Katie, Jeremy, and I left for some tramping in Arthur’s Pass national park. We stopped for a morning pie at the Sheffield Pie Shop on our way before continuing to the car park near the Minga and Edward valleys. It was sunny, and warm enough as we set off in towards the Edwards Hut.
It wasn’t long though until the sun vanished behind the hills and we were walking up a frosty valley. We had done this same trip 15 years ago with Simon and again with Cass. That just goes to show that we are all getting a bit older. We arrived at the hut in the evening and got to work trying to light the fire with the two Finnish women who were in the hut.
After a few failed attempts, Jeremy took over and got it going well. He also cooked a delicious curry that included feta cheese for interest.
Above left: Katie, Jeremy and I drove up to Arthurs Pass and went tramping into Edward’s Hut. Above right: Getting a little bit closer to the hut.
The following day we walked up the valley towards Tarahuna Pass. We crossed the mess of large rocks and had some lunch. Jeremy and Katie turned around and I headed up to Tarn Col, following Kaisa, one of the Finnish girls to the top.
The tarn was frozen and there was a light covering of snow on the grass. We took some pictures and went to look at the descent into the Hawdon, which looked pretty steep. After throwing a few snowballs onto the lake we climbed back down and the three of us walked back to the hut. Jeremy and Katie were there having arrived not long before.
Another couple had arrived and we had a nice evening in the hut talking rubbish. The fire was particularly good in the evening and it was hot enough to boil water. I made a pretty average curry that Jeremy thought was spice-less and the finns thought was extremely hot. Katie stuck to her plain rice.
1) We went for a walk up to Taruahuna Pass.
2) I went up to Tarn Col. This is the view looking back.
3) We kept warm in the hut at night thanks partly to Jeremy’s excellent fire starting skills.
4) We met two friendly Finns.
The sun was shining again on Sunday. The cloud had gone in the night and the stars had come out. There was frost outside the hut again. I had a bit of curry for breakfast and we got packed. We wombled out catching up to the finns near the cars. Then it was back to Christchurch via the Sheffield pie shop.
Katie and I cooked dinner at her place and watched random YouTube.
Above: Jeremy drank water from the river and claimed that it was the best part about tramping now that Christchurch has a chlorinated water supply.