Mount Rolleston 14th Jan 2010

It was with great excitement that I packed up my car for my first NZ Alpine trip! I met a guy called Peter over the mountaineering club website and we decided to climb together. He has twenty years alpine experience but has not done much for years, so after warning about my relative inexperience we decided that a trip up Rolleston would be a good first go. I hadn't met him before I went to his house to pick him up, so I didn't really know what to expect. It turns out he was a famous alpinist in his day, putting up first ascents all over the Cook region, including some tough lines on Cook and Sefton. Seems I would be learning from a master! A friend from work, Axel, also decided to come along, having done lots of climbing and mountaineering back at home in America.
We drove off to Arthurs Pass, arriving late and finding ourselves locked out of the hut! A bit of detective work meant that we avoided a bivvy on the porch and got inside the hut. Although tired and ready for bed, a few bourbons seemed like a good idea, and it turned into a 3am bedtime. We had a leisurely start at 8am, and set off for Rome Ridge on Rolleston. Rolleston is a beautiful mountain, clearly seen from the pass, and from Avalanche Peak, which I have climbed before. The initial walk up through the forest and out of the bushline was a bit of a slog, but didn't last long, and we found ourselves on steepening rock. We eventually roped together, moving over loose rock placing anchors where possible. At one point we had to leave the ridge and descend a steep snow slope, with a climb up the other side on snow, to avoid a steep rock section. The weather looked like it was closing in and that we would loose our beautiful blue skies! We commit ed to the ridge by climbing a steep rock step however, as Peter knew the mountain well and we had a clear descent plan. We carried on in light rain, cloud and wind, and eventually reached the final snow slope leading to the peak. I led this last bit, and we happily arrived at the top of the ridge! It was great to be there, but we didn't linger as there was still to come a descent down the steep snow of the Otira Slide. I cant say I wasn't a little scared! Steep snow, and I couldn't see the bottom. Getting down was a relief, but it had been an amazing experience! We walked out of the Otira valley, and still further down a road to the car. Tired but happy, we went back to the hut, for food, wine, and more Jim Beam!
We had a lie in in the morning, Peter slept til midday, so me and Axel went for a couple of beers at the "wobbly Kea", we then packed up and drove to castle hill for a little play on the rocks on the way home.
Back to Christchurch just in time to pick up some red wine and get an early night, before an early shift in the morning. A fantastic few days, absolutely awesome....absolutely knackered!

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