Rob Merrifield, who is pictured with his wife Fran.

Rob started walking and tramping as a child, accompanying his father hunting rabbits in Canterbury and, later deer-stalking at Kekerengu on the Kaikoura coast. He progressed to going on mystery day walks that entailed a train trip to be dropped off at the lineside, walking across country to meet the train again for hot drinks and the return trip home.

More systematic day walking began when he went to Britain, first in the Welsh mountains, then with a rambling club in Surrey. Long lasting friendships were made then, and this is where he met Linda. After they came back to New Zealand to live in Masterton, children came, who were regularly taken for walks they could handle, beginning along the Wairarapa edge of the Tararua mountains. A subsequent move brought them to Upper Hutt. Here, they eventually joined and began going out with the Upper Valley Tramping Club from some time in the 1980s or 1990s. This club re-organised as the Upper Hutt Walking and Tramping Club in 2011. Rob had become Treasurer of the UVTC in 2010 and continued in this role in the UHWTC until he became President in 2021. Upon stepping down from the Presidency he was made an honorary Life Member of the Club.