A happy-go-lucky English rambler dude goes to New Zealand for a year. Here he interfaces with some of those he left behind and details his nefarious activities. Or summat.
Recently clicked on MP3s - 7th June 2005 The Lucksmiths - Warmer Corners
Jens Lekman - When i said i wanted to be your dog
The Trashcan Sinatras - Weightlifting
Teenage Fanclub - Man Made
Laura Veirs - Carbon Glacier
The Decemberists - Picaresque
The Eels - Blinking Lights
Monday, January 28, 2002
Despite feeling slightly fried from a tough week's ASP'ing, the weekend was a full-on outdoor fest.
Saturday found Keith & i driving across the Canterbury Plains toward the Torlesse range, at the crack of 1pm. This is one of the many mountain ranges in the south island i'd not even set foot on as yet, but after driving through it via Porter's Pass, and ogling it many times, i thought that a closer inspection was in order.
Incredibly the weather was looking pretty good, but as we neared our chosen mountains, Foggy Peak (1741m), Castle Hill Peak (1998m) and Mount Plenty(1459m), it became obvious that they had a large dollop of cloud on top of them all :o( But, being the hardened tramping types we are, this didn't discourage us (much), and a course was set direct for the heart of the cloud (Foggy peak, unsurprisingly). Soon enough we were in the middle of some depressingly thick cloud, and the possibility of heading back down after doing Foggy peak was mentioned, as Keith's knees "Ached a bit", and I "Had stuff to do back in town".
The moaning soon stopped though, when after about half an hour of nil visibility, we emerged above the clouds to an incredible sight. On one side of us endless valleys and mountain ranges stretched off as far as the eye could see, and on the other side of the ridge a huge cloud sea was spread across the Canterbury Plains - wow,wow,wow!
A definite spring returned to our steps, and the rest of the walk was possibly one of the best hikes i've ever had, which was totally appropriate as Castle Hill Peak was also the highest mountain either of us had ever been up. Irritatingly it was 2m below the 2000m barrier, but we both climbed the trig pillar, so I reckon that almost counts as 2k?
Due to our lazy arse attitude when setting off from Christchurch, the last few k's along the road, to the car were completed in darkness, and some of it was done at a jog - due to Keith being a psychopath - until the wheezing noises I was making became too annoying ;o)
Sunday, mainly consisted of slobbing round the house reading 'Bluebeard' by Kurt Vonnegut (Excellent), and foraging for uneaten packets of 50cent noodles at the back of the cupboard (Is NZ life glamorous or what!). However my personal motivation / fitness coach, Keith, turned up again and suggested a bike ride up to the Dyers pass (A 400m climb). Somehow noodle power got me up to the top, and the downhill section took care of itself as usual :oD (Keith's on-bike pooter said we got up to 68kph - ROCK!)
