Well well well. Time is only flying by this year. Lovely to have longer sunnier days – and to be back outdoors stretching the legs. Though, they might have been stretched just slightly further than they were expecting this weekend :)

The map above shows the loop we did. It was pretty much three 7 hour days. Getting to lake Christabel is a bit of a slog along a track which is quite rough. Still, it makes the food and wine taste all the better.

This Saturday there was also a giant ‘3’ being made in ChCh – for the Copenhagen commitment to 350ppm. So we made our own three two ;)

The second day – from Lake Christabel over to Robinson Hut was definitely my favourite. Started off well with some Kaka (native parrot) flying about.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-4X88EsvAA]

Then across numerous swing bridges and up up onto the snow. Some stunning panoramas – ridges and spurs all over the place. Beautiful.

And then a pretty steep descent down to the hut for the night. It’s not a very visited place this one. Every hut has a log book inside – and this one went back to 1994 and had about 15 pages used..

Dinner was delicious. I had been slightly lazy with the shopping and Maaike carted this jar all the way (I did have the tent and cooker in defence). Still, teach her to let me do the shopping I suppose ;)

Finally out on the Monday – and back to civilisation (though I thought we were all quite civilised really). It was great having Sylvia along – she and Mark arriving back from Scotland and already back into it. Well, ok, Mark was doing CV’s or something ;)

Anyways – all fun. Thanks to Steve for organising, and (here we go)… Michelle, Amy, Maaike, Sylvia, Amber, Berit, Mikkel, Mike, Liz and Antoine for a great weekend. Loved it.

So, Maaike turned 30 this month – and had a party to celebrate. Apparently she ‘doesn’t do birthdays or birthday parties‘. But this seems to be a complete fabrication of the truth.. as she does both – well.

The cake was created from these delicious truffles (thanks Rachel!) that I really need to get the recipe for. That room that the party is in – is soon to be our lounge when Maaike and I move in together in a month. (drum roll). Address will only change from Flat 1 to Flat 5 though :)

Maaike and I headed to Lake Coleridge this weekend. It’s a funny time in NZ – season wise, as the snow is mostly gone, but it’s not really nice enough to bank on tramping for the weekend.

Anyways – headed away on the Saturday morning – stopping at the Horarata pub for pies. Now I know you might be thinking it’s only a pie, what’s the point in commenting. But really, they are very good pies. Not so sure about the dog carrier though…

We stayed at the Lake Coleridge lodge and went for a short walk to the lake on the Sat evening – enough to whet our appetite (food was delicious)

Next day walked up Peak Hill. Slightly redundant title for a peak, or a hill, but anyway.. once at the top (only a 600m height gain) it gave the most stunning views.

It was pretty slippy on the way up – and even more so on the way back down again. But completely worth doing.

I’m going to put up two panoramas which I took when up there. I suppose with internet speeds these days it’s not an issue – the first one is 2.3megs – and the second 6.3 megs (if you want to see the high res shot).

and

Finally a video from the top too (no sound)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BROWJSxahg0]

Hmmm, not a very wordy post this one. Still, that probably keeps most of you happy ;)

Finally – a picture of the Rakaia with sun on it – and me sitting beside the Wilberforce river. There is a book (Under the Mountain – Maurice Gee – Kiwi Author) that I have been reading Maaike. It was made into a BBC mini series (seriously terrified me as a kid) and has also been made into a film (not released yet I believe).

You’re wondering what the point of that was? Well, the evil creatures (slug like – want to turn the galaxy into mud.. basically ,bad folk) are called the Wilberforces. So it seemed fitting to drive 20K to park at the end of the road and finish the book. So we did.

… but a slightly savage morning.

So my 83 year old landlady just died. Wonderful lady. She chose this poem, set to music, to be sung.

Trees

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair,
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Joyce Kilmer