The 8 Big Ones!!!!

OK, so here is my new idea. And I have been labelled a crazy pom for this. I want to run all of the NZ great walks. After the fun of the Routeburn earlier this year, I have decided to set myself the target of running all of the great walks, ending at the Routeburn Classic next year. There are nine "great walks" in NZ, but one of these, rather strangely, is a kayak trip, so that can not be run, and will take place whenever. That leaves me with 8.
The big 8 are:
Lake Waikaremoana, 42km, North Island
Tongariro Northern Circuit, 50km, North Island
Abel Tasman Coast Track, 51km, South Island
Heaphy Track, 82km(!!!), South Island
Routeburn Track, 32.1km, South Island
Milford Tack, 53.5km, South Island
Kepler Track, 60.1km, South Island
Rakiura Track, 36km, South Island (on Stewart Island)
So the hills around Clyde are my training ground! In the last week I have managed one 34km run, and one 44km run, the last one with a height gain of 1000m, so I think I can do it! My friends Gary and Beck and Mel and Fran all are my support crew, as will mum and dad be when they are over!
So wish me luck, and watch this space!!!!

Fiordland Trip

Before starting my new job, I decided I really, really needed a holiday, having had a very stressful few month of skiing as much as possible ;-)
Me and Mel and Jon, decided on a tramping trip into fiordland, once of the worlds last true wildernesses. Fiordland is the south west corner of the south island and apart from a road running to Milford Sound, and a few walking trails, its is a place of dense bush, high mountains and amazing wildlife. We were heading in in winter, to a rarely visited part on the way to George Sound. When we asked the Department of Conservation (DoC) what conditions are like in fiordland at the moment their answer was "we dont know, no-one has been in there for months". Enough said, we were excited! To get in we hired a man and his boat, to gt us across Lake Te Anau, and then, after a 15 minute walk, Lake Hankinson. He left us here and we walked for four hours to get to our hut. The way in had many obstacles, fallen trees, bog, and the dreaded three wire bridge. Literally, three wires, one to walk on, two to hold. Not easy when there is a ten meter drop below you, a 70 litre pack on your back, and nothing but your own steadiness to rely on! Most of this walk was through bush, with the odd glimpse of the high, steep sided mountains that characterise fiordland, and the waterfalls running down them into lakes and rivers.
On arriving at the hut we got chopping wood to get the fire going, and sorted our kit. There was no one else there (apart from Mr Weka-Weka, the hut Weka, which is a type of NZ bird) and the book made it look as if there are only ten or so visitors a year. The next day we set off as dawn was breaking on our walk to George Sound. It was going to take at least ten hours. The going was really tough. We had big packs on and the way was just one big bog slog. Sometimes we would disappear up to our waists in bog. Usually just knees though. We were also fighting our way through forest with fallen trees in our path. After five hours we emerged thankfully onto Henry Saddle. Its was refreshing to be out in the open, and what a view! Mountains and valleys and not a sign of human life, as far as the eye could see. It really was an awesome moment and a stunning view. We stopped for lunch and debated our next move. It would be a further six hours, probably more to George Sound, through denser and wetter forest. There was a point where we would have to wade through a lake. And we would get there in the dark. Our plan was to have a day at George Sound hut then back the following day, but weather looked as though we may have to come back the very next day, which would mean leaving in the dark and never seeing George Sound in daylight, or staying the day and taking a chance with mother nature. Jon was keen to continue, me and Mel were wanting to go back. I for one, could not face that much slogging through forest. I am "tops" girl through and through and feel strangely oppressed when I spend too much time in the forests. I just love wide open spaces and mountain tops, where Mel and Jon love the forest too. We decided to turn back, a big decision for Jon, as it had long been a goal of his to get to George Sound. I am keen to come back someday, maybe camp on the saddle and get to the sound over couple of days. Its still on the list!
We returned to Thompson Hut and had a couple of days chilling, doing day walks from the hut, and enjoying the solitude. We tried to catch some trout from the lake, but no luck. We walked out in the rain, and met Vern, our boatman. It was great to be back in Te-Anau, away from the sandflies, to have a shower, and eat some fresh fruit and veg! And although we had had some sherry with us in the hut, it was good to enjoy a good glass of wine.
We met our friend Fran in Te-Anau and had a couple of chill out days.... went for a run, and did the lake Marian walk, a lovely 3hr round trip to a beautiful clear like, nestled amongst alpine peaks. We then drove to Wanaka, where Fran's fella, Rob joined us. We had a wicked days skiing at Treble Cone, couldn't see a thing, but loads of fresh powder, an awesome day! We had a day cross country skiing on nordic skis, then a day of R&R!
A brilliant trip with great friends :-)

Winter Fun!

