The Christmas with sadness and tramping

Hi,

The holiday break was full of good times and sad times.  On Christmas Day around 3pm, Ron Bichan died, surrounded by his family.  So sad to lose such a lovely person.  But also worth remembering the impact he made on so many people and how he died the way he wanted.  At home, peacefully.

RIP, Ron.  We miss you.

Having a few days off ahead of Christmas Day was such a relief.  Four days works well.  Got all our grocery shopping done and presents done.  Please let me get this mostly done in November this year!

We had good weather leading up to Christmas.

Christmas Eve in Wellington

Mike's mother came for Christmas Eve and our Christmas morning.  On the Eve we watched Die Hard.  She wasn't impressed with the swearing.

Toby elf Christmas morning

Toby was the Christmas elf and handed out presents.

The presents!

Blurry Toby selfie!

The only Christmas jersey left to wear was the bacon one!

Moxley enjoys unwrapping her present

We headed out to Sally and Andrew's house at midday and the food turned out so well.  As usual.  Sally knows how to pull a whole bunch of things together and the family all work well together.

Christmas lunch salad

Lunch is almost ready

At 2.45pm I went to collect Vanessa from the airport as her flight from Melbourne got in at 3pm.  When we were away, Ron died.  So it was sobering to get back to Sally and Andrew's place and hear the news.

We dropped Mike's mother home, and Toby and Vanessa back at our place and went to see Ron for the last time.  We passed on our condolences to Helen and the family.

I spoke to my mother that evening to tell her.  Upsetting as it was to tell her.

The Christmas/New Years tramping plan was still in progress as we all knew Ron would be grumpy if we changed too much because of him.  Mike took Andrew's role over.  Toby stayed back to represent us at the funeral.

The ultimate Gilbert plan started early Boxing Day.  Up at 5am and away by 6am.  Mike dropped me at the airport and continued to Bluebridge for his 8am sailing.

While I waited for the flight, at the airport, I wrote down my thoughts on Ron and the wonderful relationship we all had with him and sent that to Iona, hoping she would be able to read it out at the funeral.  I got the 8.15am flight to Blenheim and landed by 8.35am.  Col met me and I had a wonderful hug from her.

Boxing Day with Col

Janine met us not too long after that and we headed to brekkie.  Had a great brekkie and iced coffee.  Back to their house and Col had to leave to catch her ferry to Wellington for the funeral.  Her best mate's mother had died this week too, so Col was facing a week of funerals.  Lucky she is the rock for the people around her.

Mike got there just after midday from his ferry journey and Janine travelled with him in Iona and Col's Mazda.  We headed to Nelson in convoy.  Dropped the Mazda at JR and Anita's house and then squashed in a lunch at a pub in the main street before collecting Vanessa from Nelson airport.

We settled into the Subaru for the drive over the hill to Cobb Valley.  Arrived late at Trilobite Hut and settled into the top bunks.

Boxing Day at Trilobite Hut

I embrace the wilderness

We got away late on the 27th for our tramp up to Fenella Hut.  Packing and sorting gear took ages.  The wekas were very cheeky and escaped with Mike's muesli at one point.  Fortunately someone else stopped the weka.  There was only a little trail of muesli along the road behind the car.  But the day was stunning.  It was a mostly flat walk for about 12 km.  My pack was way too heavy.  I had to strip my bra off about an hour in as the straps were hurting too much.  That made a huge difference and Mike reset the straps too.  I could move my arms after that!

Tramp starts Dec 27

Meadows of buttercups

The birdlife was stunning.  I had a korimako  (bellbird) land right next to me at one point.  This is the first time I have seen tui and korimako exist together.  Piwakawaka everywhere.

Up to Fenella Hut

The hut was fairly full so Mike and I pitched the Nautilus tent outside.  And then Mike, Vanessa and I headed to a tarn 400m away from the hut for a swim.

Cold swim in tarn

As we sat in the hut and ate our dehydrated food, we chatted to some people in the hut.  One woman (Loreen) said she recognised Mike and asked if he worked at DoC.  He said Z Energy, and previously was MBIE.  But he caught the 14 and 22 bus if that helped.  She said she catches the 14 bus and asked where he lived.  Norwich St, he said.  What number, she said?  Turns out she lives on our street and they catch the bus from the same bus stop!  What are the chances!

