Along the Away

Have you heard of Meetup? That brilliant online platform uniting like-minded peeps into offline communities? I’m a member of Sydney Weekend Adventurers, a wonderfully diverse group of people organised by a northern beaches couple who run a medley of outdoor adventures in Sydney or within a day’s drive.

I was one of the first to sign up to a two-day adventure to hike Mount Kosciuszko under the full moon. Perfectly timed over a weekend, the plan was to enjoy Australia’s highest mountain by the moon’s silvery light, camp overnight near the summit and walk back down the next day.

I had never been to Mt Kosciuszko before, and I was eager to test out the backpack I had just bought to take on my 900+km Camino in a couple of month’s time, so the trip was ideal for Camino preparation, and perfect end-of-summer-adventuring.

Preparing for the Adventure

It had been years since I’d been on an overnight hike but I was longing to get back into it despite not having much gear. If you’re in the same position – don’t worry and don’t let it hold you back. There’s only a few key pieces you need and it’s possible to get everything at a pretty affordable price thanks to stores like Anaconda and websites like Wild Earth that have good sales on all the time. Just keep a list of what you need and then keep your eye out for the right sale. 50% off backpacks one weekend, 40% off tents the next, and so on. Also, the outdoor community is so generous, if you’re just starting out then join a club or a Meetup group and you will be pleasantly surprised how helpful people will be to help you get out there!

In case it helps someone in their planning, for this trip, here’s what I took:

1. Backpack (mine is 36l Osprey including rain cover – because I was trialling my Camino gear I took this pack which is a squeeze for overnight hiking, my tent had to be strapped to the outside. A 50-60l would be a better size for overnight hiking.)
2. Tent (mine is Denali Zephyr I Hike Tent which I got from Anaconda on sale – at only 1.55kg and after surviving an overnight electrical storm in this I can’t say good enough things about it!)
3. Sleeping bag (I took a 3 degree sleeping bag I’ve had for 15 years)
4. Sleeping mat (thanks to good old Anaconda I got a Denali Trek Short Hike Mat on sale, I got half size to fit it into my pack, but I will get the full size if I get a bigger bag)
5. Hiking clothes – the exact outfit I intended to take on my Camino de Santiago (Prana hiking convertible pants, Icebreaker tee, Kathmandu light weight fleece, Injini toe socks)
6. Sleeping thermals (Icebreaker pants, Icebreaker tank top & long sleep top, Icebreaker mid-weight socks)
7. Wet weather gear (Marmot Precip rain jacket – so lightweight but high performance, definitely recommend! – and Montbell rain pants)

Down South We Went!

I made the 6 hour drive down to Jindabyne on Friday night after work with friends I’d made on previous hikes with the group, Megha and Jo. It was relatively easy getting out of Sydney despite the end of week traffic, but driving at night on the Hume Highway was hard work; there was just so much roadkill, which put me on high alert. So much poor Australian wildlife like kangaroos and wombats were lying on and by the side of the road at regular intervals, and at one point we ran over the top of a kangaroo that must have only just been knocked down as we shortly passed a couple walking back towards the roo from their car pulled over just past it. It was quite harrowing given the dark of the night and the size of the animals. Many more hopped across the road a couple of metres right in front of my car, or stood frozen in my headlights in the opposite lane. I kept my eyes scanning the road, fingers clamped to the wheel braced to avoid a collision – unfortunately that’s all you can do. Judging from the amount of roadkill the odds are not great for the poor natives.

We stopped at a fairly nondescript roadside cafe for a quick dinner but we were eager to get a good night’s rest so we pushed on. We planned to sleep overnight in a cabin at the NRMA Jindabyne Caravn Park. We had our camping gear for the following night’s hike but we knew we would arrive after midnight so it was great when we did pull up and could jump straight into bed!

As usual I woke just before dawn the next morning, and on my way back from the toilet block realised we were right beside the very pretty Lake Jindabyne, backdropped by the Snowy Mountains.

