The weekend with tramps and work around the house

 Hi,

After a chill Friday where I packed for our overnight tramp, I headed into town to pick up Kara. She was waiting in a perfect spot for me to pull in and have her jump in. Then we were off to Catchpool, via Kathmandu to buy some gas.

Away tramping by 15:25. Pretty good timing. And the conditions were lovely. The river level was 0.2cu (last time I crossed with Maureen is was 4cu - so I was keen to see the river today).

And we're off

Kara passes under Toby tree

Coming down the diversion we were passed by a group of women and a man that looked to be a wee bit older than us. One of the women took a tumble on the steep downhill, but managed to land on her backpack and do a fabulous roll and come to no harm at all.

Hump bridge at 2 hours 10.

Evening light

Kara and I got to the single channel of water and I had a good look at it. At its very deepest, it might have come up mid shin. But you could choose more shallow areas to cross. With boots and gaiters you would probably stay dry.

We decided to use our Crocs and Tevas and keep our feet dry. I carried Kara's pack over and she tackled the stream and had no issues at all.

Just as we had crossed the wee stream we saw Janine and Andrew with Bruno on his lead coming over. So we waited a bit to watch them cross before heading up the shingle fan to Waerenga Hut.

After dinner in the hut

The river was a stream

We chatted away before we got dinner on. And around 21:00 we all hit our beds. I thought I had a restless sleep with being awake a lot. But apparently the dog was snuffly and people got up for a wee all through the night. And I never heard a single thing. So - there you go. I had a great sleep.

Overnight oats

Brekkie was good. We tidied the hut and we were away by 9:30am. Good easy walk out. Slightly overcast with a hint of drizzle in the early morning that faded.

Heading home

Nice walk out

Janine headed away from Catchpool with Bruno to get washing done.

We went to the pie shop in Whites Line East for lunch and enjoyed a catch up with Sally and Mike. Mike had stayed the night with Sally so someone was around should he feel a bit off. He didn't feel bad. And was only 10 seconds slower in Park Run than his PB!

Got the sledgehammer from Andrew for Kara and dropped her home. Mike and I went to Scorch-o-rama for a coffee and shared a meal. Then home.

Saturday night BBQ

Mike and I had the first BBQ of the season. And a kaka came to inspect our dinner.

We had a guest

Cheeky kaka

Skink sunbathing on Sunday

Sunday saw us to a bit around the house. Mike got the pit door sanded and primed so it can open easily now.

We popped in to see Sally and Andrew again (and took the sander back). That was so we could go to Bunnings and Mitre10. And do some shopping.

Back to assemble the new plastic greenhouse. Yay! 

All jobs well done! Ta Mike for a great weekend.

Have a wonderful week ahead.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with tramping and Wellington things

 Hi,

Toby won the inaugural trophy for winning the Kahoot quiz at his uni class. He was very proud. I am proud too.

Toby won the inaugural Criminal Justice and tikanga trophy

Thursday after work, Maureen came over to pick me up and we headed to Catchpool for our tramp to find kiwi.

The weather was nice in Wellington but as we crossed into Wainuiomata, we drove into dark clouds and the rain just started to lightly spit. It stayed like that until we got into the hut, to be honest. We stayed dry though.

Started walking around 5.00pm I reckon. My pack was about 12kg but I made good enough time. 34 mins to halfway bridge. I have been much faster - but it was ok. 

Toby tree

At the bridge

Made it to the river around 1 hour 10 mins I think. I had been watching the river levels because we have had some decent rain. But by Thursday it had dropped away to just above normal levels. Maybe 1.8 cu (normal seems to be 1.2 cu). So we decided it would be ok in crocs and we would keep our boots dry. 

I went first to check it out. And it was pretty high - above my knees. And there was a channel and it was fairly fast. But it was ok - I just had to scrunch up my toes to keep my crocs securely on my feet.

Maureen had just bought new crocs for this trip. And she wore them across the river then declared them too small. And looked at mine and said: yours look big on you.

Well, yes, They have always been a bit big. So we swapped. And now I know the joy of well-fitting crocs. Who knew? Maureen is also happy with her lime green crocs. Win, win.

River looks ok

We got to the hut and sorted out the fire and our beds. I was hungry so got dinner on. Well - ok - I boiled water for dinner. The dehy meals went down well.

