Mount Misery

Ok, so we thought we were fit! Turns out New Zealand trampers are much fitter...

We set off for a two day tramp with our hut tickets purchased for one night in the Hamilton Hut. It wasn't quite circular so we left our car at one end and then tried hitching for the first time. Started to feel disheartened after 4 cars ignored us but then two lovely Dutch ladies in a campervan stopped for us. Dave made polite conversation while Hannah played Peekaboo with the two kids.

The start of the tramp involved following a river upstream in the river bed. No obvious path and we had to cross the river several times without bridges. Fortunately it was only calf deep, and Dave only fell in once. We confess that we didn't go kiwi and wade through in our boots. Instead we took some sandles to keep our boots dry.

After the river was the climb up through the beech forest to the Cass Saddle hut. I don't know if it was the rain that made our bags get heavier and heavier, the wet boots caused by the earlier 'falling in' incident or the waves of Misery pouring off the mountain of the same name, but we were thoroughly depressed by the time we made it to the hut. We still had more climbing and over 4 miles to go as well!

Fortunately, while we drank our tea, the rain stopped and the sun came out. We pressed on up to the saddle itself, and began the drop back down to the Hamilton hut.

In the early evening sun, the beech forest was transformed from the earlier dark, sinister place of evil-ness (ok exaggerating a bit perhaps) to a beautiful dappled woodland, no doubt inhabited by elves and happy pixies! Plus we were going downhill!

Made it to the hut by 7, and were relieved to find plenty of space.  We caused much amusement to the hardened kiwi trampers as we pulled our our fancy new gadgets, and cooked our dehydrated venison stew. Turns out the standard fare is pasta and cheese.

Set out the next morning thinking that the walk would be much easier... Back by lunch, was Dave's suggestion. After all, we were starting 300m higher, 3 hours earlier, and today's peak was 100m lower than yesterday's. Not so, as this path went up and down and up and down, until we'd done more climbing than the previous day. At least the rain held off... Until we reached the saddle and it started snowing!

Still, it didn't do very much, and we made it to the final decent across a boggy moor and through the forest (again feeling less pixie-like on account of the snow/rain and our general tiredness).

But to summarise, We Made It!  Yippee!

Having the day off today.... Unless we get bored and try to tackle Avalanche Peak! (the sun is shining today...)

This one's just for Chris

The photos will pretty much speak for themselves but we thought that this might interest you!

The drive that should have taken two hours

...but took 4 because it was so pretty!

The drive from Christchurch to Arthur's Pass Village was one of the most scenic routes we've ever done. Each corner we went round was a new vista that needed to be recorded for posterity!

One of the corners that caused us to stop and gape, lead to an impromptu rescue! But first some history... (the reason for which will hopefully become apparent).

In the early days of colonial New Zealand, the Brits felt that NZ was just not enough like England. So they imported hedgehogs!!

Whether they felt that this worked is lost in the mists of time...

Anyway we rounded the corner, and stopped to record the view, and spotted a pretty sorry-looking hedgehog, limping across the road.

Hannah, having some experience of rescuing hedgehogs, lept into action. First trying to chivvy it with her foot (causing it to stop it's painful crawl across the road, instead rolling into a ball), then trying to pick it up (ouch!) , and finally rolling it into my(!) hat. Once safe on the verge, it stayed in a ball and ignored us until we went away! That's gratitude for you.

My first experience of youth hostelling

So, I will admit that I was feeling a little bit guilty with going youth hostelling, thinking that it should be reserved for the... well, the youth!

Well, we're sat in our little 3 room house with 1/2 dozen 60 - 70 year-olds, who have spent the last hour (I jest not) trying to figure out what they need to do with the supplied wifi keys so that they can get onto Facebook!

"Choose the mountain house zimbo.net"

"What's a zimbo.net?"

"No, it's not working, I can't get to Facebook"

"Did you use a capital 'G' or a little 'g'? "

...and so on and so forth.

Views of Akaroa

First proper day exploring. After giving up trying to sleep at 5.30 am we thought we'd sort out our packs for a walk. Somehow that took 4 hours! Well, Breakfast, showers etc happened somewhere in that. Once sorted, with Hannah fashioning a way to attach Dave's camera bag (involving carabiners and cord!) we were ready to roll.

We headed over to Akaroa, which is a peninsula made out of a couple of volcanos. We picked a walk (the one with the biggest hill of course!) and had a lovely knackering day in the sunshine.

Then, on the way back, we discovered Frank Worsley's birth place. He was captain of the Endurance. If you've not heard the story of what happened to him and Ernest Shackleton then go look it up.

This place is still feeling very much like Hawaii so far. It will be all change when we head to Arthur's Pass tomorrow.

Earthquakes

The devastation in Christchurch caused by the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes is shocking. In the centre, streets have either been completely flattened or are still lined with boarded-up buildings, waiting to be demolished. The cathedral is particularly sad as they haven't decided what to do with it. Many of the more historic building frontages have just been stabilised by stacking shipping containers full of rubble on either side, so that they can be incorporated into the replacement building.

The versatility of shipping crate use is amazing. There's an entire new shopping centre, pub and even a new cathedral made out of them! The city is vibrant, with new buildings going up in the centre. With the new technology, these should survive the future earthquakes.

Oh and we also saw a London bus :-)

I know we're in NZ but...

The giant sequoias here are amazing! Planted from seed in the 1870s so they're only 140 years old but they're huge! Way bigger than any that we've seen in the UK. Apparently Northern Hemisphere trees do really well in Christchurch and, luckily for us, the Victorians were into planting up botanical gardens everywhere!

This one was the biggest, apparently planted by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1889. It's particularly strange because it has massive side branches at the bottom. 

Oh, and did we import blackbirds because they seem to be exactly the same as ours... And the sparrows, greenfinches and thrushes??