The long Easter weekend in Nelson Lakes

Hi,

We had a fabulous time tramping/camping in Nelson Lakes over Easter.  Ok - my organisation of it left a bit to be desired (note below Mike's comments on the dinner I tried to serve him), but the weather was pretty good.  Stunning on two of the days, raining on one, and a bit overcast on the other.  Not a bad selection of weather, really.

I took Thursday afternoon off, as I had a parent teacher interview with Toby's ropu teacher (form teacher - in the old school terminology).  Thank goodness I did that - it was bedlam enough without trying to fit in work.  Toby was at home too - so that was another factor (teacher only day - so they can chat to parents).  Mike and I Ubered home and collected Toby and gear and headed to school.  Ok - that makes it sound easy.  Mike and Toby basically had to pack at this point.  And we had a deadline.

The appointment was for 2.30pm and Mike had thought it was 2pm.  So that threw us for a bit.  We ended up picking up Iona and grabbing her car keys before she thought we would.  We collected her from the Interislander terminal and dropped her at the train station for her long weekend in Wellington.

We drove out to Melling, collected the van, transferred our gear from our car to the van, and drove back to town to collect the punters.  Stacked all of us (well, 13 of us, the 14th person was running late and ended up as a foot passenger) in the van for the short drive to the terminal.  The ferry ride was uneventful.  Got to Picton where Toby and I disembarked as foot passengers with Iona and Col's car key and found their car easily enough in the long term car park.

Toby's hand is way bigger than mine, now.

We drove in convoy with Colin driving the van and me driving Iona and Col's car.  We got to St Arnaud around 10.45pm.  Found the campground, after checking out the eels under the jetty.

Eels at Lake Rotoiti at 10.45pm Thursday night

Tents at the campground

Had a good sleep in the campground and realised we were in the boggy, damp part of the campground in the morning.  Brrrr - I had been cold. Halfway through the night, I climbed into my sleeping bag liner and back into my sleeping bag and managed to sleep better after that.

Ummm - how long are we away for?

Our frantic week ahead of Easter meant our packing wasn't optimal.  And as we emptied the car onto the handy picnic table, it became very apparent.  But eventually we got everything into our packs.  And boy, was mine heavy!

Never get tired of this view - Lake Rotoiti looking mighty fine

Tourist shot.  Is it cliche or iconic?  Iconic!

The day was stunning - so sunny and still.  We got the iconic photo on the jetty with the best view imaginable.  We live somewhere special.

Awesome mushrooms!

We started the walk to Lakehead, but Toby found the heavy pack meant his ribs were not up to it.  After a brief chat around a massive toadstool that looked like it was right out of an Enid Blyton story, we decided to head back to the waterfront.  From there, Mike and Toby booked a water taxi to Lakehead, with all our gear.  And I scurried up the track to meet them.  With no pack, and carrying a bottle of water and a brownie in my pocket, I made it to Lakehead in just over 2 hours.  Well under the 3 hour DoC time.

Everywhere you look, it's stunning

Just starting my walk - and more mushrooms!

Feet and the view.

I found the boys had pitched the tents in an awesome spot - same as we had used when Toby was 8 years old.  Only that was Labour weekend.  And obviously not sandfly season.  They were everywhere!  Lucky we had some Dimp!  Mike was convinced they actually liked it.

Our campsite at Lakehead

Wee robin - so cute!

 We enjoyed a lovely Friday afternoon.  I had to give Toby my Exped sleeping mat as his mat deflates overnight and the ground was too hard on his ribs.  The things a mother does.  Saturday was drizzly most of the day so we chilled out in the tents for the most part.

I cooked tea on Saturday - and Mike was not impressed.  I tried to serve him rehydrated beef mince on rice.  The rice was slightly undercooked and the mince was plain.  He took one bite, and declared it the worst thing he had ever eaten.  We shuffled food around, and he heated up some butter chicken sauce we had, dumped that over the top and declared it edible.  Toby ate 2 minute noodles and was happy.  We now won't let me prepare any menus and we need a slightly bigger billy for camping/tramping.  Oops.