We made our way into Jindabyne for breakfast at Birchwood Cafe, my ability to sniff out the best coffee and food in town led us straight there (thanks foodie blogs), and it was the perfect spot to fuel up for the day ahead. We met the rest of our group at the meeting time but then had a slow start as we waited for everyone to gather. Then our group organiser Con updated us on the weather. It was being unpredictable, rain was expected shortly then then it should pass through and come back the next day, leaving us with a good afternoon and night to do our hike. That meant prolonging our departure, which was fine with everyone. Happy to eat and enjoy more coffee, and time to pick up any last minute gear we would need. Cold temperatures and rain were now guaranteed so most people ended up popping into the gear stores for something or rather. I ended up getting a pair of rain pants and a possum-hair beanie (yep, possum hair, very cosy but scratchy FYI). Rain pants had been on my ‘should I or shouldn’t I’ pack list for my upcoming Camino de Santiago, so it was a good opportunity to get them and test them out on Kosciuszko.

On to the adventuring!

Finally we departed Jindabyne by road convoy and drove about 50km or so to Charlotte Pass. A bit more fussing about as we piled out of cars, helping each other adjust our backpack straps and tie on gear, then we were off!

We had a gorgeous sunny start, a true pleasure to walk along the wide track and enjoy the sunshine across the grassy mountain-side. We set off on old Kosciusko Rd, crossing the Snowy River Valley to ascend the Main Range.

We passed by Seamans Hut, a monument built for two guys who lost their lives in 1928 after setting out skiing one sunny afternoon and then got stuck in a blizzard that swept into the range. A testament to the unpredictability of the weather in the mountans. We were lucky to continue enjoying good weather at this point, so we stopped to snack and rest awhile.

We pushed on and passed the Snowy River, time for photos and snacking again!

 

The afternoon walk to the summit was easy, a wide clear path the whole way with a truly beautiful and expansive landscape, the rolling fields and rocky peaks stretching in every direction.

The sun was sinking as we started the last incline, the light was just amazing.

My heart was skipping all over the place. I spaced myself out on the path eager to have the landscape and horizon to myself. The glimpses of walkers ahead of me and behind were meandering in the light and shadows.

We summit-ed in time to take in the glorious view. We put on our extra layers in anticipation of the sun’s warmth leaving us, which it quickly did. We perched on rocks and ate our various picnic dinners, gradually growing quieter as the we watched the sun set and the full moon rise.

The streaks of colour on the horizon cleaved the way to an inky purple, flaring with forks of lightening all around us in the distance. The storm the forecast couldn’t make its mind up about seemed to be skirting around us. It was mesmerizing to watch, the air was calm and quiet, but settled icily on my cheeks. I snuggled into my layers, I hadn’t brought much but I was happy they were all performing as intended. I was grateful for the research I’d done and the quality I’d bought. Even the last minute addition of the possum fur beanie.

I settled into the stillness that only nature gives me, when I take the time to give myself over to it, when all that other life stuff drops off to where it belongs. Feeling free but connected, insignificant but worthy.

Hiking by the Moon

We couldn’t stay all night, we needed to hike on northwards along the crest of the Main Range to Muellers Pass, from there we intended to pick up a faint track that would lead us up to camp in the saddle between Alice Rawson Peak and Mt Townsend.

We hiked by the full moon’s glow looking for the faint signs of a ‘path less travelled’. Con had hiked it before, he knew vaguely where it was and that it would be hard to find. At some point he knew we’d walked past it, so seeing another path that should take us toward it, we took that one. Well, detouring at night, even under the magical powers of a full moon, is rife with potential to backfire.

Our hiking became trudging. Our path became rock scrambling. Everyone grew quiet. The reverent atmosphere grew more tense as tired hikers, sore hikers, less experienced hikers became uncomfortable and stretched. I personally felt OK about the unplanned detouring. It happens, I felt prepared, and so in the situation I accepted the path as it appeared. I did find the rock climbing with my backpack challenging. At times I was apprehensive knowing my usual centre of balance was off, the height in the dark made me nervous, and from that in wriggled doubt as I struggled with my own strength to pull my weight up and over large boulders. It was tough going, there were moments where I faced my limit and with effort pushed on past it. It was a suprising situation, it was meant to be a straightforward hike after all, but by the end of the weekend I would be really proud of myself for finding my inner strength and seeing what I was made of.

Finally we reached the top but it was obviously not where we were supposed to be. The grassy incline was strewn with boulders and shrubs, but the wind had picked up and we felt rain steadying to spit on us. Con told us all to set-up camp so in a flurry of activity we all unburdened our packs and tents started flying up.

