If you’re a photographer, this is the place to come. So much character to capture in these salt smoothed mammoths. It’s hard to do it justice. You’ll just have to cone and explore it for yourself :)“Have you seen where we’re going tomorrow Nicky?!”
We could see a feint trail high up on a steep scree slope leading to Waiau Pass. Nicky wasn’t overly excited by the prospect of heading that way tomorrow, I managed to convince her that it always looks much harder from a distance - “when you’re actually there, it won’t be as bad on close inspection”. Turns out I was wrong, this really was a bloody steep exposed route!
Rock climbin’
“Over the top and just nip down the othe… Ooooh” Pretty steep the far side too eh? But this time some good old fashioned rock climbing. Yey brilliant, I’m shit at this :) Some great tutoring from Cookie however, got me down this vertical wedge of lumpy rock, even though chunks of it were manoeuvred across on my bum cheeks ;) Thank goodness those North Face shorts are made of stern stuff or it’d have been a drafty afternoon in the nether regions.
Nico Arrives!
WeyHey! 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!
Whoa! 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.Ollie Arrives!
WooHooo! Another one!We managed to hook in two extra buddies for this bit of the trek. And so today we are receiving a parcel of two. This is Ollie! Another ex-Poker. He will be gracing the mountains with his lion-like hair for a couple of weeks too….. And so, we were four!
Hi-di-hi campers! Well, after 34 hours flying at 34,000 feet to the other side of the world Nico and I couldn’t wait to use our jet-lagged feet to clamber 34,000 steps (approx ;-) back up into the clouds through the golden grass, mushy moss, random roots, and wind-swepted-waterfall-laden vallies of mountains (we even got a rainbow horizon) that are New Zealand. Kia-ora Mount Aspiring National Park! We salute you (and your 34,000 (to be very precise) sand-fly bites??!! Ouch. That’s why i am pictured here jumping for, er, joy ;-) !