In the hut

By then it was fairly dark so we got changed into warmer gear and left the hut at about 8:30pm. Crossed the river again - this time in well fitting crocs. And then headed up towards Turere lodge to listen and find kiwi. We heard one in the distance at Turere. Continued on for a bit past the new bridge and heared the same kiwi again. Decided to continue until we were about 400m from Haurangi before heading back. Saw glowworms - so that was cool.

Next time I think Haurangi will be a better centre for kiwi spotting. 

Off to bed after a decent 5km walk. I had a pretty good sleep. Up to a sunny calm day. We had brekkie. Wild bacon in rolls. :-) And cleaned up and headed back to the car.

Friday morning

Walking out

We got a coffee at the coffee cart near the churches in Lower Hutt and visited Sally to catch up with her. 

Coffee cart in Lower Hutt

Walking out

Cleaning up

Thursday evening crossing

Saturday saw Mike get up for our trapline. He had 5 punters on his trip up Sunny Grove and KAT. Callan and Andrew took Caitlin up UTS.

I made some salsa for Ange's birthday party at Danita's house. What a lovely evening. Celia, James and Charlie came. Lize and Clive. Natalie. Nick was there too. Danita pulled together a fantastic Mexican-themed dinner. Thank you for a lovely evening.

Saturday evening birthday cocktail

Sunday cleaning out the gutters

All clean now

Sunday morning Mike woke with a migraine. Waaaahh. So we had a quiet day really. Got the car cleaned on the inside. We did the gutters because Tom came to get my bike rack for the panniers for their Heaphy trip and we stood and looked out over the grass-filled gutters. Hahahah. Well done, Mike. Next rains we can laugh with impunity.

Off to bed fairly early. But it was hard to get up. Mike missed gym - he was still not right. So we ate porridge and felt a bit better.

Windy again here. Sigh.

Hope your week is a good one.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with Mike off on Friday too

 Hi,

What a lot has happened since the last time I blogged. We had our Matariki celebration at work on Thursday evening and Polly came up mainly to visit this event. We had such a good time. The hangi was so good this year. Yum! Mine was roast kūmara, roast carrot (hmm), roast pumpkin, a lot of stuffing. 

Matariki at work - sharing kai with whānau

Wandering around the waterfront afterwards

From there, after tidying up, we walked around the waterfront, checking out the things on display. A lot of light shows depicting Matariki importance.

Mike and his mother check out the lights

Love it!

Ubered home and then Mike and I dropped his mum off at her unit in Epuni. Back to bed and Mike was up early to drive into the gym to meet Quentin for his PT session.

He ended up eating Maccas after that - and brought me home some. Hahah. First time I have had Maccas in years.

Readers - I quite liked it. I thought they had moved to unsweetened iced latte by default because Mike forgot to ask for no sweetener - but it wasn't sweet until I got to the last wee bit. So lucky it was not stirred up. Tasted good until the last few cms.

Friday morning Maccas!

I did not leave the house the entire day on Friday. There you go.

Saturday we were up early to get ready to meet everyone at Catchpool to go and do Callan's new trapline. We are all invested with him. 

We got a lot of punters.  We picked up Maureen and Andrew.  Ange and Danita came over. And Callan picked up Caitlin.

On our way to Catchpool to check the new trapline

Caitlin and Mike

Ange is there

Crossing Midway bridge

Fast walk into Turere Lodge. The new traps start at the stairs just after the bridge and the toilets.  Double ones.  DoC 200 and 250s.  The line is BB - for Big Bend. And there are 16 traps - with 2 in each. We get to about 500m beyond Haurangi Hut I reckon when we hit trap BB16.

We had lunch there.

Resetting traps

Note taker

Crossing a stream to keep dry

Callan resets more traps

Then Andrew and Maureen decided to head up the Whakanui track. It was only about 200m further ahead. A heard grunt up to the ridge - and then a good walk along the top to the junction at the top of Sunny Grove.  They got there just as we all got to Midway bridge.  

On our way back to the car

Punga 

In the punga

At the bridge

Back to 40WLW with Maureen and Andrew - and Mike's mother walked over from her place. And Sally cooked up a storm. Delicious roast veg with haloumi. Mmmmm. And the guacamole was so good as the starter.

Dropped off Maureen and then home. Up Sunday to a fairly lazy day for me. Mike collected Christine from the airport and came home with her. We had a good long chat about her holiday and the next plans with the flat. Mike had to work so once Christine headed home, he got stuck in. We did get some house work done. And the cats got to play outside.