Megha and Jo were sharing a two-man tent and I had my brand new little one-person tent. With the wind whipping up around me and the energy in the air descending opressively around me I suddenly realised how little and light I really was on the mountain peak, so I nestled in between the girls and another guy’s two-man tent, hoping for a little protection. It was a tight squeeze once I started to hammer in the pegs for my fly, especially as the front flap ended up being exactly where a big boulder was! Thankfully Con came around with a spare elastic cord and helped me rig it up. The rain started descending so quick as rabbits we all hopped into our burrows.

Tucked in my little haven I awkwardly shed my shoes and hiking pants and put on some thermals. I only brought the half sleeping mag to save on space and weight, so with my upper body on the mat and my lower body on my backpack I wiggled into my sleeping bag and lay down listening to the wind and the rustle of my fellow hikers settling down. Gradually all other noises stopped and I closed my eyes wondering if I would get some sleep despite the excitement of being on a mountain top. It’s not every night you are one of the highest positioned people in the country.

The Adventure Intensifies

I must have dropped off, because at some point I became aware of the distant boom of thunder. I snuggled deeper into my bag and felt the thrill of being warm and cosy with the elements right outside my thin shell of nylon. I drifted in and out of sleep and was just becoming conscious of the pounding of the rain and the increasing frequency of the thunder when I heard a man’s voice raised in alarm outside my tent.

“The storms coming, we have to go! Pack up!”

My eyes flew open. What!?! I couldn’t hear anything else clearly, just the muffled sounds of voices and the flurry of zips and commotion in between the buffeting of the wind against my tent. I took a breath and urged myself to act calmly. I started stuffing my sleeping bag in my sack and packing my bag while listening to the snippets of voices I could hear in between the howling wind. Then Con’s voice came between my and the girls tent:

“We don’t have time to take our gear, we’ll come back later, put wet weather gear on and get out”.

I stopped again. I had packed everything already so I focused on getting fully dressed and into my rain gear while thinking “this is crazy, we can’t leave now, I’m safer here than scrambling around out there in the middle of the night” The scenes from only hours before replayed in my mind, my body perched precariously atop boulders, unbalanced under the unfamiliarity of my backpack weight.

I heard lots of noise outside the tent but I stayed put. I called out and the girls responded, they were dressed but waiting instructions. Con came back around –

“Stay where you are, it’s too late! We’ll stick it out, stay until morning” and then he was gone.

My gut instinct was relieved, I knew that was the right decision. Luckily I felt calm and prepared. I was all packed up, but wearing all my layers. I pulled out my sleeping mat and emergency blanket and wrapped myself up like a caterpillar.

So, cacooned in my tent, an electrical storm passed through until the early hours. I later wondered if the emergency blanket was a good idea amidst the lightening but some later research indicates that was OK, though I probably should have kicked my backpack out of the tent (metal frame). Oh well, lucky escape.

Listening to the thunder booming, lightening flashing and the wind buffeting my little safe haven was a truly awesome experience. I decided that I was going to enjoy it. I would never plan to be on a country’s highest peak in the middle of an electrical storm, but here I was. I would let the sounds wash over me, I would feel the intensity of the energy in the air and give myself over to the majestic power of Mother Nature.

Descending into the Mist

A brief lull at 6am gave us the opportunity to pack up and make a foggy wet exit. Again the group was quiet and efficient, we helped each other, offered spare clothing to those who had gotten soaked during the night. There were varying degrees of people coping. Personally, I was pretty happy! The night was challenging and beautiful. My gear had held up wonderfully, and now hiking out in the morning I could test out my rain pants!

We trudged down through the constantly changing landscape. There was foggy mist all around us, we could see then we couldn’t. I put my blind faith in Con to lead us out, but it wasn’t easy. Others in the group had reservations and opinions on where we should be heading. Megha realized she had GPS working on her phone and between her and some of the others they pieced together that maybe we were walking in the wrong direction. The mist obscured everything.

I wished I was more capable of self navigating, I felt like I was no use so I stayed quiet and supportive, and didn’t complain. Finally we reached the river and could get our bearings. At that point we knew the path we were trying to take out of there was too risky to try to find with such low visibility. The group agreed to walk back to the route we had taken the day before and make a return trip on that instead of a loop as intended.

Once we found the familiar path and the fog lifted a bit, we stopped to rest and eat, which started to lift everyone’s spirits rise again.