Vanessa had given Mike a riddle game for Christmas and in the evenings in the huts we played it.  It got everyone involved!  Great idea!

Same riddles were so lame.  Some were so hard.  But we got most of them over the next 5 nights of the tramp.

Next day we left Fenella and head to Cobb hut about 20 minutes back down the track.  We left out packs there and headed away with one bottle of water and a few snacks for a 25 min side track to Lake Cobb.  Which turned into a 3.5 hour side jaunt up to Round Lake.  Possibly should have brought slightly more water and food.

Back to Cobb Hut and a very welcome lunch.  Then the interminable walk back to Trilobite.  Mike ran the last bit from Chaffey's Hut to Trilobite to secure bunks.  But he and I slept in the tent again.  Today was Ron's funeral, so Mike and Janine drank some whisky to remember him.

Balloon Hut tramp starts Dec 29

Next morning we drove from Trilobite to Lake Peel car park and set off in gorgeous weather for Balloon Hut.  The tramp started off at Myttons Hut which looked so cute in the sun.  We promised to come back if we had time the next day.  The track went up for a fair while - a few switchbacks made it easier.  So many birds.  Robins.  Tui.  Bellbirds.

Top of steep grunt - looking at Lake Cobb

As we got to the bushline, the track took a steep upwards trajectory.  Slogged up there and sat taking photos of the gorgeous view.  Mike was packing a huge pack up so he followed not too long after me.

Mike hauls up a massive pack!

I was watching Vanessa climb up for a bit before I realised I should probably help.  I scooted down to her and realised she was not having a good time at all.  The height and the wind all contributed to exacerbate her fear of heights and although she was almost at the panicky stage, she was still plodding upwards.  What an amazing woman!  On a bit of flat ground, I took her pack.  She steadied her breathing and off we went.

She made it!

At the top

There was a signpost at the top of that ridge and we went to look at Lake Peel far in the distance.  Little did we know that we would be soon having lunch there.  The track then sidled around a valley.  It was a steep slope in places with rockfalls.  But Vanessa aced it.

Ascent from Lake Peel

Lake Peel was a wind tunnel.  Phew!  Mike boiled up water and we gratefully drank miso soup.  Ate our sandwiches and headed on towards Balloon Hut.

At the top

Balloon Hut in the distance

Balloon Hut was a gorgeous place.  Another couple stayed there too.  Mike and I went on to explore Bishops Cave, about 1.5km further along towards Flora Saddle way.  We probably got to halfway to Salisbury Lodge.  The cave was a shuffle through about 8m long. Popped out into a grotto area.

We enjoyed the walk together and headed back to make tea.

Mike peering back into Bishop's Cave

Shared dehydrated Apple Pie for dessert between the 4 of us.  Two tablespoons each, dished out by "Dad".  Janine said it was like being in an orphanage.  She wasn't wrong.  Cracked me up!

I had to fish out the sultanas from it.  But otherwise - it was yummy!

We shared Balloon with a another couple.  He stoked the fire up like a furnace and we all cooked in a sauna through the night.  It was so hot they both slept on the floor.

Clag is set in for the morning start

Got away at 8.30am this next morning for the walk back to the Cobb Valley.  Clag had set in, and it was windy.  So we rugged up on the walk up to the tops.

Heading back to Trilobite

Checking for signal

I heard kea screeching high above us on the way back.  I thought I heard it the day before too.  This time the others heard it.  :-)

It might not look cold, but the wind was enough to make you wrap up!

Vanessa contemplates the track she's just negotiated

We made good time and Vanessa absolutely owned the steep section this time.  Trudged down with her pack on like a boss.  Boom!

 We got back to Myttons Hut and had a lovely lunch in the hot sun.  Then back to the car and drove to the Sylvester car park at the other end of Lake Cobb.

Hard hot slog up the hill to Sylvester.  Saw Rifleman in the bush.  Mike's pack must have weighed 20 kgs!  He had champagne bottles and wine decanted into aluminium bottles.