Well, once more it has been far to long between blogs, I can only appologise. My excuse? Having far too much fun :-)
It has really been an awesome winter. Having started out being very tentative on skis (hadn't skiied for years), I got myself a pass that allowed me access to 11 different ski fields accross canterbury. These were "club" fields, and very unlike any places I have skied before. They tend to be privately owned and, although they do have some groomed slopes, there is a vast amount of ungroomed terrain. They are much, much smaller than european resorts, but have a friendly and relaxed feel. As a result of avoiding the commercial fields, I am now able to ski in all types of snow, over all kinds of diferent terrain. Not with much style or grace, but I can ski it. The main joy of the winter was finding fresh powder to ski in. Once you get the hang of skiing in powder it feels like you are floating over the ground, flying even. It really is the most amazing feeling! The other good thing about the club fields is the lack of people. I had a week day pass too, which mean there was barely anyone else on the slopes, bliss!
I also had a winter walk up to Mueller Hut, in Mt Cook National Park. Me and Axel, a friend from USA, walked up there in a bit of a storm, but got up safely to find that we were the only ones up in this beautiful spot. Not another soul, and beautiful mountains as far as the eye can see. The next morning we left our packs at the hut, carrying only ice-axes we climbed to the top of Mt Olivier, a very small peak, but the first one that Sir Ed Hillary ever climbed :-) Stunning views in beautiful sunshine.
I feel pretty sad that winter is coming to an end, but climbing season is starting again soon, and I have lots of fun plans.
I have moved down south to a small town called clyde, nestled in the hills of Central Otago. Its beautiful. I have started working at a small country hospital and loving the quiet life! Lots to do, really close to the mountains.... so watch this space. Have also started running training again.....will give you more info on this at a later date!
Ta-ra for now xx

ROUTEBURN CLASSIC!

on thurs 22nd April, me, Mel, Jon, Jane and axel headed off down to Queenstown for the routeburn classic. We camped in Omarama, then got to Queenstown the next day to get the bus to Te Anau. In te Anau, after a night of carb loading, we got up at 5.30 am in preparation for the Routeburn Classic. The Routeburn is one of the great walks and is 32Km long. It goes over mountainous terrain in Fiordland and Aspiring National Parks. Having not done much training, and being very nervous, I had been dreading it, but I had so much encouragement from the folks back home (thanks!) and the guys I was with. It was a rainy day, but we all set off in high spirits. Not long into the race me and Mel caught up with Jane, who was having a wee bit of a crisis of confidence. We decided to stick it as a team and run it together. We played games and sang and laughed our way round the 32kms! We had a wicked day, and made some new friends along the way, as we tried to rope random runners into our "name game". Me, Mel and Jane crossed the finish line holding hands all together, after about 5hrs 56 mins.
We went back to our hotel, and had a jaccuzi! divine.... Then it was out for a hearty meal and lots of beers......
An awesome weekend!

kaikoura Coast track

Sunday 14th March
Ok, so this was ages ago and I need to catch up on the blogging!
I walked the kaikoura coastal track with vera and paddy, to work friends. Its a three day walk through private farm lands, staying in farm bunk-houses or cottages on the way. It takes in stunning scenery along the east coast of the South Island and walks along beachs, through forsts, and across farm land. Its fairly gentle, just about 13kms each day, and they carry your food (and wine!) and pack if you like to the next house along the way. We met a group of six other girls doing this, they were great fun and we all got along really well. The wallk had a few hills, and a long stretch a long a beach, but all in all there was plenty of cake and wine to make it painless, and great fun.....

Mount Cook - the bottom bit......