The rain did not give us many breathers though, it was fairly consistent on the walk out. We stopped again at Seamans Hut, then quickly continued on as we could hear storm number two coming for us. We reached our cars just as it started to unleash on us. We stripped off, trying to contain our sopping wet gear from water-logging my car and jumped in – turning up the heater and turning my car into a humidity box.

Homeward Bound

Back in Jindabyne we changed into dry clothes and stuffed ourselves with hot carbs and strong coffee. There really is nothing better than refuelling after something so gruelling.

I got back into the drivers seat and took us six hours back to Sydney, dropping off both the girls then heading straight into a steaming hot shower the second I got home.

Honestly, I loved every minute in this breathtaking part of the world, it was certainly an adventure!

I used to go camping a lot when I was in my twenties. I belonged to an outdoor club which had a calendar packed with weekend camping trips, multi-day backpacking walks, canyoning and lots more. I was one of the only members under 50 years old, but that was great as the members had heaps of gear and were very generous to share with those without. I couldn’t afford much so I used to be gratefully kitted out by the community. When I moved to Sydney I no longer had such an active group to go on adventures with and I lacked so much gear so my weekend adventures became more city-based.

Then a couple of birthdays ago a good group of friends bought me a tent. I’ve been wanting to go camping with it for ages but planning a weekend trip always seemed ever-elusive. Why does our heart’s desire often end up on the back burner of a busy life?

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I spent a very happy, autumn-y weekend camping on the ANZAC Day long weekend in Hill End, at ‘The End Festival of Arts, Feasting and Heritage’ organised by NSW National Parks. Located in the central west of New South Wales, Hill End is around 70km from both Bathurst and Mudgee, and just under 4 hour drive from Sydney. It is an Historic Site managed by the NSW National Parks and home to a community of about 100 people.

My friend Oceana sent me a link for the event and it sounded like the perfect weekend mix of music, local food and drink, and the Aussie bush! Joined also by another friend, Giselle, we left Sydney early on Saturday morning and drove up through the Blue Mountains for an easy drive stopping only for coffee along the way.

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In general, work/life balance for me is not an evenly dispersed kind of thing but more like all-consuming-projects punctuated with an annual travel adventure when I disappear overseas for four weeks. I used to want to balance it all out, but now I accept that I actually like life being ‘all on’ when I’m hooked on a project and then changing track and escaping somewhere else when it’s done. Something I could do better is managing my wellbeing across these times. I tend to burn out, thinking I’ll sleep/breathe/recharge later. Well… I really don’t really want to sleep/breathe/recharge once or twice a year. I’d rather that be an all of the year thing.

So I started looking after myself better. I cut down on chocolate (I haven’t eaten any since the 28th June 2015 actually). I didn’t let my morning bush walk slide off my schedule when I was busy, it has become a non-negotiable. I started a regular weekly yoga practice after years of patchy attendance, and I sat down to daily meditation. I’ve kept to it all pretty faithfully and the result was that at the end of a pretty big work project last year I needed some time out for sure, but I wasn’t an exhausted shell left barely standing. I had energy, so after my work trip to Singapore I hopped on a plane to Koh Samui and straight to Vikasa Yoga Retreat. I stayed for 15 days.

I found Vikasa through a Google search, it sounded promising with great Trip Advisor reviews and plenty of travel blog trip reports.

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It was the beginning of 2014 that I set myself the challenge to walk all 37 coastal walks from the Coastal Walks Sydney book… I did 6! But luckily they’re not going anywhere, so I’m still ticking them off in 2015.

I just came off a BIG work project and after weeks without a day off I had five days stretching out in front of me. It’s the end of winter at the moment but Sydney was boasting that gorgeous feels-like-summer weather that often dazzles us at the end of the cold season. I was craving some outdoor time after too many long weeks in the office so the book came off the bookshelf and I did three coastal walks over the next five days.

First up was the Spit Bridge to Manly walk which is a very well known coastal walk in Sydney. Obviously it can be done in both directions, but I prefer doing it from south to north so that I end up at the beach – and judging from the people I passed it seems to be the most popular direction!

It is a truly beautiful walk, the water is alongside the track almost the whole time, except for a section that heads upwards. It’s fairly steep but nothing a reasonable level of fitness can’t handle. Where there’s a climb, there’s a view – and this one is amazing.

