Ollie Arrives!

Ollie joins us in New Zealand

Mixed Grill Platter, much to Cookie & Ollie’s Delight

Mixed Grill Platter in Queenstown

Bus to Makarora, Setting off in the drizzle

Setting off to cross the Makarora River in drizzle

Finally on the other side of the Makarora River

Walking back down the Makarora

Rain covers on for another wet start

Rain covers on for a wet start

..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 :)

Ollie Crossing the Impressive Stag Creek Double Bridge

Crossing the Impressive Stag Creek Double Bridge

Mossy Forest on Our Way to Young Hut

Mossy Forest on Our Way to Young Hut

Crossing Young River South Branch

Crossing Young River South Branch

Start of the Steep Climb Up Gillespie Pass

Start of the Steep Climb Up Gillespie Pass

OllieSo i had wondered if the once-upon-a-mountain tibea-shattered leg i was tramping with would take the terrain, but today it was arms that were on the mammoth mountainous menu – hauling ourselves (and a few KG of chilli noodles for supper of course) up the craggy concourse. The route up Gillespie Pass to the Awful and Dreadful Mountains had to get their name’s from somewhere! But i jest – the views up here were worth every sinew stretching step. Sorry, I mean peck-pulverising-pull-up, don’t i!