Nico Arrives!

Nico joins us in New Zealand

NickyWeyHey! They’re finally here!! :) Our hiking compadres have landed, and we’re off to have some crazy adventures in the mountains. It’s a holiday for us from the Te Araroa trail for a few days, and we’re swapping some boring road walking for some up-close mountain action!

This is Nico, our secret Swedish third team member who’s been coding this amazing blog for us. Thanks Nicoooo! Very sweet CSS skills. We love it. Yes!

NicoWhoa! This trip was booked back in November, but still felt a bit unreal when the D-day was fast approching during February. But now I’m here and it feels absolutely great!! Behind me I left cold winter and a desk job, ahead awaits; warm weather, long walks, epic mountain views, good company and challenging passes and climbs.
Thu 3rd Mar
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600g of Blue Steak, much to Nico’s Delight

Nico's Raw Meat Steak

NicoFor the last evening meal, before heading to Gillespie Pass, Cookie booked a table at steak house called Flame Bar & Grill – Great steak. Great Fun. I was delighted to find that they served meat dishes exceeding half a kg! And you could order it ‘blue’ (that’s raw’er than raw my friends). Blue – for the real meat connoisseur. Yes please.

Thu 3rd Mar
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Bus to Makarora, Setting off in the drizzle

Setting off to cross the Makarora River in drizzle

Nicky“Heeey Makarora.. uuUhii!”. This village is hence forth dubbed The Macarena.
CookieWe caught the bus from Queenstown to Makarora (at the far end of Lake Wanaka) then walked a few miles up the road to the start of track. Well not really, the track started on the other side of the river, we could see from the road that it was flooding but Nico & Ollie wanted an adventure so we went to have a look if we could ford it anyhow.
Fri 4th Mar
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Finally on the other side of the Makarora River

Walking back down the Makarora

NickyDay one was a warm up day in the end. Up the road and back down the forest several km’s to get back to the other side of the river :)
CookieBack to the road we tramped then a further 3 miles in the wrong direction to the nearest bridge, once over the river at Blue Pools we tramped back down the valley on the other side un-doing the road walk..
Fri 4th Mar
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..and so the Stream Jumping begins..

Ollie and Nico stream jumping and keeping the camera safe

CookieThe shots from this section have been interesting to edit and put together, we now have 3 monster cameras (Canon 5D x2, plus Nikon D3s) capturing the action from every angle. This means I have 3 times as many photos to wade through when making the final selection for the blog (hence recent delays..), but it does mean we caught a lot of ‘action’ that sometimes gets missed. Looking over this section the thing that stands out is stream jumping shots, we took a shit load! This is the first, but won’t be the last :)

Sat 5th Mar
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Nicky & Nico Climbing a Steep Section

Climbing a Steep 100m Section

NickyThe flat path had run out. It was steep up from here. Roots forming steps and hand holds, full of beans at this point we climbed up and up. Feels good, like you’re making progress, when you can look down and see a little snaking path below you :)
NicoThe photographs don’t make the steepness justice. Some passages are so tremendously steep that you find yourself climbing instead of walking. Since the ground is literally a few inches infront of your face, all you have to do is reach out you’re hands and voila – you’re climbing!
Sat 5th Mar
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Crossing Young River South Branch

Crossing Young River South Branch

Sun 6th Mar
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Nico Surveying the Dreadful View

Nico Surveying the Mt Dreadful View

NickyWoh get down Nico! It’s high up there! Blimey. That’s a classic ‘explorer’ shot. Wish I was game enough to get up there :) What a shot.
CookieYep you guessed it, next door to Mt. Awful is Mt Dreadful! I’ve noticed that Nico has the tendency to seek out and stand on the end of perilously overhanging rocks. Make for a great shot, but don’t go too close to the edge Nico!
Sun 6th Mar
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Nico Fanning the Fire at Siberia Valley Camp

Fanning the Fire at Siberia Valley Camp

NickyNot staying at the hut has it’s advantages – you can crank up a nice fire and sit round telling stories and sipping hot toddies until late into the night ( or at least til 8:30… we’re hikers after all ;) ). Here Nico does a sterling job with ‘The Wafter’ keeping the light and heating roaring at our new home. Mmmm toes released from the boots, and revived with the warmth of the fire, noodles scoffed, and rum sunk, a deep sense of snooziness prevails… It’s time to get zipped up in the thermal maggot bag as our eyes start to sink slowly into the closed position… Zzzzz A satisfying day :)
CookieThe orginal plan was to get to Siberia Hut tonight, a further one hour down the valley. But we found a massive fire ring when we popped out onto Siberia Flats so felt obliged to fill it with fire ;) Camping here was also a much better location to take in side trip up to nearby Crucible Lake tomorrow (didn’t have to walk that hour back up here again).
Sun 6th Mar
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Much Stream Jumping Today

Much Stream Jumping Today

NickyWoh! Check out those moves! There’s some spectacular leaps going on here. I’d have been wading a few of these for sure ;) Bbrrrrr. Impressive skills boys!
CookieWithout a pack you feel so much lighter, after freezing our feet crossing Siberia we decided to try and jump all subsequent crossings! We were fairly successful and generally kept our boots dry.
Mon 7th Mar
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