I was so happy to be back in my natural habitat under the sunshine, amongst the trees and beside the ocean. Nature is a great healer.

The walk is about 10km and according to the Coastal Walks Sydney book should take about 3.5 hours. Once again, similar to other walks I’ve done in the book, I took much less time to finish – about 2 hours and 40 minutes. I did that with plenty of stops along the way, probably about 20 minutes worth. I’m a pretty brisk walker once I get going!

There are a number of toilet blocks along the way and water bubblers/taps to refill your water bottle. I recommend filling up at every tap you see as they are not as frequent to chance that you’ll see one when you need it. When I did the walk in summer I struggled in the last 30 minutes with an empty water bottle, so this time I topped up at every chance.

Once I walked into Manly I wandered around looking for a brunch spot to refuel. I discovered a new cafe called Bare Naked Bowls on Market Lane. I was heading to the Swedish Fika Kitchen which is a fave, but Bare Naked Bowls caught my eye. I wandered in to look at the board and on recommendation from the waitress decided to try the Chia Bowl – it was delicious, as was the coffee.

Once nourished, it was time to relax! The glorious thing about coastal walks is that once the hard work is done there is a beach to relax on, which I did… for about three hours! I may have even fallen asleep on the sand. Considering how stunning the weather was I was surprised how quiet it was, I’ve never seen Manly beach this deserted – I guess that’s the perk of being there on a weekday when most people are at work.

In regards to transport, the walk is fairly easy to get to, coming from the lower north shore I drove to the Spit Bridge and parked in a side street just north of the bridge. There is a timed carpark there but it can be costly, I have always been lucky to get an untimed spot on the road. Once I was in Manly I got the bus back to the Spit. It was a bit tricky as I didn’t realise the footpath stops before the bridge on the north side where I got off the bus. I had to chance my luck across the road and then walk up the steps and around the suburban roads – all without a phone thanks to my battery dying. Next time I will get off south of the bridge where the foothpath extends… or else get the bus the whole way.

I’m interrupting the New Zealand travel post transmission (because let’s face it, that was so three months ago and I guess it’ll take me as long to catch up as it takes me to get through culling my photos) to share about a great camera class I went to this morning in Hyde Park (Sydney).

Just before I went to New Zealand I splurged a little more than intended on a new camera for myself. What started as a bold $500 budget to buy myself a high quality digital compact camera, became a research-heavy, peer-encouraged investment in the Sony Alpha 6000, a compact system aka mirrorless camera. It’s a hybrid type, with the convenience of a smaller size and intuitive viewfinder as per digital compacts and manual functions and lenses as per an SLR. I spent about AU$1000 on the camera, plus a couple of hundred more on a bargain for a fixed 50mm f1.8 lens. It doubled my budget, but I was happy based on the weeks of research and opinion-gathering I did. I love to travel and taking photos while away is a big part of that, it just felt like the right time for me to invest in a camera that I can continue to make lens investments into.

My camera arrived the week before my holiday. Yikes. So I read the instruction manual back-to-front, purchased a month’s subscription to Gary Fong’s Sony A6000 video tutorials and experimented with the various settings in my free time.

My trip photos were the result of a mix of auto setting, program setting and experimental forays into manual setting with lots of dial twiddling which resulted in 20 versions of each photo intended ‘to look at and compare later’ (which became mass deletion efforts). I was really happy with my purchase but I knew that to make it worth the investment I had to spend some decent energy learning how to use it properly.

After some Googling, I found Andy Piggott’s photography class website and signed up with my housemate to do his three hour beginner class in Hyde Park. It was such an informative class and really worth doing. Obviously there is a lot to learn, but I definitely walked away with a better understanding of what the core components of manual photography are and how to start considering light, movement and framing using aperture, shutter speed and lens choice.

For example, with the twiddle of a button I saw how manipulating the exposure affects the image:

Included in the course fee was a coffee stop at the Hyde Park Barracks Cafe; we had lattes and delicious chocolate brownies while Andy covered a lot of theoretical components.

We were there for about 45 minutes which was a nice way to break up the time and be able to sit and learn without all the distractions in the park.

After our break we went back to the fountain to experiment with Shutter Speed. What a nifty thing that is; the projectile vomiting turtle in the fountain went from spewing frothy light beams…

…to water droplets just by changing my shutter speed.

We stopped in the shade to look at samples of the niftier things you can do with shutter speeds.

