Tramping at Nelson Lakes

On Thursday morning me, Mel and Jon left Christchurch Public Hospital after a night shift, and jumped in the car (a couple of strong coffees later!) to drive north-east to Nelson Lakes National Park. Luckily Jon had managed to get a few hours sleep on his shift so he was happy to drive. We stopped at Murchison, NZ's white water centre, for a lovely lunch and a coffee in the cafe, then on to our destination, near lake Rotoroa. We set off after debating an overnight camp to sleep off the night shift. We walked up the Mole track which followed forest then river bed up to Mole hut. It took about three hours and was about 7pm when we got there. Mole hut is a small four bedded hut, seen in my pictures. It did not have a fire but was fairly warm. We were joined by a man who had come up to the hut for a few day to hunt deer, and so we quickly befriended him, thinking that fresh venison go down a treat! Was not to be though, we probably scared the deer off with all the noise and giggling! Anyway, we were all so tried, so we had a brew, cooked some pasta and settled down to our first hut sleep! Which was surprisingly good I have to say, probably thanks to having been up for more than 24hrs!
Next day we got up at six, faffed around til 8 (how did that happen!)and then set off with our packs. We climbed up to mole tops, my favorite bit of the trip. Up on the hill tops you could see mountains all around, and not another soul for miles. We dumped our packs and climbed to the top of a rocky outcrop and along a beautiful ridge line. There were small tarns all around, and snow on the distant mountains still. We left the tops for a dubious descent down Bull Creek, a track no longer maintained by Department of Conservation (DOC), scarred with landslide. It was mainly following a river (wet feet again, an integral part of NZ tramping!), boulder-hopping and wading, leaving the river for bush every known again. It was slow going, and hard on the knees. I have to say, I was getting rather fed up by the end! At the bottom, we followed the river along for another hour or so to our next hut, D'Urville hut. Part of the path was flooded so we partly waded there. The hut was bigger, with 12 bunks, and a fire. It also had running water. There was a party of 3 fishermen there, making the most of a weekend by the lake, lake Rotoroa. We had another great pasta dinner, then were soooo tired, we went off to bed. We had been walking for 11 hours.
Next morning we didn't leave til gone 9. It was raining so we put on our waterproofs, squeezed back into our wet shoes and set of down the Tiruamea path, even more flooded this morning! The water was freezing so cold toes and legs all round. We walked to the Tiruamea hut for lunch, a lovely 6 bunk hut with a fire. We had some lunch then carried on for a long slog of a climb out of the forest onto meadow land. Thank goodness for lollipops and flapjacks! We topped out a few hours later and made a decision to continue down to the car and get back a day early. The trck down to the car took a while to find, and in the rain and mist we almost decided to return to the nearby Mole hut and walk out the next day. However after being mislead by a confusing sign, we found our intended route, Jamieson track, and decided to take a gamble. It was 4pm by then, and there had been a sign at the bottom saying it took 5 hours, but luckily it was a good track of steady descent along the ridge of a spur. We got down in three, by 7pm. Yey! ten hours walking today! I stayed with the packs (sensible) while Mel and Jon ran back to the car (silly). 20mins later we were all in the car and changed into dry clothes. To our great excitement the cafe in murchison was still open, so we had a great feed, brought coffees for the road and just caught the petrol station before it shut. Me and Mel shared the driving, we were all tired so played games the whole way back to avoid a sleepy driver! Home by 1am, tired, sore, and definitely thinking that Mel + Jon + tramping does not equal a relaxing country break! Thanks though guys, definitely character building! x