Saturday night, once we hit the sleeping mats (me on the deflated one) we heard kiwis calling in the distance.  And a squealing pig much closer.  So close I was sure I heard snuffling at one point.  Mike ended up in Toby's tent for that night.  So exciting hearing the squeals - although it did wake me off and on.

Next day was stunning.  Mike and I went for a walk further up the valley and I will totally stay further up next time.  The grassy flats are beautiful.  No wonder that night had been cold.  I thought it was because it was just me in our tent, but the frost we walked through explained it!

Mike and I go for a walk further up the valley

There was a goblin forest - it's just one tree here though

It took a while for me to thaw out as we walked.  I had to use gloves and my hoody to try and keep warm.  The frost and damp grass soaked my feet quickly and made my feet so cold.  But the beauty of the area was breathtaking.  I could stay here longer.  Obviously with better sleeping mats and a food menu not prepared by me.

I contemplate life while on a bed of rocks.  Like some religious zealot.

We stopped after an hour and I lay out on some rocks (the grass was too wet) and just soaked up the solitude and scenery.  Ok - it does make it look like I have actually died in the photo above.  Or possibly some self flagellation by resting on a bed of nails (rocks).  But it really was quiet contemplation.  And the dry stream bed was perfectly comfortable after Toby's rather flat sleeping mat the last few nights.  Hahah.

Pig damage

Thought I'd take a pic of the pig rooting to show Toby what the squealing pigs are actually doing during the night.  Excitement at finding a juicy root, maybe?  Might make me squeal too, I guess.

Toby enthusiastically rolls his egg

Angela enthusiastically rolls her egg

Mike rolls his egg and wonders why.  Like every year.

As it was Easter Sunday, we had to roll our eggs before we could eat them.  Toby and I did this with our usual enthusiasm.  The photos show this excitement - it is evident in our body language.  Mike, on the other hand, was underwhelmed.  It is merely a barrier to his chocolate eating.  Hahahah.  His body language is saying - what are you making me do?

Stunning colours

We packed up the tents and left for the walk back to St Arnaud.  We lightened Toby's pack and he managed to walk, even though his shoes were not up to the walk and he ended up lightly twisting both ankles as we walked out.  Mike walked ahead at came back at some point (2/3rds the way back) to spell Toby for a bit.

I clean my shoes - they filled with mud

We stayed at the St Arnaud Motor Lodge (or Alpine Lodge, maybe).  Anyway, it was so heavenly to be in a bed.  Cost us $180 but I spent a long time in the shower and washed my gear as well as myself.  I think it was worth it.  Hahahah.

Toby takes odd iced coffee pics

 We ate brekkie on Monday morning at the petrol station cafe.  I got an iced coffee too.  Solid 6.5.

This was supposed to be me drinking my iced coffee.  But I like it so much, it's in the blog.

We spent a while reading on the foreshore before collecting other punters from their various trips.  One had a story about her emergency beacon (PLB) activating itself after getting damp, and a rescue helicopter being dispatched from Canberra's Search and Rescue call centre (she's Australian) to find her.  It landed at Angelus hut, much to her horror.  She had no idea it was for her until they spoke to her.

In Picton, Toby and I went through the Edwin Fox maritime museum.  We both loved it.  I think Toby might be a history buff.

Picton harbour through the Edwin Fox porthole

Captain Toby

Me in the lower hull

Mike accidentally left our important ferry bag in Iona's car so we have an excuse to visit again soon and retrieve it.  We got on the 6.45pm sailing and Mike dropped me and Toby home before doing the car van transfer at Melling.  He's a lovely organiser.

Great weekend.  We need better food planning, and a light, bigger, billy.  And no more sore ribs for Toby.  But take me back there, anytime!