Sylvester Hut

As I finished pitching the tent, I turned to watch a new person arrive at the hut.  And was astonished to see it was Andrew!  He looked hot from his slog up (he probably ran) and he delivered the best goods.  Toilet paper for Janine.  And ginger beer for me!  Plus beer.  And in the morning I got a Lewis Road iced coffee.  OMG.

I got an iced coffee from Andrew!  My hero!

Day tramp Dec 31st

 On the morning of the 31st, we headed off for a day tramp from the hut.  We saw kakariki in the bush not too far from the hut.

Lake Sylvester in the background

At the bottom of Mt Iron, the team split up.  Janine tackled the high road back to the hut and Vanessa took the same path back as we walked up.

Mike, Andrew and I headed up Mt Iron.  Took us 40 minutes from the bottom to the top.  Grippy rocks most of the way.  Snow tussock which would be slippery in the wet.  And at the top a bit of loose scree to avoid.

Top of Mt Iron

There was a seam of quartz running through the top of the mountain.  We saw three seams in the top there.  Someone had made a clear arrow pointing to the descent route using the bright white quartz. Hard to miss, even in clag.

Andrew on the left boulder - me on the right.  Top of Mt Iron.

Happy!

We sat on the edge of the mountain to look over Lake Lockett and there was not a breath of wind.  Andrew had a great lunch for us.  Wraps.  Hummus.  Cheese.  Mmmm.

Looking into Lake Lockett

We headed down to the tarn again and I tried to swim.  But when I went in up to the upper thighs, my legs went numb.  So I got out pretty fast.

Andrew reviewing some of the terrain he's in right now!

We took the same route as Janine back to the hut.  Scrambled up the rocks to the ridgeline and walked all the way back, far above Lake Sylvester.  Saw Andrew's possible route out of the valley between us and Lake Lockett.

Back to the hut to start the long countdown to the midnight and goodbye to 2019.

Heard kea in the evening above the hut.  Watched the last sunset of 2019.

Last sunset of 2019

We stayed up, drinking supplies and eating our way to midnight like champs.  Sang Auld Lang Syne with a Scottish couple at midnight.  Kisses all round.  And hit the hay.

Up early to pack and head out.  Then the crazy started.  Hahah.  We all shoved our packs into the Mazda and Andrew and I jumped in and took off.  Andrew tackled the road like a rally driver (that's just how he rolls) and we made good time.  We got stuck inching past a white van.  We were so close we rubbed his rubber wheel nut protectors off his wheels.

As we were doing this, Andrew had his head out the drivers window checking the van proximity and I had my head out the passenger window checking the tyres were not falling into the ditch on my side.  A car pulled up behind us and then we heard a tap on the back windscreen.  Odd.  Wondered what that meant.  Maybe it looked worse than we thought!

Then he was in my window saying:  You have the keys for the other car!

Oh.  OH!  We thanked them and the woman driving that wee car muttered that it was just like a James Bond movie.  We got past the van and turned around and headed back.

Mike was so pleased to see us so soon.  And... the car battery  failed to start after all that.  So we all pushed the car out of the park it was in, and back and forth until Mike had a clear run back down the gravel road.  We all hoped for a clear run as it was only wide enough for one way traffic.  We all heaved a sigh of relief as we heard the engine catch.

Vanessa and Janine jumped in and Andrew and I followed in the dust in their wake.  Drove past the hippy festival we saw on the way in.  Andrew slowed as there was a car parked on the other side of the road.  And my gaze casually went to the ditch outside my window.

In the ditch was a woman smiling beatifically.  She had not a care in the world.  Even though she was IN A DITCH.  And a man was cradling her cheek as she smiled.

It was all rather odd.  But I am sure they were very happy.  IN THE DITCH.

Jan 1st - Happy New Year in Takaka.  And an iced Americano.

Anyway, we all went to a pub in Takaka and ordered yummy food.  Nom, nom!

Got to Pōhara and checked in at the Kotare Sands Motel.  Lovely room.  Caught up with Sally and then JR and Anita and their friends for pre dinner nibbles in JR's room.

Sans Souci - yummy dinner!

Yummy dinner at Sans Souci.  We wandered back to our motel room after eating very good food (as usual for Sans Souci). 

