Hunters In NZ

My last little adventure in the Cook area was to go up to Mueller hut. Supposedly 3 to 4 hours up to the top of the ridge between our camp and Mt Sefton. Those times are usually about double what it takes. There are steps all the way to the Seally tarns, basically just puddles on the hill but the view to Cook, the Hooker glacier and our camp was great. I met a guy who was to camp at the hut overnight and we walked most of it together and discussed climbing and hiking. The 2nd half was more fun with no steps, just many tracks through rocks and finally patches of snow. Once on the ridge we walked along it to the big red hut. Mt Sefton has a bunch of hanging glaciers that dump snow throughout the day. I saw one as it was happening. You can hear them fron fown at the camp site.. It was a long way back down to the camp site. 500m of rocky tracks and then 500m of steps.

Our first look at the cook. Very clear day. it was quite hot. 25ish.  We constructed a contender for most complex setup. It is just below Mt Sefton. We couldnt get close with the car but Olivia insisted on helping which of course made it easier. We went for a hike to LJ Hooker glacier where we crossed several swing bridges. There and back was about 2.5 hours. Yes Brad, we did get to see a couple of Icebergs floating in Hooker Lake.  the weather forecast said that it was going to rain between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. today. it was very windy and at 11 a.m. it started raining. Olivia wanted to get into the tent while it collapsed. Earlier this morning we were all outside and a big dust made the 10th basically flattened but we popped it back out again. I was going to go for a hike today up to ball pass where would have been snowing and very windy. Instead I decided not to wear my shoes out anymore and instead we went to the museum which h...

Packing up in milford sound was as wet as a wet thing. It rained half of the night and the tent and peoples were soaked. We drove for south and then decided to head to Mt Cook via the winery region of central Otago. Heading past the AJ Hacket bunji, I noticed a small road on the other side of the gorge that looked familiar from 12 years ago. Not sure what is scarier out of the bunji or the drive. We then found a chesery and bought some Havarti Then it was back to Perigrine winery. Uh oh. Tooth is about to go. And gone Not only was the weather perfect for drying our wet stuff and the holiday park great - more so for us not paying for Olivia, but there were actually 0 sand flies. The tent is taking a beating now  This very important red thing finally tore off. Nothing that a bush button couldn't fix. The zip is also maggoted. We may call salvage on it and just take back the useful parts. Ill get a new one in the US in May. Same model of course ...

The next day we were on a different planet. Luckily we didn't waste this noce hike on a rainy day. The hoke up to Key Summit was fairly easy and took 1:20. Now we did a visible version of the drive to Milford Sound. A very unadvertised trail leads you fown to the beach where you can get a free view of the fjord and Mitre peak. It would have been a very windy experience up on Mitre Peak.