Eventually got wifi again, and a few minutes spare, so sitting outside a cafe in Tekapo, in sight of the beautiful lake, and this was our view from the balcony this morning !
then off road track to start the ascent at 2.30. 3 gruelling hot hours later, there was the isolated hut, and toilet☺. We climbed 500m (1700 feet), beautiful weather to sit outside in the sun and sip champagne for Mark's birthday. Then cooked and ate our curry.
j
So since the last blog on Saturday, we have been pretty busy! Had our first rain on Sunday when we walked to a bird sanctuary and tried out our waterproofs, saw a morepauk owl, a takahe, with a 3 month old chick, now endangered as ground feeding birds are easy prey to stoats and possums which were introduced to NZ last century.
Next stop on this mainly driving day was to watch bungee jumping near Queens town, crazy....
Kept driving north through Mackenzie country viewing canals and hydroelectric stations and salmon farms. Plenty of merino sheep, even roadside signs saying 'icebreaker station'! and we stopped to read about Shrek, the sheep that escaped shearers for a few years and was a celebrity when he was shorn on an iceberg!
Accommodation in very old fashioned A frame lodge , dilapidated, but I had 3 beds to choose from! Lovely guide cooked salmon supper.
Next day, Monday, should have been a high walk to Mueller's hut, but with rain and low cloud we just did half way to Sealy tarns, up 2000 steps, 600m (1900feet) of climbing.😧 wonderful vegetation but no photos as they are on the camera not the phone. In the afternoon, as if we needed more, we then did a 7km walk to Hooker Lake to see icebergs that have not melted all summer. Still raining, though we did get the waterproofs dried at lunch time.
So that was a lot of walking, again. We managed but we're pretty weary, so pleased that the restaurant was quick and efficient, and we discovered the heater in our lodge, so early warm night.
Tuesday dawned beautiful, and we were off for the final adventure to stay in the Rex Simpson hut. Leisurely morning getting sorted out to carry everything up to the hut, a lovely picnic lunch, beside lake Tekapo,
j
The night sky was stupendous after sunset, and Finn gave us all a lesson about the southern cross. There was only limited solar lighting in the hut, so we all got into our sleeping bags and bunks noisily......not a lot of sleep, though the bags were wonderfully warm. At 02.00 the moon was bright as daylight, no torch needed, but of course not much stargazing either.
Wednesday am up for breakfast at 07.00, porridge and toast. Then off in the frost for a walk up Erica's peak. In fact that was a 3 hour hard uphill slog, with a nice ridge in the middle, an ascent of 800m, to a height of 1944m (6000feet), the highest height of the trip. Then back down, brace on , to the hut for a late lunch of toasties to use up the food, as everything including waste had to be carried down again. Then off downhill, another difficult 2 hours, very hot, so my ankle rash and sweat rash under the brace were apparent again. This was a wonderful, but very hard day, and the whole mountain hut and peak climb was a marvellous climax to the 19 day KE trip. No photos as I did not take my phone, so all on camera.....
A very quick turn around before our last evening meal, which was good, and farewells to our 2 guides.
Chris and I leave the group to go off to Doubtful sound, more next time.
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