Tramping to a Place of Mystery

Having a baby in the house does give you less time for the activities you used to do.  I have been lucky and had a few half days on the river, but with the close of the season I developed a hankering for the hills.  A weekend worked meant a long weekend was on the cards and I was given permission to spend a night away from home to go camping.  I had the intention of driving to the Ashburton Lakes, walking not too far, and making camp with the idea of getting some nice photos at dusk and dawn.

The temptation was too great though and with few stand-out photo spots close to the car (apart from maybe at the car itself!) I made the decision to tramp the 10km to Lake Mystery.  There has been lots of work done to mark new routes in the area since the Te Araroa track has opened and so the going was pretty easy.  That is apart from my super heavy bag (which I had not intended to carry far) and the risk of having to finish in the pitch black.  I went a fair pace but still enjoyed the fantastic views over Lake Clearwater as the sun was getting low and arrived just at dusk managing to pitch the tent without need for a torch.

It was only the 3rd outing for the tent, a tarptent double rainbow we ordered from the US, and I had forgotten how easy it is to pitch and how much room there is for something that weights less than half its predecessor.  Tent pitched, it was time for dinner and I was testing my home-made meths stove (I had my MSR as backup so there was no chance of going hungry).  I had used it at home but this was the first use in anger and it proved great for boiling water which was all I needed.  No elaborate meals this time!

I tried to take some star trail photos for the first time after dinner.  They did not turn out that great but I did learn a few lessons for next time.  I was a good opportunity to spend some time enjoying the starts though which were fantastic so far from any source of light pollution.  It's amazing how many there are when you are not battling street lights to see them!  The clear night made for a cold morning though not as cold as I had feared with only a touch of frost on the ground.  My alarm went at 6am with it still pitch black outside so I could get my camera set up for those dawn pics I wanted.

I have not mentioned my surroundings yet and you can see for yourself that it was beautifully still, isolated and somewhere I will be sure to return.  I was very pleased to have made the decision to head to the lake and was lucky to have such a still morning for the reflection.  Time was getting on and my leave pass was running out but I made it home for 11:30am to enjoy Amy's first Mothers Day with Tom (he gave her some nice framed photos of himself!).

A Wet Week

Well rain it did.  Every day.  Lots of it.

Despite that we still managed to get out when things lightened up and even had a couple of hours where we saw the sun!  We had rather optimistically booked a week of touring which meant that we stayed in 6 different places, catching up with a few friends along the way.  It became a bit tiring packing up every day and Tom soon became fed up of being strapped into his car seat and fair enough too I recon!

First stop was the coast just south of Dunedin for a couple of nights to see Keara.  We were put up in her neighbour's very plush sleep-out and the first evening enjoyed our first Hangi that was cooked at another neighbours just down the road.  The beaches is this neck of the woods are superb and for a summer beach holiday would be amazing.  As it was we got the pram wheels sandy and went for a couple of blustery strolls.

 From Ocean View we moved on to the Catlins where we had fond memories from over 3 years ago when we took our first road trip in the van with Phil and Tim.  This time we had fewer stops, pretty much heading straight to the Whistling Frog Cafe and units where we were staying.  The cafe was welcoming and warm and an early start made the most of the light drizzle as we walked to the McLean Falls before things got worse.  A relaxed breakfast followed by a coffe break made for a relaxing morning which we broke up with a wonder along some boardwalk to what the sign said was a good spot for wildlife spotting.  I think the fauna was all taking shelter!

 

From The Catlins we made slow progress west via friends in Edendale and Winton and arrived in Te Anau on Friday in time for lunch.  We even saw the sun briefly and pushed the buggy along the first couple of km of the Kepler track, sat on the lake shore and made it back to the car completely dry!

We had splashed out a bit for these 2 nights and were staying in a plush 1 bed cottage which had great views over the distant mountains.  The clouds racing by made for an ever changing scene.  We thought about driving up to Milford for a cruise as when we went there previously there was nothing but blue sky.  In the end though the thought of a 4 hour round trip in the car put us off and so we did little more than relax, it was a holiday after all!

 We broke the journey home by stopping in Twizel, where I failed to catch anything from the canals, and made it home on Sunday after a nice lunch stop in Geraldine.  Only a few weeks now till our next holiday in the UK.  Surely it can't be as wet there?!