nigeyboygoeswalkabout

The first adventure in the new car was a 5 day trip to Arthurs pass, which lies more or less in the middle of the South Island. After pitching the tent the weather looked like it was closing in so a short walk was on the cards just to make sure I managed to do at least one thing while I was there. The guide book said that rough creek was a grade 2 (fairly easy) and should take about an hour each way. Well grade 2 turned out to be a full on scramble up an active river bed with not even a hint of a track in site. The waterfall at the end was well worth it tho. Got back just in time for the heavens to open and then I was pretty much tent bound for the next 36hours. However during the early hours the Keas (an indigenous parott) put in an early morning raid on my tent. The little buggers stole all of my freshly laundered clothes out of the vestibule then spread them as far and wide as possible.


The "track" up rough creek


You could probably compare a Kea raid to a Commanche war party in noise and behaviour except the Commanches probably do less damage. Actually I got off pretty lightly as Keas will easily rip the ariel and rubber seals off your car and peck holes right thru your tent.

All of the rain did however have its benefits as a lot of time hanging around the DOC shelter meant I met up with Dave and Carol, a couple from Glasgow, who it turned out had been living about 50m around the corner from me on North Woodside . The following day the weather was superb and me , Carol, Dave and a few others scaled avalanche peak to get suberb views of Mt Rolleston (Pictures still to post). After, we also met Tine, a Danish girl and with a couple of others we headed down to the Waimakiriri valley to camp.




A cheeky little Kea


I spent a couple of days exploring the valley then headed back toward Christchurch to finally collect the SD cards for the camera. On the way back I headed back via the Craigieburn cave which is an amazing 370m long cave which you can go thru on your own by wading upstream thru waist deep water.







The Waimakiriri Valley


Arthurs pass also taught me that the old folks are right, when they say live for today cos death might just be round the corner, well its true ......cos now I've been there and it really is just around the corner ;-)


All the best,
Nig