Next up was looking at depth of field which is manipulated through the aperture. Here my fence is in focus and the background is blurry:

Then the I brought the background into focus. Simple basic lessons I know, but important foundations.

Once the class wrapped up I decided to make the most of the glorious Sydney day and walk back to the north shore over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I was so happy to have my camera ansd whipped it out to take advantage. After all I learnt I was excited to put it into practice…. and took the photo on Program mode. Hahaha! But that’s OK because now I know when Program mode is suitable and when it’s not.

I absolutely recommend doing Andy’s class if you have a camera that you’re not sure what to do with. The class was fun and I learnt heaps. Andy also gave us a laminated cheat sheet and emailed us class notes and lots of links.

Hopefully you will see an improvement in the photos on this site in the near future ;-)

PS. My housemate and I couldn’t wait to try out the shutter speed light effects that Andy told us about. It works! Though I my poor spatial awareness rears its head – that’s supposed to say ‘Donna’ if you can’t tell.

New Zealand is home to an epic series of ‘Great Walks’ which I have read about and hope to tick some off of my bucket list sometime in my lifetime. I was really excited to go to the World Heritage Listed Tongariro National Park where the only Great Walk you can do in one day, the Tongariro Crossing, is located. The Crossing is 19.4km long and is incredibly steep in parts (there is a part called The Devils Staircase. Enough said.)

There are three mountains in the national park – Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu, which are important landmarks to the Maori people for spiritual and cultural reasons.

We stayed two nights in an alpine lodge in Whakapapa Village, which was cosy but rustic – it reminded me a bit a school camp to be honest, lots of pine furniture, bunk beds, shared common rooms with board games and fireplaces. There is a kitchen and bar there, the food was good and the staff were friendly and helpful – especially in regards to giving me a cup of uncooked rice – more on that later.

I love bushwalking and hiking outdoors, I try to walk everyday but even still I wouldn’t say my fitness is at a high level because I don’t train or intentionally challenge myself to tackle steeper terrain or anything – I mostly stick to coastal tracks. So I was a bit nervous about doing the Tongariro Crossing but I knew enough of its beauty to sign up immediately anyway. When our bus arrived in the national park the night before it was raining pretty heavily but the forecast was looking good for the next day. We were getting picked up by a guided hiking company called Adventure Outdoors at a very early hour, so I prepped all my hiking gear at the end of my bunk bed ready for a quick and quiet rise in the morning (lesson number one in being a considerate room-mate). When the morning came I woke to the sound of rain pattering down but I jumped up, got ready and assembled optimistically with the rest of the group ready for the pick-up. Alas, Mother Nature had other plans for us. Sarah and Perrin, from Adventure Outdoors arrived with the sad news that the wind higher up on the crossing was too fierce to make the trek – the Tongariro Crossing was closed. For those that haven’t heard of it before, here is what I missed out on:

So sad, I felt really disappointed as I had psyched myself up to take on the challenge. Hiking through snow and navigating ice on the track was going to be a new experience for me, I was really mentally preparing myself for the challenge of using crampons and ice picks to earn that incredible view. But as travel always (always) teaches us, when something doesn’t work out, just roll with it onto the next amazing experience. Sarah and Perrin were revved up with enthusiasm and wouldn’t let our spirits stay down for long – they proposed we head out and do some hiking along the base of the mountains, some of which was part of the Tongariro Crossing anyway. So we did!

It rained. The entire 6 hours.

But look, I’m smiling! With rain drops on my nose.

Coz it was fun! Seriously, we’ve developed into such precious souls when it comes to getting a bit uncomfortable. I would never normally go hiking in the rain. Even if it’s forecast to rain later during the day I’ll cancel an intended hike. I’d get wet! And cold! And uncomfortable!

Well, so what. I did get a bit of all of those things, but I didn’t stop smiling! Neither did anyone in our small group of 8 or so. We laughed at ourselves and each other. We stumbled and bounced back up. We stopped for photos, to listen to stories from the girls, to try and picture the scenes in Lord of the Rings which were filmed here.

We started at Mangatepopo Car Park and walked as far as Soda Springs, stopping before ascending the Devil’s Staircase.

The track was beautiful in the rain. The fog hung low and heavy, the silence of the land except the rain hitting the ground and our feet crunching on the rocks.

