Mt Brown Hut

Mount Brown Hut, near Lake Kaniere, has just been relocated and renovated by a group of keen trampers and sponsors. So a few of us decided to head up there to see if we too could help out and cut and mark some of the track. Our group combined with the Cedar Flats trip for transport, and after picking up a hammer and a slight misunderstanding about whether Ian was coming to the carpark or if Volker was picking him up, we were on our way towards Hokitika. Volker had agreed to pick up track markers and nails at Lake Kaniere from Julia, the lady leading the Mt Brown project, and once we'd found her house, collected the note, and dropped off everyone heading to Cedar Flats, we were making the steep climb up to Mt Brown. It was 3 hours of steep uphill, with very few flat sections to get a breather. Tom, Volker and Nodin, all tall boys with long legs, were off and Tobi wasn't far behind them. Ian and myself were bringing up the rear, not quite managing to keep up with the pace of the boys in front!

The track was well marked and cut, so we didn't feel the need to put many more markers up. We may regret that decision in a few years, when the West Coast bush begins to take over again! Although steep, it was a rewarding climb through forest, scrub and tussock to the hut. Mt Brown hut is in a great location, overlooking Lake Kaniere, and is painted an awesome orange colour so it's easy to spot through the tussock. Tom and I put the tent up next to the hut, as there were 6 of us and only 4 bunks in the hut. After a quick cup of tea, Volker got out the smoked salmon started for himself, Tom and me. Yum! Following the smoked salmon was cheese fondue, with bread, capsicum, carrot and tomato for dipping into the cheese. Tom had even brought caramel sponge pudding for dessert, but after so much cheese fondue none of us could eat it! We spent the evening relaxing by the coal fire, trying to digest all the food!

The keas woke us up nice and early, so we'd had breakfast, mended the lock on the toilet door, cleaned the hut and were ready to go by 8:30am. We'd agreed to meet the Cedar Flats group at 3pm, so decided there was no rush to get back down from Mt Brown Hut. We'd decided to make the trip a loop and head down the new track to the Styx River. Some cutting and marking of the track was required, so we felt good being able to do something for the community project. Once we'd run out of markers and nails, only Volker and Tobi had the track cutting equipment, so Tom, Ian, Nodin and myself headed off to get the car leaving the other 2 to finish some track maintenance. The track seemed to get more and more overgrown - if only we had a few more markers! We came across the site of the old hut, and continued on down through very dense West Coast bush. This is when we began to loose the markers - I thought this track was newly cut?! It turned out that there was a new track and an old track, and we'd obviously taken the old track. I still don't know where we went wrong! It became a game of spot the marker, climb over trees, and slide down the mud. Multiple times we had to retrace our footsteps to try and find the next marker, so Ian decided to make us call out when we'd found the next marker before he moved on. Eventually we made it out to the river, with only a few scratches and a bruised bum. Unfortunately it was only a side river and not the Styx River, which is where we would have ended up had we found the new track. It was then a 1.5hr boulder hop down the side river until we reached the Styx River, and finally a walk out along a 4WD track back to the car, where we met Volker and Tobi wondering where we'd gotten to as they'd been waiting 2 hours for us! 

Volker kindly whipped out his cooker and made some tea so we could have some timtam slams, and Tom managed to hitch a ride with a couple in a campervan to go and collect the car. We met up with the Cedar Flats group, one of whom had very sore feet because the soles of his boots had fallen off - were those boots from Katmandu??? I think Volker was secretly jealous of our adventure in the bush, because although he and Tobi made it down 2 hours quicker than we did, his story was no where near as interesting as ours. Apparently the new track was marked, but obviously not well enough for the four of us!

Paske Saddle

 A 3 day weekend was upon us, so Tom, Volker, Julia and myself decided to drive to Lake Tennyson and head to Paske Hut to climb Mt Paske. We left nice and early, but didn't actually start walking until 1:30pm due to coffee stops and rutted 4WD that Volker's car couldn't quite manage. After a quick lunch by Lake Tennyson we headed around the lake and into the valley towards Paske Saddle. It was a pretty descent climb up to the saddle, but rewarding all the same. The descent involved scree, some swampy grass and a bit of easy bush bashing, and we reached the hut at about 7pm just in time for dinner.