Camping at Gore Bay

5th December 2009
My first NZ camping trip! Went camping in Gore Bay on the East coast, just a two hour drive from Christchurch. Gore Bay is a tiny bay, with a scattering of holiday homes and a small campsite. Its has a beautiful, long sandy beach and is the perfect place for a relaxing weekend away. We borrowed some camping stuff and packed up the car. It was Dyllan's first camping trip so we only planned to stay for one night. She seemed excited though, and loved playing on the air mattress in the tent. We went for a walk along the beach and played in the waves, although we weren't brave enough for a swim, just a paddle. The water was pretty cold! The sun was shinning though and it was lovely and warm. We had a few beers at the campsite that night.
The next day we drove to Hanmer Springs and had a look around, meeting up with James' mum and sister for lunch. Hanmer is a small town in Lewis Pass with hot thermal pools. No time for that today though, as I was starting nights on the Sunday night (again!). But a good weekend, summer is definitely here!
xx

Kayaking at Akaroa

27th November 2009
Today I was up at the crack of dawn (yes, 6.30 on my day off!)to go kayaking! At 7 (well, nearer half past) I turned up at Mel and Jon's house to pick them up for our outing. We were headed for Akaroa, a small town on the Banks Peninsula an hours drive from home. Its a beautiful harbour village, surrounded by hills. Although the day was a bit over cast, we were excited about our little adventure. Although the car was in fine form, and my driving to its usual standard, apparently Mel and Jon were not that impressed, and its not only my mum that gets sick on my driving :-(
However the upside was that we were there within an hour and ready to go.
Mel and Jon got a double and I got a single and with some advice about which way to go and not crossing the harbour we were let loose!
We headed out towards the mouth of the harbour first, keeping an eye out for penguins and dolphins, but the weather turned windy and the sea choppy so we decided to explore the other way, rather than being further exposed to the elements. We headed beyond Akaroa Harbour and crossed the harbour (naughty, naughty!) to the other side and a place called French Farm. Mid way we carried out an impressive off-shore kayak shuffle, with me and John elegantly swapping places without capsizing.
Its surprisingly hard being at the back of a double kayak, having to co-ordinate strokes of the paddle, steering and chatting to Mel, all at once! On the way over, we saw dolphins! They were so beautiful, swimming right near the kayaks. We only saw a couple, but it was so special, just us in the water and these beautiful creatures.
We stopped for lunch, a lovely picnic of home-made pizza and other goodies. Feeling tired, we headed back to Akaroa, after nearly six hours on the water, and lots of laughing!
We had a quick change and a coffee in Akaroa, before heading back to Christchurch. Very, very tired, and very, very sore!
But a great day, thanks Mel and Jon.

Avalanche Peak (but no avalanches!)

The big news is that I have actually used my ice-axe and crampons that carried all the way over here and hadn't used! Yey! I had had a good weekend, been walking in the port hills on the saturday with a girl called Laurayne, who I met through the mountaineering club. We are keen to get out and about together so fingers crossed! The weather on Sunday was not as good as expected so me and James put our castle Hill bouldering trip on hold, and had a walk in the port hills, once the weather had picked up a bit. On Monday I had the day off so I packed my rucksack and headed to Arthurs pass. I had decided to climb Avalanche Peak, a peak of 1833m. I was on my own so I chcked in and left my intentions at the visitor centre, and made sure I had enough stuff with me should I get injured or stranded, as the weather was pretty awful when I set off. The way was well marked though and wound up through trees and scrub for the first hour or two. The sun came out as I began walking, and as I left the bush line only the tops of the mountains were in cloud. Once the bush line fell away the gradient became gentler and patches of snow became evident. The cloudds had now completely lifted, and I got great views of the mountains, Rolleston in particular. The last bit followed a ridgeline, with snow and rock, so I got Alice (my trusty ice-axe!) out, as a slip would've been disasterous without her. The snow was steep and stopping a slide would've been difficult. I reached the summit in blue skies and sunshne and took in the fantastic views. I had some lunch on the summit, and was joined by a kea, a mountain parrot, know for its appetite and cheeky tricks to get food off tourists! I left the summit after lunch, and wore my crampons for the descent. It had been a great day, and a successful summit, all bit it a little one!

Mount Cook Trip!