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with a few things

Hi,

Some of the guys at work took me away for a coffee and a scone at some new cafe I hadn't been to before.  Now, if I could remember its name...  Anyway, it was good.  But I only went on the proviso they had a date scone.  They convinced me to come for a scone date - which is most definitely not the same.

In the end I had a very good cheese scone and a very good iced coffee (just milk - and one sugar). 

Sam and I looking slightly manic - before our coffees

Machete!

 I did also get back to Machete - and I do enjoy their coffee.  :-)

Looking good

We are waiting for the concrete to harden before the last wee bit of physical landscaping.  Still waiting on a few things from the builder before that's all done.  But you knew that last bit, didn't you?

Coffees and a kimchi scroll

My current wallpaper on my phone

Toby was a bit better by the time I got home.  Lucky.  He may be tired for our Easter tramp - but that's ok.  It's a flat (ish) 4 days we have planned.  Ferry tonight to Picton.  St Arnaud for tonight.  Tramp into Lakehead tomorrow.  Stay there until Monday morning (with forays into the side valleys).  Back on Monday.  Ooosshh.

Hope your Easter is a good one.  See you on Tuesday.

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with bike awards

Hi,

Oh - wee Toby was sick yesterday.  And today isn't looking any better - but he has a science test.  So he is hauling himself off to school for that - but will probably head home after that.  He also has an orthodontist appointment today.  Doh!

Waitangi Park for the first awards

Tuesday was frantic at work - how does that happen?  Anyway, the exciting part was the bike awards.  After my initial thoughts along the lines of:  why did I say yes to this?, I went along at 6pm.  There I learned the plan was to ride in a huge bunch from Te Aro Bike Junction to Waitangi Park (have some awards), then to Frank Kitts for more awards and to have a minister from the coalition appear.  Then Civic Square for more awards.  Then back to Bike Junction.

Oh - we won!

It actually worked out really well.  And when we got to Civic Square, it turns out we wont he big prize.  I had to go up in my fetching bike gear and accept.  Lucky they didn't require a speech.  We won for being super bike friendly at work.  Nice effort.  And we have an e-bike for a week (Mon - Fri) from Switched On Bikes.  Thank you!

Civic Square - and you can even see my work in the distance

Civic Square

Frank Kitts

Back to Bike Junction where we heard from the minister.  Good on her.  And the bike advocates that do such a great job trying to sway the masses.

Anyway, I rode home and got home just after 9pm.  Crashed into bed - but I never slept well.  Maybe it was all the excitement.

Hope Toby does ok today.

Enjoy your day.

Love,
Angela

The Monday with a pool session

Hi,

At least I wrangled a working lunch/iced latte date into my day with Steph and Celia.  Mmmmm.

Late lunch plus an iced latte at Machete.  Mmmmm.

Got a late call from the doctors that Toby was there to get his vaccination and he needed a parent to supervise him.  Oh.  I never knew - and neither did Mike.  And we're still curious as to how Toby knew to go there.  But anyway, he got his HPV jab and I asked about his next vaccination.  It's due when he's 45 years old.  So I told him that was his responsibility.  Hahahahah! 

He is very cute.  And fully vaccinated.

After work we met up at Hotel Bristol on Cuba St and said goodbye to Rodney.  This is where we had the pool session.  Not swimming though.  The one with cues.  And I have to say, I am hopeless at pool or snooker.  Won two games through no skill of my own.

Mike collected me and we went home and he had tea while I went back into town to hunt and forage.  Or maybe just grocery shopping.  Hahahah.  $430 dollars later I headed home.  Ouch!

Into bed after putting away the groceries and getting Toby's bacon ready for his BLAT (C) the next morning.  Up and groaning slightly at the wind and rain lashing the house.  But by the time I got on my bike to ride in, it wasn't too bad.  I barely got wet and the wind was all blow and no bite.  Or something.