Paske Hut

The next day we set off to climb the South East ridge of Mt Paske (grade 1+). There was more bush bashing to begin with, but this soon became easy walking up Rainbow River towards a saddle. Once at the saddle it was onto the crumbly rock for some scrambling along the ridge up to Mt Paske.

Tom heading up South East Ridge of Mt Paske

There were great views from the top (2216m) towards Mt Travers, Nelson Lakes and Lewis Pass, so we had a leisurely lunch and admired the views before heading back down the 'weetbix' crumbly rock and onto the scree for our descent. We were back at Paske Hut for afternoon tea and biscuits, and a well deserved rest in the sun.

Mt Paske summit

The following day we awoke to a frosty morning, and once the sun had shed light on the hut we set off back over Paske Saddle and back to the car at Lake Tennyson. Thanks guys for a great trip!

View from Paske Saddle

Heading out from Paske Saddle to Lake Tennyson

Tom with Lake Tennyson in the background

South Island Adventure

On 22nd February a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch, where nearly 200 people lost their lives. I feel very lucky not only to survive this natural disaster, but also for my house and belongings to be in one piece. I was also very pleased that my friend Gemma had flown to Wellington the day before, and managed to miss the entire thing. And what better time to get away from Christchurch to go on a road trip around the South Island...

First stop was the Abel Tasman up North. We picked up Gemma from the ferry terminal and set off for our campsite at the start of the Abel Tasman track. We had booked to kayak around the coast for 3 days, stopping at campsites on the beach on the way. After a 2 hour instruction of how to recover after capsizing, setting off and landing on the beach, and trying to get all our luggage into the kayaks, we were allowed to set off on our own for 3 days of paddling. We had 3 days of perfectly calm weather, allowing us to explore all the secluded beaches and islands where seals and cormorants lazed about. It really was golden sands and turquoise waters.

Camping spot on the Abel Tasman

Kayaking into the lagoon

After 3 days of great weather, Gemma and I left the others, rented a very girly, blue Rava 4x4, and headed to Greymouth in the rain. Luckily my old flatmate lives in Greymouth, and was kind enough to put us up for the night so we didn't have to camp in the rain. We managed to catch Punakaki (the Pancake Rocks) in decent weather before continuing our journey down the West Coast.

Punakaki Pancake Rocks

We were met with a mix of drizzle, rain and sun on our way down the West Coast. Our next stop was Fox Glacier, where Gemma booked a full day guided hike on the glacier and I headed up steep West Coast bush to Mt Fox for an awesome view of the glacier. Although the recommended hiking time was 8 hours, I was back at the car by 2pm and decided to do a few of the easy walks around Fox Glacier which also gave some great views of the glacier, with a fairly hairy river crossing in order to get there. Our night was spent at Gillespe Beach, a random beach at the end of a long gravel track with enormous waves to keep you awake all night (glad we got that 4x4!). Glad we had a waterproof tent... unlike some other English guy, who ended up sleeping under the picnic shelter to keep his tent dry!

Fox Glacier

Heading up Mt Fox through West Coast bush

After the glaciers, we made our way over Haast Pass deciding to give the hike up to Brewster Hut a miss because we couldn't even see the mountains. Another rainy day on the West Coast! We did see some great waterfalls though, and by the time we drove past Lake Hawea  and Wanaka and arrived in Queenstown the sun had come out. I introduced Gemma to the chai latte and famous Fergburger (for a burger of course).  Now she just can't get enough chai lattes! Once Gemma realised you really don't get much radio or phone signal in NZ unless you're in a fairly large town, we made our way to Moke Lake campground just outside Queenstown, where of course we lost phone and radio signal. Another very long gravel track later and we reached the campsite. It was a beautiful spot by the lake, and although another gusty night, our tent survived. Funnily enough we met the same English guy from Gillespe Beach campground, who came looking for his tent in the morning. Apparently he put it up, put some stuff inside it, didn't bother to peg it down, and then headed back to Queenstown, during which time someone had 'stolen' it. It wasn't waterproof anyway.