Horse riding with Vanessa

Up early to check out of Kotare Sands motel.  Vanessa became my hero when she picked up all the recycling to sort through and throw into the correct receptacle.   She was throwing the big items into the right bin when she sifted closer through the plastics and small things.  Found a clean tissue and threw it into recycling.  And heard it jingle a bit as it landed in the rubbish.  She decided to investigate - to make sure the recycling didn't end up with the wrong things in it.  And found my rings, carefully taken off, wrapped in a tissue, and stored safely in the centre console of the car, under our windscreen cloth.

Mike had tidied the car up - and found this tissue and thrown it in the rubbish.  Fortunately he chose to throw it in the recycling and not the actual rubbish otherwise we would have lost them for sure.

I was traumatised for some time.  A walk on the beach sorted me out.  Still slightly traumatised writing this a week later.  Hahah.

The morning saw us horse riding out of Collingwood for a few hours.  We drove up for our 11.15am check in at the stables.  My horse was called Bungle.  Mike's one was Blazer.  Vanessa and Janine had lovely horses too.  It was too windy for a beach ride, but our ride through manuka was beautiful.

Flight of beer at Mussel Inn.

Back to Mussel Inn for a flight of beer for Mike and Janine, and Raspberry Fizz for me and Vanessa.  Slurp!

Brekkie at Top10 Pohara.  Janine, Mike and Vanessa.

With no room at Kotare Sands, we switched to the Pōhara Top10 and pitched the tents in the packed park.  But it was so pleasant.  Clean, efficient, friendly.

Had fish n chips at the tent - yum!  Then I convinced the others to go sit quietly on the beach in the gloom to see if we could spot wee penguins coming ashore. We walked down to beach and found a washed up log to sit upon.  No success.  But at least the sandflies didn't find me.

Up early to pack and say goodbye to Sally and Andrew and then off to Nelson.  Stopped off for lunch at the lookout on top of Takaka Hill.  Took 15 mins to negotiate the one way traffic light system on the lower road Nelson side.

Had iced latte at surf shop.  Checked out the house from the outside.  All looks good.  Dropped Mike and Vanessa off at the airport.  Drove back to Blenheim with Janine.

Iced latte at Surf shop in Nelson.

Liz and Richard were staying with Iona and Col (who themselves had only been back a few days).  Janine stayed on the pull out couch and we enjoyed a yummy potato and leek pie and awesome salads for tea.

Up early to head to the trapline and a picnic.  Janine was off to explore before her ferry crossing at 2.30am.

Cheeky Iona - at Pelorus.  We went for a cold swim.

Trapline was good.   7 critters.  One unidentifiable.  Iona and Col have picked up a new line and we struggled to find all the traps on it.  They will nail that soon, I'm sure.  All in all, they now have 4 lines they check.

Picnic with the whanau at Totara Flats at Pelorus.  Jean and Allan had just done their trapline.  Cold swim for some of us.  Good to meet wee Jacob (Clare's 6 month baby - born June 16!).

Back home and a celebratory dinner out for Liz's birthday.  The Tamarind.  It was good!  The owner is from Kerala.

Liz and Richard headed off early Sunday morning.  Iona and Col and I went for a walk then a quick lunch at BV Gourmet.

Walking around the Grovetown oxbow

Iced coffees at BV Gourmet cafe

Easy flight home at 1630 and Mike picked me up.  Yay!  Good to be home.  Toby pretended to be happy to see me.  The cats didn't even bother that much.  :-p

Thank you everyone for a lovely tramping holiday.  Thank you for supporting each other.  Sad, but also a celebration of love and respect.

Love,
Angela

Our week in Pohara, Golden Bay (from the archives)

We went to Pohara for Easter/ANZAC break, along with Donna and her two kids. We never wrote it up but here's what we were planning. 

When is it?

From Friday 18 April (Good Friday) through to Sunday 27 April (just after ANZAC Day).  The cunning amongst you will have noticed that if you take 3 days off work, you get 11 consecutive days' holiday, right when it's school holidays.  Joy!

Where are we going?

Pohara Top Ten Holiday Camp, right on Golden Bay.  They have a great selection of campsites, cabins and other accommodation options.  