Dropped the volcano papier mache effort off at work for this week's fun and games!  

Up this morning to kick into the push ups.  220 for today. Yikes.  Done about a quarter so far.

Busy week. Planning week. And we're off to Nelson this weekend coming. My parents are between Mauritius and the African continent according to the cruise line stalker. Woot!

Have a good week!

Love,

Angela

The weekend with a wee tramp into the Orongorongo valley

 Hi,

Busy few days. And a huge apology to Sally for missing our dinner out last night to celebrate her birthday. We feel very stink that we missed such a great evening out with her and whānau.

Smudge enjoying the table on the deck

Cat walk

Scaife timber in the back of Upper Hutt

Friday saw me get a phone call from the timer place to say someone would be at the workshop today if I wanted to go get the timber for the top step. So I rushed to shower and throw my tramping gear into the car and headed off to Upper Hutt. Turns out it was over the hill in the Mangaroa valley.  I got there just before 12 and chatted to Reece.  He identified the existing steps as Oregon and said he could find a piece and machine it to the right size.

Around 12:15 he came back to me. Said he could take cash or eftpos. But I had no wallet (I was off tramping and never gave it a thought in my packing). Asked if I could bank transfer  but not an option. So I said I would have to go into Upper Hutt.  But once I negotiated peak traffic at lunch time in Upper Hutt and found a car park, I realised I still had no way to actually get money.

A frantic message to Andrew saw him and Sally ferret out enough cash between them. So I drove there, knowing it was a lot closer than back home. But it was still a full hour by the time i got back to Scaife with the cash. Sigh. Luckily there were people there and I handed over the cash and got the timber for the top step. Yay.

Headed to Catchpool via the Wainui Rd bakery for sustenance. Ate it at the car park and headed off at 2.30pm. Bit later than I thought. I had the track to myself, really. Met a few people coming out. Made good time. 30 mins to Midway. 1 hour to the tree. 1 hour 10 to the bridge.

Off tramping

The tree

At the bridge

Waerenga Hutt

Got to the hut and unlocked it. Seemed pretty tidy and clean. Read my book for a bit. Made some soup as I was still full from the bakery goods. And tucked into bed nice and early.

Saturday brekkie

Up to have brekkie. Overnight oats for the first time on a tramp. Not bad! Tidied up a bit (a few signs of mice around). Headed to the river to wait for Mike, Wally, Jason and Ange.

Gorgeous day

Looking up the river

Sour worm

Nice view - river looks ok too

Here they come

They got there at 12.30pm and I headed up to Turere Lodge with Ange as a wee side trip. Added an extra few ks to her walk.

Turere side excursion with Ange

Wally and Jason go to find Celia and her group

At 3pm or so Wally and Jason headed up the track to find Celia, James, Becks, Eva and Charlie. Mike was sleeping off his migraine from 3.30pm on Friday! Third one in 10 days.

They have arrived!

Time to prep for tea

The evening was jam packed. James had a huge steak that needed a fire to cook it on. So that was a priority. Wee Bob loved his stay there - and he was such a good boy. Not a peep from him overnight. Wow.

James flew his new drone when everyone had left the valley. He got some great shots from it of the valley. 

Card game in the hut

Hunting with Jason and Callan

Jason and I headed out with Callan to hunt. We went down to Paua Hut and up Green stream next to it. Plenty of sign - pigs, goats and deer. But nothing for us today.

Green stream looks so pretty

Off to bed nice and early for me. Up at 7am. Brekkie again was good - the overnight oats work for me. Bacon was a hit for the others.

Sunday morning in the hut

Bit of a tidy up was needed before we could leave. But we were away by 10.30 or so. 

Gorgeous tree near Raukawa Lodge

Walking out

Shoe change

Macs Hut

Nice touch

Halfway back

Punga glade

Back to the car park nice and early. I took Wally and Jason home while Mike took Ange home. When I got home, Mike was almost asleep. As was Moxley. Mike's post migraine lethargy was still evident.

Moxley sleeping on a sleeping Mike

Pic from Becks as we left the hut

Tidied up a bit. Got a wash on. Unpacked. And missed Sally's birthday dinner, as I said. Waaaahhh. 

Enjoy your day!

Love,

Angela