Hi all, have just come back from a fantastic weekend road trip to Mt Cook. Me, James, Becks, Gary and Dyllan headed off on Friday evening for Fairlie, about half way to Cook, to break the journey at Gary's mum's house. We left for Cook the following lunch time, stopping off at the beautiful lake Tekapo and The Church of the Good Shepherd, a place I have been to before, but that I still love going to. A tiny chruch perched on the edge of a beautiful lake, with mountains all around it. We then drove up to an observatory to get a better view of the Southern Alps. On the drive to Cook Village you go past lake Pukaki, a turquoise-blue glacial lake, and on a clear day, you can see Mount Cook Accross the waters. We were so lucky to get this view that day. It was so amazing, possibly my favorite view in the world! So exciting to see Cook, and think that one day I might stand on top of it. I could have stayed there all day looking at that view, but we pressed on to find our cabin in the glentanner complex. We had a tiny cabin, bit of a squeeze with four of us and a baby! But really cosy. We sat out in the sun with a glass of wine and watched a beautiful sunset over Cook.
The next day we headed into Mt Cook village for a look around the visitor centre, and had a lazy day in the sunshine. We did a couple of short walks in th hooker valley, and had a drive down the Tasman Valley, but mainly just took in the beautiful surroundings. A couple of cold beers in the Mt Cook bar went down a treat, and we had a little nosy around the village, finding a campsite from which to base our next adventure. We'd love to come back soon, for a bit longer and do some of the walks in the area, with a hut stay overnight, and I hope to come back to the region with the mountaineering club too.
Back to the cabin for some dinner and a sherry! The boys went hunting that night, and me and Becks chilled at the cabin.
We were lucky enough to have great weather all weekend, until we left and the clouds and rain came. We popped in to Gary's mum's on the way back again, but we had a tired baby to get home, and an even more tired Angela, who had to go do a night shift!
Cant wait to go back!

catching up...

Hey, just thought I ought to get you up to speed on what's been going on, its been a while since i updated my blog, and I hate for you all to think that I'd forgotten you! The weather has been a bit more iffy over the last few weeks, the sunshine has been interspersed with some heavy rain, and even snow! This had put paid to a couple of climbing trips unfortunately, as has work. Boo to working weekends! I have decided to cut down my hours at work anyway, so long as finance allows, so more free time makes Ange a very happy girlie indeed!
Anyway, the last few weeks I've been out into the Port Hills climbing once, at a sport crag called Britten Crag at Mount Pleasant, with Sarah and Brett. I ended up climbing next to famous mountaineer Stephen Venables! How exciting. Me and James also had a look at Castle Rock, another great looking crag in the port hills, which we will save for a sunny day!
I've been exploring the local area a bit more, with a drive to Diamond Harbour the weekend before last (forgot the camera though, sorry!!!). Its a beautiful little harbour on the banks penninsular, just a short drive from the city, a great place to hang out and chill, and a very scenic drive there. I've also been exploring the shops! (suprise, suprise)mainly to stock up on camping gear for our next adventure!
Not a lot of other news, been planning trips to Fjiordland and Southland for next year, and have a long weekend in Mt Cook Village next weekend, so watch this space for great pics of beautiful scenery (fingers crossed for the weather!!)
Oh and I wont go into too much detail but there may have been a small tree climbing episode after a few too many wines, all good practise you understand, and very elegantly done I'm sure! Thank God we definately did NOT have the camera then!!
I hope all are well back home, missing you lots but having far too much fun to come home, so I hope you are all saving for your tickets to NZ....
xxxx

Weekend of fun!