Spin and now at work, ready for whatever happens.  Well, apart from the bike awards thing I am attending after work today.  Our work has been nominated for employer bike awards and we're in the final.  The straw has landed to me to represent.

Great.  A big part of that introverted side of me hopes we don't win and I don't have to collect any award.

:-)

Have a wonderful day.

Love,
Angela

The weekend with camping at Matiu-Somes

Hi,

What an amazing weekend we had to Matiu/Somes courtesy of the social club at work.  Thank you for organising it all (Matt and Mike, especially).

Friday saw Brian, Suzie and Lucas come to visit.  We decided on Burger Wisconsin and enjoyed eating that.  Brian took us through a few photos and we chatted about life in Canada.  It was a brilliant evening - makes me wish he still lived in Wellington.  One day, Brian - we will come and visit you in Toronto!

We fell into bed after they left, promising ourselves to wake up super early and pack for our respective weekends.  And we did.

But it was a little fraught.  Note to self:  try not to leave packing until the morning of your event.

Mike had to get away first, and he loaded his backpack onto his shoulders and kissed me goodbye and walked up to the Subaru on the street.  I continued finalising my packing - just re-packing the tents after cleaning them both out thoroughly.  Two minutes later Mike came back into the house, declaring the Subaru gone and wondering where it was.  He may have wondered aloud at it being stolen.  And also whether I had hidden it somewhere (what?).

We talked it through, and realised that Mike drove in on Thursday morning (unbeknownst to me) and forgot and left it there.  In the car park in town.  We hopped in the Focus and I drove him into town and he successfully collected the car, paid his $43 (ouch!) and continued on his way to collect his punters.  With only the blogging universe now aware of his forgetfulness.  Hahah.

I took the opportunity to buy some provisions for the weekend while I was in town, and collected our gear and Toby from home before dropping Toby off at his gym appointment and our gear at my work.  Then I drove home, and caught the bus back into town.  Met Toby at the gym just 10 mins before he finished.  We had a nice brunch at Little Peckish.  Mmmm.

We met Matt, Leanne, Steffen, Hayden, Chloe and David (from Meetup Last Minute) and caught the ferry over to Matiu/Somes at 11.45am.  After a lengthy stay in the Whare kiore, we headed up to pitch our tents. 

The ranger wasn't overly pleased to have 30 odd tourists on his island - he really should be looking after a more remote part of our country that gets fewer dumb tourists.  Fortunately my gear was clean (we looks after our tents fairly well) and after an initial grumpy time, the ranger seemed to reign in his exasperation.  Yes, it is perfectly understandable that these measures are needed for this beautiful location so close to Wellington.  But part of the job is to educate the masses - and that means lessons that make sense to them and they see the relevance so next time they do more upfront when they visit.  But first timers are always going to need an education process.

Toby on top of the gun emplacements 

And realising I am taking a photo

Anyway, we got to the campground area and pitched our tents.  Toby explored the animal quarantine station while I finished pitching the tents.  When he got back, we went back to explore it even further.  Toby was fascinated by the vet office with its filing cabinet still in place.  He pulled out files and read through them.  Over the weekend he explored this place 4 times.  One document he found explained how the dead animals twitched while being incinerated, so they changed the procedure to decapitate before cremating them.  To help the humans deal with the process.

Anyway, we took off for a walk to the top and the gun emplacements.  Toby enjoyed exploring there too, and looked for hidden tunnels a lot.

Giant weta

Toby's sunset panorama

Me on the lookout south into the storm

Toby's (red) and my tent (teal)

After a decent walk, Toby slept in the tent while I went for a walk with Matt and Leanne.  We saw loads of birds and the stormy sky to the south looked like a movie backdrop.  We watched the cruise ship leave the harbour - it was the same one Matt and Leanne had voyaged on through the Pacific islands recently.

