A Tramp of Incidence

The ski season has come to an end, and while we did not spend as much time on the slopes as we had thought, it was bloody good fun! Mount Hutt may be small but the variety of runs is good and there is something to be said for getting to know the slopes well. Unfortunately the weather stopped us skiing more than we did with high winds and no visibility a relatively common weekend forecast. Being spring we also went down to a 1 in 4 rota with the large vets doubling up for calving season. Amy ended up winning the calving competition with 65 in the 12 week calving period. She is still going with a delightfully pungent full embriotomy last night bringing the yearly total to around 80! We both definitely improved and overall I clocked up 10 days, 128 runs and 52132 vertical meters at the Hutt with the extra days at Roundhill and Dobson providing a bit of variety.

The weekend focus now switches from skiing to tramping. Amy had had a week up around Abel Tasman with Janneke and so already had a 2 day tramp under her belt. We opted for a gentle intro up in Lake Sumner Forest Park, a jaunt to Jollie Brook hut. Driving up took a bit longer than expected, an extra hour spent driving deep into the park on a dirt gravel track, but the walk up to Gabriel Hut, a side trip to see the lake and the short slog over the saddle was great. It was nice to be back in the boots again. The hut was great, very roomy with a warm fire and all to ourselves. The route out on Sunday followed the river and we were forced to cross 33 times with the water varying from mid-calf to mid thigh in depth. We were looking forward to a change of clothes and a Burger King on the drive home by the time we reached the van. Unfortunately Gordon had had his lights left on and the battery was completely flat. Just as I was about to jog down the road to try and find someone to help a 4x4 drove by and sure enough had jump cables. The battery was that flat however that they did little more than get the dash lights going. No problem he said, we'll just put my battery in and switch again once the engine's running. You can do that? No as it turns out, as soon as the battery was disconnected the engine died again. No problem, I'll just tow you so you can jump it. Still no joy and so his trailer was reconnected and we had a lift to Kaiapoi 2.5 hours closer to Ashburton. He was an absolute lifesaver as we did not pass anyone else on the dirt road out and with no mobile signal would have been well and truly stranded. Arriving in Kaiapoi, he dropped us off to buy a new battery as we still had some thoughts of getting back that day. It was too late however and so we ended up simply lugging a battery on the bus into Christchurch to some friends who then dropped us off at the bus stop to Ashburton. The 4 hour walk had been somewhat overshadowed by the 7 hours it took to get home. The best bit was the fact that we then got to spend Monday night after work driving back up to the van, installing the battery before heading back home again. Another 6 hours! Lets hope our future tramps are not quite so eventful.

Its currently Labour weekend and we are on call for yet another bank holiday, though we do get the day in lieu. The rodeo came to Methven and we thought it was worth the risk to go and have a look. Unfortunately I got a call that absolutely could not wait (i.e. cat been off colour a bit for last few days and not improving) and so ended up missing everything except the kids riding the calves and sheep. The BBQ is getting good use at the moment and weather permitting I'm off fishing again Wednesday. I could get used to this good weather!