So my 2 weeks of permanent late shift are over! Yey, this called for a weekend of serious fun. After a much needed lie in and a considerable period of indecision (this wont be a surprise for some!) me and James jumped into Blackie for an afternoon drive to Akaroa. Akaroa is a small town on the coast, about an hours drive from Christchurch its made up of a few shops, bars and cafes, and a beautiful bay surrounded by hills. There is also a cheese factory on the way in, so a stop off was essential to buy the smelliest, most mouldy cheese to take back to Rebecca! Yum! James was lucky enough to be able to drive Blackie (not just any old person gets to be so privileged!), mainly so I could take in the beautiful views on the drive in, as they were a bit of a distraction whilst driving!
Akaroa is a beautiful and peaceful place to spend the day. We had a wander along the edge of the bay to the lighthouse watching the boats out on the water, and had a glass of wine in a bar on the waterfront. Relaxing!
After a scenic drive back to Christchurch we had a few (and a few more) drinks with my new house mates, Nick and Amelia, they are lovely people and it was nice to actually have some time to spend with them. We had a great night, probably too good, as we had a castle hill trip the next day! And I had a brand new bouldering mat to try out, another good trade-me find.
Sunday morning was sunny and bright, so it was time to rehydrate, take some paracetamol and try and feel keen for a bouldering trip to castle hill! We went with Hamish, Paddy and Oscar again, and were joined by some others who I hadn't met before. Everyone was lovely, we had a good play around on the boulders. I didn't do anything too spectacular, but James managed a particularly tricky crack problem that he couldn't do last time, so he was pleased. The crash mat worked and there were no new injuries, it served particularly well as a mat to sunbathe on, as we spend a good part of the day chilling out in the sun, having a doze and enjoying the view. Still ache a bit today though, so obviously I did do something worthwhile out there!
Now I'm all set for a week of nights, and I have been persuaded into a charity speed climbing event! How exciting, its on Friday so will keep you posted on how that goes!

More Bouldering!

Today me and James went to Castle Hill for a day of bouldering (and sunbathing!) After a leisurely start to the day we jumped into Blackie and headed to Castle Hill. Blackie did well on the open road and got us there safely. The sun was shinning, and it was really warm. We worked on quite a few problems, a couple that I had tried last time came fairly easily to me and we did some good tricky new ones. Much to my dismay James seemed to be overtaking me in bouldering ability, pulling off some good moves and doing some challenging problems. I had a great time though, and after a shaky start to the day (another Angela freaking out near the top moment - sorry James!) I did some fun problems, with not too much crying involved, lots of power screams and some great dynos! (that's a running jump to grab the first hold to those who are wondering!). There was a healthy amount of lying in the sun, basking in the glorious weather and taking in the beautiful snow-capped mountains around us. We drove home to a home cooked roast, courtesy of Rebecca (with a little help from Gary!) then a glass of red before bed.

A fantastic day, thanks James!

Settling in!

Well, another week has passed, work is going really well, and I'm making lots of friends. The most exciting news of all is that I've brought a car! A lovely shiny Toyota Caldina, the most expensive thing I've ever brought. I feel all grown up to have a proper car, its huge so will fit plenty of gear (and friends!) in it, and there's room to sleep in it, fully stretched out, with the back seats down. So this is the key to my freedom, and the start of my NZ adventures. I also move into a new house tommorrow, with Nick and Amelia. Nick is a fire fighter, and Amelia (his girlfriend) works for the police. They live in Merivale, a lovely suburb close to the city, with plenty of nice shops, cafes and bars. So fingers crossed, it should be fun! I'm sad to leave Vera's though, everyone has been so good to me and its really helped me to settle in to life in NZ. I'll still be seeing lots of them though, me and James climb together, and we all have plans for trips to Mt Cook village and a Kayak trip to Abel Tasman National Park in summer. Plus I'll still pop round for coffee and a catch up as much as possible. I'll miss it here lots, but I feel that moving into a place of my own will be a good step towards putting down some roots and making new friends. So a big weekend for me, making my first steps towards independence (again!). Now I just want all my stuff to be shipped over, so that I can make my new room homely and comfortable. I'm missing the folks at home lots, so the sooner I settle in the better. Apart from that, I'm having the most fantastic time, I feel so happy to be in NZ! Miss you guys at home though! xx

Trans-Alpine Train

22nd August 2009.

