The weekend at Ruapehu

Hi,

There are next to no pictures of my weekend on my phone.  Doh!  Mike can add some.  We left in a rush on Friday afternoon.  Toby got to my work at 4pm and I was crazy busy but got away by 4.15pm.  We walked up to the car and drove to Johnsonville.  Met Mike and Piled our gear into the van.  Then we were off.

Called in dinner from Foxton to the Bulls kebab shop.  Ate there.  Yum.  Then at the lodge by 11pm.  Not a lot of snow around down low.

Mike and I slept in the new custodian's room - it was like an icebox.  But by the time we left on Sunday it was finally warm.  Just took a while.  My first night was a cold one.

Up early enough and away by 8.30 with Andrew and three others that were walked beyond Tama Lakes to a hut overnight and back out Sunday.  Mike joined me and Andrew for a coffee at the Chateau because nothing else was open.

Dinner approaches

Oh - I did get an iced coffee with Steph, Celia, Mark and some clients on Friday - at the Southern Cross no less.  It was a pretty good one.  Solid 7.

Southern Cross iced coffee

Full lodge

Silly Dad jokes at work

There is a snow covered mountain out there

Andrew and I walked the Whakapapaiti walk from the village to the hut of the same name (starts on the Silica Rapids walk).  I think we left around 9.30am maybe and finally got back to the lodge around 3.30pm.  I might be making those times up.  But my watch recorded it all.  5 and a half hours.  15.7km.

We had lunch at the hut and enjoyed the peanut butter sandwiches.  Hunters were using the hut, but had left for the day.  We stayed there close to an hour.  It was a nice hut.  From there it wasn't far up a wee steep bit to a ridge to look out over the lava flows and Bruce Road.  When we hit the road, we scurried up the gullies below the huts and Andrew navigated us to our hut perfectly.  Turns out I have no idea what Grads looks like from below.

We had a bit of fun with frozen ponds on the way up and breaking the ice with rocks.  The frozen parts of the track the entire way were amazing.  Swamps with ice covering them.  Ice crystals on the sheltered sides of every bank.  Ice flows with trickles of water below them.  Reminded us of lava lamps. 

I walked with 4 layers on (merino singlet, merino long sleeve, synthetic shirt, merino jersey and parka) and gloves usually and beanie often.  And tights.

Back at the lodge and showered before Mike got back from his fun in the snow - he had checked out Knoll Ridge cafe with Toby.  We chilled while dinner was cooked - an amazing epic dinner with entrees and cake.  Very impressive.  My vege curry (vegan) was so good.

Crashed into bed and slept in.  Sunday morning, helped tidy a small amount (oops - guilty) before we had lunch and packed the van and left.  We collected the 3 trampers from their overnight trip and headed back to Wellington.  Ate chocolate eclairs in Ohakune and cream horns in Sanson.  Talk about sugar overload.

And did a wash, caught up with Jason (he enjoyed his new job) and fell into bed really early.

Thanks Mike - I had an awesome weekend.  You're amazing.  And thanks Andrew - I enjoyed our walk a lot.

Now.  Time for the working week to kick in.

Love,
Angela