Sarah and Perrin were wonderful guides, they acted as if it was a perfect blue sky, sunny day and we were out for a leisurely stroll. Sarah was actually 7 months pregnant at the time! Which none of us even realised til about two hours in – we were all so bundled up in fleeces and rain jackets that her bump was hidden and her unbelievable energy would never have given it away. Once realised that, it put us all in our place – if she can keep going then we can!

I learnt from the walk that Lake Taupo was once a volcano that blew up in about 1180. It threw lava and rock over a third of the north island. All the trees were flattened creating the lava fields we walked through on our walk. Lake Taupo is hours away – so that gives you an idea of the how powerful the volcano eruption was.

I might have missed out on hiking with crampons on the ice, but I got to step over some. It was this cold. 

I can only wonder at how the walk looks and feels on a gloriously sunny day. Our experience was oh so different, but appreciated.

Soda Springs popped up in view, our walk’s target.

On we trooped, letting the rain soak in and roll off.

Finally we reached Soda Springs. A quick photo op and we turned around and trudged back to the Mangatepopo carpark.

Once we got back in the van and had the heaters pumping we all laughed and kidded around, trying a hopeless battle to keep seats dry when everything about us was soaked. We had the giddy high you get after doing something you probably wouldn’t have thought you would do, relief mixed with achievement. Then Sarah turned from the front seat and proposed we head to a lake walk – only about 2 hours and mostly under a rainforest canopy so we wouldn’t get much wetter (can you get wetter than 100% soaked?) The van got quiet. We all made non-committal noises sliding side-long glances at each other. Was anyone going to object? Was the seven months pregnant woman going to be shut down? Non-committal noises turned into non-committal head bobs as we all waited for someone to say the words that would send us all home to a shower and dry towel, food and a heater. The words never came and Sarah and Perrin clapped their hands and took off toward the walk. We all rallied as we realised ‘OK, we’re doing this!’ Later we all laughed when we realised not one of us thought we had it in us to do another rain walk, surely 4 hours had been enough. But we were all so glad that we’d followed the crowd – we had another fabulous walk!

Rotopounamu Lake is located at the foot of Mt Pihanga in the Pihanga Scenic Reserve, believed to have formed about 10,000 years ago by a landslide. The walk is 6km around, and took us about 90 minutes.

The name translates to ‘greenstone’ which apparently reflects the colour of the water on a clear day – I will have to trust our guides on this one seeing as my view was rather grey…

Dreary, but strangely still beautiful and rather invigorating to be there!

I mentioned at the start of this post a cup of rice which was given to me without question from the kitchen at our accommodation. Along the walk I couldn’t help but keep getting my iPhone out to snap photos. Of course I hadn’t brought my camera along due to the rain, but with my phone slipping into the inside pocket of my trusty Kathmandu Gortex raincoat I figured I could chance it.

I took lots of photos – amidst lots of rain drops.

I made sure to wipe it dry every time I put it back in my pocket, but by the end of the day the combination of constant downpour and the humidity inside my jacket due to my body heat, my iPhone was NOT happy. As in the front screen was completely streaked with water marks and condensation under the screen. I could barely read a thing. I did a Google and read that I should turn it off and sit it in a cup of rice. I gave it a go as I LOVE my iPhone and would have been devastated to have it die, mid-trip no less. I kept it in the cup of rice overnight to no avail. I moved both rice and the iPhone into a clip-lock bag and kept it in there for another 48 hours with still no luck – it looked just as bad. I felt sad and decided to turn it on and use it as much as I could til I could get home and replace it. Well, gradually, over the next three weeks my iPhone healed itself. I suppose it dried out over time in my pocket next to my body heat. I was stoked! So for anyone looking  for a solution to a water damaged phone – time, heat and a little TLC should see it right :-)

 

When you’re away, every day brings interesting, extraordinary, novel things to be recorded on camera, to be posted on Facebook, to be retold on a blog, to write home and gush about. It all seems so worthy of sharing because it’s new and different, and we don’t want to forget.

Normal, ordinary, routine life just happens. Passes by.

This morning I woke to heavy rain; a deliciously warm, cosy awakening, safely cacooned in my quilt listening to the roar of the downpour, the energy of nature.

Then it calmed down and without leaving my bed I saw a beautiful rainbow arcing over the sky.

Perhaps today will be filled with exciting, extraordinary, novel things.