Campsites are around $20-26/night for adults and $15-18/night for children.  Don't forget though that if you are a WTMC member then your FMC card gets you 10% off at Pohara and all Top Ten Holiday Camps, as well as on Interislander travel to get you there!

http://www.poharabeach.com/

It's located here: http://goo.gl/maps/PT52r

What are we doing?

We'll keep it pretty casual.  Turn up whenever, go off whenever, do whatever you want to do.

But this is a pretty special part of the world, so you have lots of options:

• Pupu springs
• Beach walks
• Heaphy Track - some of it, all of it, whatever you feel like
• Other Abel Tasman walks
• The famous Sans Souci restaurant is 2min walk away
• Penguin watching
• Farewell Spit
• Winery walks
• Cycle touring

Golden Bay for the weekend

Hi,

It's the first day of summer - and wet, wet, wet here.

My mother and I had a wonderful weekend sampling the delights that Golden Bay has to offer. It all started on Thursday evening where I had booked in a haircut meaning that Mike had to start Gilbert Logistics a day earlier than anticipated. I think of Gilbert Logistics as an organisation involved in making mountains out of molehills. If Gilbert Logistics can make an easy task difficult, they will find it. Send us all your easy, straight-forwards jobs and we guarantee to put a spanner in the works. You have a plan that only has 3 permutations? That's not nearly enough. Send us your details and we'll supply you with 5 free permutations at no extra cost. In fact, we are so good at it, we can almost guarantee a permutation or two, WITHOUT knowing your plans at all.

Mike actually had a tight leash on the Gilbert Logistics machine and kept the plan on a well-executed course. We met up at the library and ate Burger Wisconsin in the brilliant sunshine with the O'Reillys. I had already packed for the weekend so there was no rush in that regard. Lucky for us, because I had spanner item number one waiting. I had decided to attend the First Karori Scout Annual General Meeting for the evening. It was supposed to last one hour, but took two! Mike had Toby under control and I went off to represent the Keas at the AGM. When I got home Mike and I read until past midnight. What were we thinking?

Friday morning I was up earlier than usual because Mum was driving to collect me at 6.40am in time for the ferry check-in at 7am. I drove down to the dock and we got on nice and quick. We got seats in front of the TV and we were pleasantly surprised to see they have updated their movie list for the summer crowds. We watched two newish movies - 17 Again and Race to Witch Mountain. It filled in the time. Mike told us off for not getting out to enjoy the scenery and I guess I am guilty of taking it for granted through the sounds.

We drove off the ferry at about 11.30am and headed up Queen Charlotte Drive to Havelock. Mum kept Oooohhing and Aaahhhing with every curve when she got a glimpse of the views down the sounds. We drove non-stop to Nelson where we wandered around the main street for 30 minutes giving our legs a good stretch. Then we picked up a few items at the supermarket and headed over Takaka Hill to Golden Bay. The hill went up and up for ages and a steep plunge down into the valley on the other side. I wasn't going to be heading back and forth over that hill as I had entertained notions of doing. We found our accommodation at the Pohara Top Ten Holiday Camp very easily and our wee cabin was 3m from the sandy beach. Perfect. Mum stretched out on the bed and fell into a coma. I read one of several books I had along for the weekend and watched the wind whipping up the waves outside.

We wandered out to the Penguin Cafe for dinner - I ordered steamed mussels and Mum ordered Thai fish cakes. There was a little confusion over the food and I got my mussels as a main after Mum finished her entree fish cakes. I blame Ma talking to the waitress about Scotland. The wee lass had spent two years in
the Shetland Islands and actually thought Mum was English. Heheheheheh. I guess her mellowed accent bears little resemblance to the accent they use in the Shetlands.

After dinner we booked into Sans Souci for the next night. Sally had recommended it from her holiday here about 18 months earlier. Ma tried to get into the Sunday night bookings as they were serving veal on that night, but they were full. So, Saturday evening it was, and their slow-cooked steak.  We went back to the cabin and it was my turn to fall into a coma. The rain started but I never heard a thing. Slept like a log until morning. Pleasant.
 
