Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Grampians July 2013
Camped in holiday shacks at the bottom of Mount zero . Hoped that meant zero rise but no such luck. Lots of rock scrambling to the top searching for the illusive Hollow mountain . We never found the mountain but I discovered that bouldering is not lieing on mattresses staring at the distant rocks, rather those very inviting looking mats are meant to assist with a soft landing after dangling upside down from alarming looking overhangs . Unfortunately we did not have the "crash mats" so I had to approach some of the boulders with fear in my heart ( and my boots). Accommodation at Mount zero cabins was an adventure in itself, well worth the money for the eccentric factor alone. Unfortunately those cabin mattresses seemed to have more hills then the Grampians , but after a big day scrambling and watching others hanging from boulders the lumpy mattresses were rather welcoming.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Queenstown
NZ notes Queenstown
Bike riding ,shopping,wine tasting , shopping, gondola riding, shopping eating and window shopping ( because no money left) all to the backdrop of the Remarkables (mountain range) Very pretty with lots of diverse things to do.Everyone from the Bungy jumping back packers to the spend up big Japanese tourist were being catered for. Harley managed to achieve his Nz bucket list which seemed mainly to involve food: drinking a milkshake and eating Nz ice cream, eel and venison pie and stopping his wife from doing as much shopping as possible. Not so successful at the last.
Bike riding ,shopping,wine tasting , shopping, gondola riding, shopping eating and window shopping ( because no money left) all to the backdrop of the Remarkables (mountain range) Very pretty with lots of diverse things to do.Everyone from the Bungy jumping back packers to the spend up big Japanese tourist were being catered for. Harley managed to achieve his Nz bucket list which seemed mainly to involve food: drinking a milkshake and eating Nz ice cream, eel and venison pie and stopping his wife from doing as much shopping as possible. Not so successful at the last.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Nz notes Milford track
Nz notes Milford track
Well this one was meant to be hard . You will need your thermals and wet weather gear. You won't be able to see a thing but you will know its beautiful underneath all that cloud cover and oh just be careful on your way day down its very easy to break a leg and of course you won't be able to sleep because sharing a hut with 40 potential snorers is every trampers nightmare. This should be fun I thought! And guess what it was. Beautiful sunny cloudless days. Swimming holes that set your skin tingling. Hill climbs that were breath taking in every sense of the word, enchanting forests and even a bit of local bird life that hadn't been eaten by stoats. The 38 other people we walked with kept us amused and helped take out minds off our sore toes and as for the snoring we were so knackered at the end of each day it was just a symphonic lullaby at the end of a sweet day . Well worth the trip!
Well this one was meant to be hard . You will need your thermals and wet weather gear. You won't be able to see a thing but you will know its beautiful underneath all that cloud cover and oh just be careful on your way day down its very easy to break a leg and of course you won't be able to sleep because sharing a hut with 40 potential snorers is every trampers nightmare. This should be fun I thought! And guess what it was. Beautiful sunny cloudless days. Swimming holes that set your skin tingling. Hill climbs that were breath taking in every sense of the word, enchanting forests and even a bit of local bird life that hadn't been eaten by stoats. The 38 other people we walked with kept us amused and helped take out minds off our sore toes and as for the snoring we were so knackered at the end of each day it was just a symphonic lullaby at the end of a sweet day . Well worth the trip!
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Queens town Te anau
Timed our run from Chrissy's house to airport perfectly . Not one minute to spare from7:15 this morning till arriving in Te anau this evening at 7 :30. Only losing a couple of hours along the way. Everything hilly and beautiful from afar . Just worried I am going to have to walk up them now
Friday, February 22, 2013
Hollyford Track
Nz notes
The Hollyfood track is easy everyone says it's all flat you just follow the river along .They said its a doddle .You don't have to carry a tent they said . So I set off with my apparently light 9 kilo pack with a few nervous butterflies flying around my tummy wearing my long sleeve op shop shirt supposedly sand fly resistant shirt and 3 dollar pants and came to a hill I said to "h " what's that doing here ? it's nothing my "precious" you will fly over these to He prodded me with his half price walking stick and I was off. Our quest was to find the huts before dark under the 3 hour addition mark we had to add to the walking times displayed on the very infrequent signs .
We learnt never to believe any young German with long or short legs. They could do every track in half the time you could without even raising a sweat. When" H"started to hide behind trees and do his Gilliam impersonations I knew I was in for a long trip. Arriving at the last hut which faces Martin Bay on the Southern Ocean early enough to have a freezing cold swim and spy baby seals nuzzling into their mums on their majestic rock homes I decided that maybe those disgusting freeze dried meal ( nasi goreng looks like whale vomit) ;those endless rocky hills ; those alarming tight rope bridges and the creepy tree routes that tried to trip you up at every little twist in the track ; the nasty sand flies seeking out every bit of exposed skin ; were all possibly worth it .However when I realised we were going most of the way back on a 45 min jet boat ride I did start to wonder ( while doing the last "quick " 6 hour sprint to the bus ) whether legging is the best way to travel the Hollyford. "H" assures me that helicopter rides and jet boats wouldn't be nearly as much fun as lugging a 9 kilo pack by foot over 70ks in 4 days ..... Mmmmm. Maybe....
The Hollyfood track is easy everyone says it's all flat you just follow the river along .They said its a doddle .You don't have to carry a tent they said . So I set off with my apparently light 9 kilo pack with a few nervous butterflies flying around my tummy wearing my long sleeve op shop shirt supposedly sand fly resistant shirt and 3 dollar pants and came to a hill I said to "h " what's that doing here ? it's nothing my "precious" you will fly over these to He prodded me with his half price walking stick and I was off. Our quest was to find the huts before dark under the 3 hour addition mark we had to add to the walking times displayed on the very infrequent signs .
We learnt never to believe any young German with long or short legs. They could do every track in half the time you could without even raising a sweat. When" H"started to hide behind trees and do his Gilliam impersonations I knew I was in for a long trip. Arriving at the last hut which faces Martin Bay on the Southern Ocean early enough to have a freezing cold swim and spy baby seals nuzzling into their mums on their majestic rock homes I decided that maybe those disgusting freeze dried meal ( nasi goreng looks like whale vomit) ;those endless rocky hills ; those alarming tight rope bridges and the creepy tree routes that tried to trip you up at every little twist in the track ; the nasty sand flies seeking out every bit of exposed skin ; were all possibly worth it .However when I realised we were going most of the way back on a 45 min jet boat ride I did start to wonder ( while doing the last "quick " 6 hour sprint to the bus ) whether legging is the best way to travel the Hollyford. "H" assures me that helicopter rides and jet boats wouldn't be nearly as much fun as lugging a 9 kilo pack by foot over 70ks in 4 days ..... Mmmmm. Maybe....
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