Lake Hawea

I then decided to introduce Gemma to a NZ hut... this entailed heading to Mavora Lakes for a '1.5 to 2 hour' hike along a 4WD track to Careys Hut. It was a good 2 hour hike to the hut. I was beginning to think we'd missed it, because it isn't very often that I don't make those DOC (Dept. of Conservation) times. We were both pretty pleased when we saw the hut... which came with 3 very drunk hunters, half a deer and 2 dead trout. At least we got some strawberry flavoured wine (in a bottle),  and some freshly caught venison and trout. A very random night, but at least we were kept warm by the fire.

Morning at Mavora Lakes

After the 2 hour walk out and 34km gravel road from Mavora Lakes we were on our way to Milford Sound. Gemma continued to take photos out the car window, but we did make a few stops on the way to admire the glaciers, Mirror Lakes, the view from Key Summit on the Routeburn, mountains in general, and the chasm. We were lucky to have 3 days of sun in the wettest place in NZ, and camped at the Milford Lodge with a little glow worm trail for evening entertainment. Gemma took a boat cruise around the fjord (it's technically a fjord not a sound) while I went for a run (I was in training for a marathon) and got eaten by sandflies just admiring the view.

Milford Sound

We managed to hike up to Lake Marian and Gertrude Saddle in sunny weather to get some more amazing views of what the South Island has to offer. Then we were back on the road and on our way back to Queenstown, where we found another great DOC campsite by Lake Wakatipu. Gemma convinced me that the lake wasn't that cold, when in fact it was, but we both got in anyway... briefly.

Black Lake on the way up to Gertrude Saddle

Lake Marian

We then headed to Wanaka for some ice cream, and Gemma attempted to do some souvenir shopping. Wanaka was lacking choice of souvenirs, so we decided to head to Mt Aspiring National Park and walk up Rob Roy Valley for some amazing views of Rob Roy Glacier. It was only a 3 hr return walk, but one of the best I've done. Once back at the car we had a failed attempt at finding a nice place to camp without checking in to a holiday park. Unlike Queenstown there doesn't seem to be any DOC campgrounds in Wanaka. Eventually we gave up, and headed to Glendu Bay to pitch the tent in the holiday park. Although a little more expensive than we hoped, we were right on the lake and the view towards Mt Aspiring was beautiful.

Rob Roy Glacier

Mt Aspiring from Glendu Bay

The next day we headed up Roy's Peak track in Wanaka to get a great view of the lakes and mountains in the area, before wandering round the A&P (Agricultural and Pastoral) show. It was like an English country fair, with tractors, show jumping, people selling hot tubs, and advertisements for schools...

Gemma heading up Roy's Peak Track in Wanaka

Finally, Saturday 12th March arrived and it was time to run an off-road marathon. Tom arrived at Glendu Bay on Friday night, and we had a feast of pasta, bacon and pesto to fuel us for the next day. Tom and I left Gemma at 6am Saturday morning to make our way to the start line, and at 8am we were off... 42km of off-road with 500m elevation gain. It was a perfect day for running - not too hot, but not raining! I couldn't quite run all the uphill sections, or the river crossings, but after 4hr 37min I was crossing the finish line (31st out of 120 females). Tom finished in an amazing time of 3hr 52min (21st out of 110 males). Gemma had agreed to meet us at the finish in Arrowtown, so we had our complementary beer and finally found Gemma amongst the crowd. The event finished with Christchurch bands playing to raise money for the earthquake.

Fortunately I wasn't too stiff the next day, so we all went rock climbing in Wanaka before Tom headed back to Christchurch, and Gemma and I headed to Mt Cook Village for our last stop on our South Island adventure. We had a very sleepless night in the tent at Mt Cook because of the strong winds, and decided against the hike up to Mueller Hut because of predicted 110kph winds at all levels later on in the day. Instead we walked to the Tasman Glacier before making the journey back to Christchurch.

Me and Gemma by Tasman Lake and the Tasman Glacier

Thanks Gemma for a great trip around the South Island!

