The Rotorua Cross Country Walkers club is an important part of the lives of Rotorua's Angelene Carle and Ingri Bonnington.
They love being part of the club and look forward to each Tuesday and Thursday, when the pair join others and head out on a four to four-and-a-half hour walk. If it's raining and the walk is cancelled both of them really miss it.
"Some of them [the walks] are on public walkways, private farms and forestry tracks. Most of them are within an hour of Rotorua," Mrs Carle.
Some of the walks they have been on include at Mt Tauhara in Taupo, Whirinaki Forest, the Kaimai Ranges and the Mamaku South track.
Mrs Carle has been a member of the club for 15 years. "I enjoy the friendships and the outdoors. There is a lot of camaraderie and laughter."
Having come from a rural background, she said being part of the walking group "was like a second childhood or a new lease on life".
Mrs Carle, who is 75, and Mrs Bonnington, who is 83, really enjoy the companionship the group offers. "I enjoy getting out in the outdoors," said Mrs Bonnington, who coincidentally has a family member who has a walking track named after her. The Violet Bonnington Reserve off Paradise Valley Rd is named after a cousin of Mrs Bonnington's father-in-law.
At the start of each year a programme is written listing each day, the walk and the petrol cost. The members pool vehicles and head out by 9am, and are normally home by about 3pm. The late Anne Moore started the YWCA Walkers Group in 1982 with the desire to keep retired people fit by walking. Mrs Bonnington joined the group two years later and in the late 1980s the group split into two - Rotorua Cross Country Walkers and Joy's Walking Group. Mrs Carle said those in the Rotorua Cross Country Walkers ranged in age from 60 to 86 and most were retired. As well as their two walks a week, the group normally goes on a bus trip each month and holds a camp once a year.
She said there were no social barriers and everybody just turned up in their old clothes. "It's just what you see is what you get," Mrs Carle said. A large portion of the annual $20 subscription is donated to the Rotorua-based BayTrust rescue helicopter or St John's Ambulance. "They are the two organisations that we have to call on if we have mishaps," Mrs Carle said.
The club is looking for new members.
Name: Rotorua Cross Country Walkers
Where: Meets Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8.30am at the Rotorua Youth Centre, formally YWCA.
Founded: Late 1980s
Membership: 82
What the club does: Goes on walks at various locations generally within an hour's drive of Rotorua
Cost: $20 annually plus petrol costs
Contacts: Angelene Carle, phone (07) 347 8945 or Ingri Bonnington, phone (07) 348 9407