Me, Rebecca, James and Gary set off a 8am to catch the trans-alpine train. Bit of an early start for a non-work day really, but I was very excited about the day ahead. Its basically a train trip across the Southern Alps, via Arthurs Pass, to Greymouth on the west coast, from Christchurch, on the east coast. The scenery was amazing, a great opportunity to sit back and take in the views, without running the risk of crashing the car! We crossed the cantebury plains and climbed into the mountains, with our picnic of Brie and crackers, very civilised!

Four and a half hours later we arrived in Greymouth. We only had an hour in Greymouth, but the sun was shinning, so we sat in a pub garden and enjoyed a cold beer.

More beers on the way back set us up nicely for a night out in Christchurch, me, James and Becks went out, and a couple of people from work joined us, as well as a couple of James' friends from work. So met some new people, and had a great night out.

My First NZ Sumit! (just a baby one though!)

Me and Sarah had made some big plans for some alpine climbing this weekend, however the weather was not on our side, and avalanche risk too great (see Mum, safety first!). We decided to do a small peak named Mount Thomas, just 45 mins drive away. It was rainy and grey in Christchurch, so we packed our waterproofs (and sadly left our crampons and ice-axes behind). We went with Carolyn, one of Sarah's friends, who is breaking herself back into hiking gently, following ankle problems. We set off in light rain, and followed the trail through beautiful forest up to a col, where we branched off up a gentle, rounded ridgeline to the summit. As we approached the final Kilometer, the trees fell away to open hillside, with patches of snow. The cloud disipated, and we had sunshine! We had climbed above the cloud, and were in bright blue sky with warm sun. We talked about how amazing it is that you can set off in poor conditions, and have no idea of what awaits you at the top of the hill. So many times you might decide not to climb that day, and miss out on such a treat. Just that small hill of 1026m had completely different weather to the valley below it. We had lunch on the summit, and left just as the cloud began to reach us. We walked back down into the mist. The way back down was quick, but my boots were playing up again (actually, I think its my feet that are the problem!), so I actually walked some of the descent in bare feet. The gorse and stones became too much though, and on went the boots for the last bit. All in all, a fab day, and a new friend too! Back home for a glass of wine :-)

Bouldering at Castle Hill

8th August 2009. I went bouldering at Castle Hill with Hamish, a guy from work who was living at Vera's until at little while ago. His partner Paddy and their three year old son Oscar came along, and had many adventures amongst the boulders, being secret agents and hunting dragons! It was a beautiful day, blue sky, and really warm. Castle hill is a hillside littered with boulders so its a really great place to chill for the day, with the snow covered Southern Alps as a back drop. The rock is like nothing I've climbed on before, rounded and smooth, with very little friction. Fun? Surely not then? But it was briliant! Never one to shy away from a challenge I tackled a few problems, while Hamish waited patiently for me to get it together, man up, and make the moves! I had a few trademark moments of "this is scary, get me out of here!" (bit silly really, was only a couple of meters up!), and I didn't quite manage to hide the fear in my voice through a particularly smooth, exposed top out, but it was great fun, and I managed a few good problems. Loss of control in what was supposed to be a climb down, but ended up as a sack-of-potatoes-being-thrown-off-the-top-of-a-boulder type move has left me with a sore bum and Hamish with the lesson learned that Angela is never really in control, so expect the unexpected! It was a fantastic day. Hamish is a great climber, and made everything look so graceful and easy, so I was appreciative of his instruction, he did some great problems, that I wouldn't even try. But hey, he does have a few years more experience than me, I live in hope! That night I went out with James, Vera's son, and we met up with his brother, his brothers' girlfriend and some of their mates, my first night out in Christchurch! It was great, but I was in bed by one as had to be at work for 06.30 the next morning! Boo!