Chest Peak/Random Peak

A combination of my birthday, Laura finally finished her PhD AND bringing her tramping boots down to Christchurch meant we just had to go tramping. After a potluck dinner and drinks on the Friday night, non of us were feeling particularly creative to come up with a good day trip option. So when Ivor suggested Chest Peak we all agreed, even though no one really knew where it was, how long it would take, or had a map. A leaving time of 8am was set (by Ivor) and of course he was the last one to show up at 8:30am... Eventually the 9 of us were off. We'd agreed to meet at 'the turnoff' and then travel the last bit to the start of the track in convoy. Of course we mixed up 'the turnoff', resulting in Ivor's car waiting 40 minutes for us when we were already in front. By 11:30am we eventually put out boots on and began to walk.

It was a pretty windy day, and of course as we walked up the wind just got stronger. Tom picked the most windy spot for lunch, but Ivor and myself managed to take some sort of cover in a bush. We continued heading up after lunch, finding ourselves walking more and more in the bush rather than the 'farm track' as described in the guide book. Somehow I think we went wrong, because instead of a nice approach to the spur leading up to Chest Peak we ended up bush bashing up to some other random peak. At least we were sheltered from the wind in the bush!! And there were snowberries!! Volker, Brian and myself managed to stop every 10 minutes for a good feast. We realised there was no way we were going to make it up Chest Peak, so decided to just head up the random peak and down the spur the other side.

The wind was so strong that it nearly blew us over on the tops. But the combination of snowberries and bush bashing made an adventure to say the least. After 5 hours we were back at the car, and made our way to Oxford for a hot chocolate at Joe Seagars Cafe. Unfortunately it was closed, so we skipped the hot chocolate and headed back to Christchurch in time for dinner and a glass of wine. As for the lack of photos - Tom was in charge of those because he had a new toy. So when I get them from him, I may upload a few.

Griffin Creek Hut

Tom and I decided to head to the West Coast for the weekend in search for the hut with the bath tub... The weather was looking good, so after a brief stop in Arthur's Pass for coffee we were on our way. The track up Harrington Creek through the bush was pretty well marked and not too overgrown for the West Coast. It was fairly steep, but after 2 hours of climbing through the bush we'd reached the high point (934m-an 800m climb from the car). An old, corroded barrel marked the turnoff down into Griffin Creek, but before making the descent we decided lunch (and Jelly Babies) were in order.

Heading up Harrington Creek

West Coast bush

The track down into Griffin Creek was steeper and more overgrown than the track we'd taken up. It was more about parting the thick bush to see where to tread rather than proper West Coast bush bashing, so was actually quite fun. I did fall over many times, but what do you expect when the ground is covered in slippery grass. After an hour descent we'd reached Griffin Creek, and it was only another 45 minute amble upstream to the hut. The river was an awesome greeny/blue colour, and there was plenty of greenstone around. We also saw a couple of blue ducks, which didn't seem too bothered about us being there.

Blue Ducks

Griffin Creek Hut

We reached Griffin Creek Hut at about 3pm, and after dumping our packs we headed 100m towards the river to find the bath tub. The only problem was that there wasn't a tap for the bath, so we had to use a bucket to carry the water from the river to the bath, and there wasn't actually a plug... Tom solved that problem by making one out of wood. The piece of cloth that was sitting on the bath obviously wasn't good enough. It took him an hour to find a piece of wood that didn't have a hole down the middle, and then when he did find something suitable he got out his penknife and began sawing and shaping the wood into a plug. Meanwhile, I was sipping on the bottle of wine that I'd carried up and over the hill. Perfect! Eventually the plug was finished, so I got to work carrying the water from the river to the bath, while Tom started the fire. By the time the plug was finished and the fire was going it was dinner time. So we got the food from the hut and started cooking dinner by the bath while it was heating up.

By the time we'd eaten dinner, the water in the bath had got hot enough for a good soak. What a great way to end the day! We headed back out from Griffin Hut the same way, and made it out in time for a pint at Jacksons, a drive around Otira looking for Chris (whom we didn't find!) and an ice cream in Arthur's Pass.

Tom and his Wooden Plug

Yey, finally a hot bath

Avoca Hut

The Canterbury University Tramping Club (CUTC) own a 6 bunk hut (Avoca Hut) in Arthur's Pass, which means the club is in charge of looking after and maintaining the hut. Volker is the new Avoca Hut officer for the club, and he wanted to go and inspect it to see what needed doing. We decided to head into Anti Crow Hut on Friday night, so Saturday wouldn't be such a long day. We set off after work, and began walking along the Waimak River at about 7pm. By 9pm we'd reached Anti Crow Hut; just as it was getting dark.