Jumping across the gap

Me and some sheep

Back to cook tea - and yummy pasta vegetarian meals were the order of the day.  Yum!  After that we went for a walk around the island to find the nocturnal creatures.  And we found them all!  Heard penguins before we finally saw two down at the wharf.  Walked back up to do the western loop track and Toby saw 3 penguins high up on the roadside.  On the loop track, we looked for a while under a big macrocarpa before we realised we were looking at a tuatara.  It looked just like a log!

And as we approached our campsite, I was looking for giant wetas on the grassy side of the path.  We got to the top of the Forest and Bird house and boom!  I found a giant weta.  As we peered closely at it, we realised there were three right there!  Amazing.

Slept well - although 7am seemed to come around pretty fast.  I got up and struck the tent and had some cornflakes.  Toby got up and I struck his tent while he ate cornflakes.

Matt and I did the entire loop track ahead of the ferry trip back.  Stunning day - if a bit more wind.  Toby and I thanked Matt and Leanne for the company and the awesome weekend and we headed to Maccas and a bus home.

Laundry and tent drying were the order of the day.  Mike got back and we got ready to meet Sally and Andrew at Portlander to celebrate her birthday (yes, we were late!). 

Arrrr - farmer Friday iced latte at 2.30pm to say goodbye to Prasad

Aarrr - farmer Friday iced latte with Andrew at 8am

Back home and fell into bed.  Phew!  Got a lot to do this week ahead of Easter. 

Enjoy your week.

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with not a lot

Hi,

Sally's birthday was perfect for ducks.  Wet, wet, wet.  But after the amazing summer, a bit of steady rain isn't something to begrudge.

Iced coffee at Pandoro - with Anjali and Sreejith

I did get an iced coffee with Anjali and Sreejith.  They are looking to buy a house and realise they have to think ahead to high school zones for their daughter.  Fun times.  And crazy house prices.

What else?  Well, I got home eventually (had an appointment in town and then the rain seemed to have clogged up public transport) and made Toby leftovers.  Mike got home not too long after that and made his own tea.  I chatted to Iona over What's App as we both procrastinated from the tasks at hand.  I did it so well I never packed for the weekend at all.  Not even a pretend pile to start.  Nothing!  Went to bed and fell into a coma.

Tonight, Brian, Suzie and Lucas are coming over.  It'll be so good to see them.  And after they go - I will have to pack for the weekend camping.  And take the huge bags down to work so they are there already instead of having to take them there on the bus early tomorrow.

Mike is off Saturday morning tramping to Haurangi hut.  We're both going to be wet this weekend.

Have a great weekend.  It's farmer Friday at work.  I'm wearing a checked shirt, just for the day.  If I manage a selfie, you might get to see it on Monday morning.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday where I was sure it was Friday

Hi,

Happy birthday to Sally today!  Oooshhh!  Have a fabulous day.

Crazy at work - but I asked Ed to join me for an iced coffee and he squeezed some time into his day.  Good catch up with him.

Ed took a landscape iced coffee pic @ Machete

And on my phone, this one is a "moving picture".  Doesn't look like it's moving to me.

It was Ninja day for me - black shirt and pants.  It's so I can sneak in and fix IT issues and disappear without a trace.

I did meet up with Brian, Suzie and wee Lucas in the food hall at the bottom of our building at 4pm.  That was cool.  We're seeing them tomorrow night - takeaways at our house.  I haven't seen Brian and Suzie for 10 years.  And wee Lucas isn't that wee anymore - he's 6 now.  And bilingual - in French!  That's a Canadian education for you.

Got home and cooked tea for the boys.  I ate some cauliflower thing that tasted really healthy.  Yuck.  Mike ate my leftovers after he finished his meal.  He enjoyed it.  He would make a much better vegetarian - he actually likes veggies.  I am the reluctant vegetarian.

Enjoy your day.  Wet here - I got wet riding in.  Yummy weather - for ducks.

Love,
Angela