I'm not sure how it happened that we ended up heading to Cook, I think we decided that less days off meant we needed a closer target than the slightly more realistic goal of Mount Aspiring, so Cook seemed like a good option .......!!!!!
Not only is it NZ's highest mountain, but it is a particularly daunting and dangerous one, and was a little further down my list in the section "when more experienced". However I could not resist having a "look" and a summit would be excitement beyond belief. So after a botched sick call to work (we were rumbled on this one!) we headed down to Mt Cook village, 5 hours drive away. We (me, Axel, and Steve) drove from Cook Village down a four wheel drive track as far as we could go, and slept the night, rather uncomfortably, in the back of Axel's car. It was gone midnight when we got there, and after a few hours of rest (not sure we got much sleep!) we got up and headed off towards Cook. We had to walk over rough moraine and negotiate scree slopes with heavy packs. I had some nasty falls on the scree and was glad when we crossed Ball Glacier and headed up a rocky gully. We missed our route onto more scree and had to negotiate some steep rocky sections, ending up at the bottom of an ice-fall on Boys Glacier. It was 7pm by this point and we had no idea what lay ahead so we thought it would be safest to set up camp and start again in the morning. The terrain was rocky, but we built a platform for my alpine tent as best we could. We had no sleeping mats so the boys slept on their packs, and I made do with a layer of clothing. I made dinner while Steve got a crash course in glacier travel and self arrest. We had strategically placed our tent behind a rock to protect from the rock and ice fall. However right before bed we all looked up to the sound of cracking ice. Me and Axel ducked behind the rock, and Steve ran the other direction. A huge lump of ice had broken off the ice-fall and crashed over the rock that was protecting our tent! Slightly unnerved by this we all put on our helmets, and slept in them, and built up the rock wall around our tent still further.
A cold and restless night was to come, with three people in my two man alpine tent making sleep elusive! We woke early to get onto the glacier, moving along to the constant sound of rock and ice fall. We had come onto the glacier at the wrong level, so found ourselves trying to find a way around wide open crevasses. We ended up having to ice-climb down into crevasses and out the other side. It was slow progress. We eventually got onto the snow covered part of the glacier, making progress smoother and easier, as the crevasses were all linked by snow bridges. We got to boys col and looked up at the mighty face of Cook. It was so immense, so huge, so exciting! It made me realise that I had a lot of work to do before I was good enough for this!
We wanted to push on further but the route ahead was heavily crevassed, with it being so late in the season, and I'm sure our route up the mountain would have been the same. We did not know the mountain well enough to know if it was worth a shot, as we could not be sure of conditions or safe bivvy spots. The weather also looked like it was closing in, and it was a long way to plateau hut. We made the wise choice to return to the car. It would be a long walk out.
We descended along the correct route, which involved a steep descent on scree, made harder by heavy packs. on the way ac cross a steep scree slope, with a 70ft drop over a lip about twenty meters below me, I was knocked over by a loose rock which came flying down the slope. I couldn't get it off my leg so I was stuck! I was praying that I did not have a broken leg or anything, as that could have been disastrous. Luckily Steve was there and lifted the rock of my leg, it was fine, apart from a few bruises, and an injured knee all was well. It really knocked my confidence on the scree though, and I completely froze after that when crossing scree, something I need to work on, as its an integral part of mountaineering here!
We got back to the car late that evening, walking the last bit in the dark. We had no water, but plenty of beer, so we ate and drank, then slept. The next day we were all a bit sore, but packed our stuff and went and did some rock climbing a Sebastopol Bluffs. It had been an awesome trip, and one of the biggest learning experiences I have had in the mountains. This Trip has been invaluable, and has certainly spurred me on to get fitter and stronger, to carry MUCH less stuff (no more comfy pants ;-)) and to climb more mountains.
I will be back in the spring, for Mt Cook, take two! And one day, the Grand Traverse. Until then, I've got lots of work to do!

catch up - Kaiteriteri

So, much time has passed and I have severly neglected my blog, which isn't really good enough at all. And its not as though there is nothing to tell, I've had some exciting trips so much to catch up on! So they will come in installments.... here's number one!
Back in March I had a weekend away with some friends from work, Chrissy and jamie, as it was the big 30 for Jamie, and some of their other friends came too. We went to Kaiteriteri, which is a tiny place on the north of the South Island, near Abel Tasman National Park and Nelson. Its a beautiful place, with golden sandy beaches and clear blue sea. We did some sea kayaking and saw seals and blue penguins, which was awesome! there was drinking a plenty and good times had by all. We were camping just a minutes walk from the beach so that was great. Bit of a long drive just for two nights, but the drive was through some beautiful scenery, through Lewis pass and up to the coast. Will definately need to go back, but for longer next time.
So I will leave you with this, and you can eagerly await blogs for Mount Cook (take one), and Kaikoura Coastal Track. Rest assured, I'm still here, and still having adventures! xx