Saturday morning was a lazy start to the day. The rain and wind didn't do much for us, and we were waiting for the weather to improve after lunch as the forecasters had predicted. Guess what? They were right. We went out into Takaka to explore the shops and found them all shutting. They aren't open very late at the weekends. We managed to get into a few of them and Mum loved some of the art work on display. After that we drove back past Pohara out to the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park. The coastal road was very, very pretty.

Back to our wee cabin and we got ready for Sans Souci and wandered around there just before 7pm. The other guests started arriving then too. We then had the slow-cooked steak and it was one of the best meals I have ever had, and certainly the best in a long time. The steak was on a bed of risotto with salad all around (including marigold petals - nice colour). Yummy bacon, yummy mushrooms, yummy nuts, yummy apple. It all tasted so good. Thank you for that one, Sally! Not one speck was left on my plate. Mum left a bit on hers so I got to nibble more as we waited for dessert. Mum ordered Chocolate and Almond torte with vanilla ice cream and raspberry coulis. It was superb. I was happy Mum couldn't eat all that. During the meal, the weather got better and better. The wind died away and blue skies shone brightly through the polonia tree in the courtyard. The French doors were open all evening and the dining was a great experience.

Anyhow, another source of excitement at Sans Souci was the composting toilets. Sally had made sure I knew about them. So despite not needing a wee in the slightest, I told Mum I was off to investigate them. I went into the shared toilets, found an empty louvered door and lifted the wooden lid. What a treat. No smell at all. A big bucket of peaty sawdust to cover whatever you have done and wash up outside in the nice shared bathroom. Very pleasant. I went back to the dining table and told Mum she had to experience it for herself. With misgivings, I watched my confused mother try and find a toilet. But when she got back, she declared the toilets great and would use one over a normal toilet. She didn't just say there was no smell, she said she liked the smell!

When I was up with Mum while she sorted out the bill, I spotted the names of some other diners. Kittos! Imagine! Well, Mum didn't imagine. Off she went, hunting them down and chatted to them for ages. So, ask her for the life history of this New Zealand branch of the Kitto clan.
After dinner we walked up and down the beach at dusk, waiting for any penguins to come ashore. No sign of any. But Ma and I had fun sitting on driftwood logs watching the beautiful sea lap up against the shore with moonlight glistening on the wee waves. Back home for another deep sleep.

Sunday dawned - well, a lot earlier than I saw it. But, by the time I pulled back the curtains for a look, I could tell it was a cracker day. I got dressed into shorts and a t-shirt and wandered down to the Penguin Cafe for the rugby. Go the All Blacks! Ate bacon and eggs and shouted encouragement at the team. Marvellous. Ma turned up about 20 mins from the end and ordered whitebait fritter sandwiches. She had a taste and I got to finish them. Yummo! They were absolutely beautiful.

Off to explore Pupu Springs (or Waikoropupu I think) and I have to say, this was a highlight for me. What a spectacular sight. The water colour was amazing and I hope I never forget it. Apparently, these springs are the largest freshwater springs in Australasia and the clearest freshwater springs in the world! What a claim to fame there! Mum and I walked around the boardwalk reading the informative signs and enjoying the surroundings. The sunny day no doubt gave the springs an even better visual impact. But I can't wait to take Mike there so he can see it.

Back to the cabin to relax in the sun and read. What a pleasant afternoon.
Monday morning was back to rain. Heavy rain. So we packed up and left for the drive back to the ferry. We went right through to close to Blenheim to the Wairau River winery where Mum found two white wines to her liking. She bought two bottles and we ate a muffin and drove the rest of the way into Picton. We
were early so we poked our noses into Picton town centre and then joined the queue for the ferry. There was a 90 minute delay getting away for some reason and we also had to pick up a lifeboat on the way (they had abandoned it during drills earlier that day). Mum went out to see the scenery and I also popped out from time to time (the same movies were on!). The misty weather gave it a haunting feel.

Back into Wellington in time for the going-to-bed routine. I caught up with the news from Mike and Toby from the weekend. Toby swam well and assessment is this Saturday coming. Yikes! Mike says he swam like a machine. Good on him! Sally got back ok from the work meeting in Manila but I have yet to hear in detail about that! Dad was a bit sick yesterday and went home to pine/wait for Ma. Poor Dad.

So, back into the routine already. But a short week for me! Hooray!

Love,

Angela