Tramping Mt Owen

Gina, Simon, and I went tramping in the Kahurangi National Park to Mt Owen. Simon and I borrowed the truck on Thursday night and set off nice and late, arriving just before closing time at the Amberley Fish and Chip shop… Lucky us… After an infusion of fat we continued northwards musing over Simon’s discovery that the truck’s warrant was about to expire before we’d get home. We drove until the wee hours of the morning stopping finally at 1:30 am at the Nelson Lakes turn off. We had toyed briefly with idea of driving to the Mt Owen road end to surprise Gina who was already camping there…

We met Gina at the road end at Courthouse Flat and started walking in from there. It wasn’t quite as cruisy as I had expected (if I had looked properly at the map I would have realised this earlier). We slogged and sweated our way up the spur to Granity Pass Hut getting there in approx. 6 hours. The hut is very nice and tidy. It’s roomy and surprisingly considering the weather it was empty. I had lugged in a lot of food so we were well set for some lazing.

On Saturday we walked up from the hut to the limestone rock formations that surround Mt Owen and picked our way up between them to the summit. We did some most excellent tarn jumping on our way back to the hut which resulted in much pond-scum wetness and general fun.

On Sunday, we went for a wander up Billies’ Knob near the hut. Quite nice… And on Monday still in hot delicious weather we walked out. Simon and I drove back to Christchurch stopping for a while to puzzle over the truck after the powered braking-system broke. We discovered later in the evening that not only has the truck’s warrant run out it was also not registered. Oooh that could have been expensive.

Yay, a nice trip.

Above left: I’m sure Gina said it was a lazy man’s tramp… It was quite a sweat-fest slog up the ridge towards Grainty Pass Hut and a relief once we got under the beach forest about half way up. Above right: We’re about to hit a very steep downhill named staircase. It all looks flat and happy here though.

Above left: Gina had her best grin on…   Above right: Strolling along under cliffy bits not so far away from the hut.

Above: Gina had an interesting bag of crackers for lunch.

Above left: The Granity Pass Hut in all its glory. Above right: Gina and Simon look towards Mt Owen as we stop for a break on the way up.

Above left: Gina demonstrates her compass skills. What’s this? Simon looking normal in a photo… I must have caught him off guard… Above right: Ahhh back to the way things should be. Simon pulling faces at the camera. Yes, it seems he has fallen into one of those nasty karst limestone holes of which there are thousands surrounding Mt Owen.

Above left: One of them spiky things. Above right: Simon takes a break on our ascent to Mt Owen.

Above left: Mr Mon with a grin on his face.  Above right: A little hopper has a rest in Gina’s hands.

Above left: Simon and Gina do some posing on their limestone bridge. Above middle: Don’t fall down! Above right: Time for some good old fashioned springing. Come to me Cris…

Above: An example of how to jump over tarns followed by an example of how to not jump over tarns.

Above left: After a good day’s stroll and some exciting jumping over (into) tarns we returned to the hut. Perfect weather, not a soul around… Above right: We had a nice view back down towards the hut on our climb up to Billies Knob.

Above left: Cris tries to obscure Mt Owen with his backside but is only partially successful. Above right: Yum, dinner time. It’s the usual slop, but delicious.

Above: Time to head back out to the car.