overcrowding. The morning, however, was glorious.

The fine weather kept up and we had magnificent views of the rivers, bays and inlets as we continued north, then waded the shallow Torrent Inlet. We were surprised at all the private batches at Torrent Bay, and the amount of discolouration (?natural tannin) in Falls River.