On Saturday we left Anti Crow Hut and made our way up the Anti Crow River towards Sphinx Saddle. We were going to attempt Gizeh Col, but we took one look at it, decided it looked way too steep, especially as we had one person with us who'd never been tramping before, and decided to head up Sphinx Saddle instead. This was a steep enough climb, mainly up scree, but it was worth it for the views from the top. We had lunch at the saddle, then made our way down the scree into the Avoca River. 

Heading up Sphinx Saddle

Lunch on Sphinx Saddle

After a short break to enjoy the views in the valley, we continued walking up stream until we reached the turn off to Avoca Hut. Volker and Tom began some track maintenance using Volker's new saw, while the rest of us carried on to the hut. The afternoon was spent chopping some wood, and digging a new hole for the toilet (Tom and Volker, not me!). It wasn't an easy job (apparently). Not only did they dig a new hole, but the boys also moved the old toilet to its new location (and filled in the old hole of course!). Great jobs boys!

Heading up Avoca River towards the hut

Boys digging/moving the toilet

We headed out, after assessing what else needed doing to the hut, back out the Avoca River and this time over Jordan Saddle back into the Waimak. The climb up to Jordan Saddle was also steep - this time up big boulders rather than scree. I think Robert was pleased to get to the top, and vowed never to go tramping with Tom and Volker again because they were too fast. See what I have to put up with! The way down from the saddle involved boulder hopping and was great fun. The walk out of the Waimak wasn't quite as much fun, and we finally got to the car after 7 hours.

Climbing up to Jordan Saddle

 All in all a great trip with a great purpose!

Mt Owen

The original plan was to head to Kahaurangi National Park to the Dragon's Teeth for a 6 day tramp. We'd bought the food, and planned to meet a friend in Motueka for a BBQ on Tuesday evening before starting the tramp early Wednesday morning. As there was no need for an early start, we left Christchurch at a reasonable 11am and began the long drive north. However, our plan was forced to change due to flooding and slip damage pretty much all over the South Island. We managed to get as far as Havelock before being stranded, so the BBQ and our Dragon's Teeth trip was not going to happen. After finding a nice camp spot in Havelock, we cooked the food we'd bought for the BBQ and came up with a plan B, as by the time the roads would be clear in the morning we would no longer have time to complete our 6 day trip.

Camping in Havelock after being stranded by the floods

 

Plan B was to buy a map in St Arnaud and head to Mt Owen. Although only a 3-4 day trip, it was somewhere we all wanted to go within driving distance. We decided to head up Sunrise Peak on to the tops; a steep 3hr climb to the bushline. Once above the bushline, we scrambled up the tussock on to the tops, which were covered in a maze of limestone rock. As we had a limited water supply, we aimed to set up camp by some tarns shown on the map. However, by 7pm we hadn't found the tarns, so made our way to a small patch of snow to set up camp just below Mt Owen summit.

At the bushline of Sunrise Peak Track

Limestone Maze

                            

After a gusty night we awoke to a calm, cloudless day. We made it to the summit of Mt Owen by 11am, and after an hour sitting on the summit and admiring the views finally came to a decision to head to Branch Creek Hut for the night and then walk out down the Fyfe River the next day. The walk to Branch Creek Hut involved more limestone negotiating, plenty of spaniards, and climbing up long grass and tussock. Branch Creek Hut is in a beautiful spot by the river, and we had it all to ourselves until 8pm when 2 other ladies joined us after a 10 hour walk in along the Fyfe River.

Heading from Mt Owen to Branch Creek Hut

We started our walk out along the Fyfe River early(ish) (8:30am) just in case it was going to be a long day, but it actually only took us 6.5hrs to get back to the car. The walk along the Fyfe River was through beautiful bush, crossing the river frequently and then climbing up to avoid the odd gorge. We spotted one blue duck, and could see how high the river had risen only a few days earlier during the flooding.

Gorge along the Fyfe River

Fyfe River

After a quick pint in the pub in Murchison, we decided to head back to Christchurch and celebrate New Year with some cereal and a cup of tea. I definitely wasn't complaining.