2 years down under!

Funny it doesn't seem as significant as it did in 2006, but we have reached another anniversary in our adventure in New Zealand! We cannot believe on some levels that we have been here 2 years however on another level it seems like we have been here for ages (in a good way!).

So not only was this weekend our 2 year anniversary, we also had labour day, one of the public holidays in NZ and that meant a long weekend!

We spent the weekend away with our good friends and partners in crime, Helen and Paul, in Kaikoura. A couple of hours north of Christchurch. To maximise the time we sped off after work and made it to the campsite by about 9.30pm, pitched in the dark and then disaster struck! The plan for the weekend was to climb Mt Fyffe, a 1602m high mountian just behind Kaikoura, stay in the hut and pootle back down the following day! So that meant tramping packs! One of Emma's favourite pieces of outdoor equipment is her tramping pack......so when she realised that it was still leaning against the side of the spare bedroom wardrobe in CHRISTCHURCH she was somewhat not impressed and HIGHLY embarrassed! Thankfully, Paul had brought not only his own tramping pack, but one for Dan and ALSO his 30l day pack! So Emma was saved! After the trauma of discovering this what else was there to do but sit down and have a lovely glass of wine!

After a comfortable nights sleep we awoke to AWESOME weather! We had ensured that the campsite had a TV so we were able to watch both the semi and the final of the rugby world cup (shan't say more about that) and enjoy a top notch breakfast! A sunny and enjoyable day followed, a short walk, cake, and a wonderful meal out to name but a few of the highlights! Unfotunately as the day progressed the nor' wester grew and by evening we were all taking shelters in tents and cars just to read! And the night.....well lets just say there wasn't much sleep! The wind was horrendous!

The following morning, somewhat bleary eyed and after packing up all the kit...and after watching the rugby, we headed off to the Mt Fyffe DOC carpark to begin our ascent! It was awesome, hard work but really amazing. The views (as I say in most posts!) were simply awesome and stopping was compulsory (thank goodness) to take them in! 1100m of up hill all the way to reach the hut which we did in a suprisingly short time! Only about 2 and a half hours, including numerous breaks!! From the hut the view to Kaikoura was stunning and you could really see the whale tail shaped peninsula. The hut was cosy with 8 bunks and a log burner, running drinking water and a toilet, which was unfortunately missing its window so was kind of exposed somewhat! THe boys however, wanted to try out the new tents and we set about pitching them! In the WIND which seemed to have appeared from nowhere! Rather a challenge but we got there in the end! Helen and I however, decided that the bunks in the hut were much more inviting! Thank goodness we bagged the bunks too as all the bunks were full over night and there were six tents pitched outside! When we were all sorted we ventured out to the summit! Again amazing and quite a lot of snow! It was flippin freezing and the wind was REALLY strong! We didn't hang around long at the top, just enough to take in the view and eat some party mix! The evening consisted mainly of eating and reading! We were all pretty tired and the boys needed to get into their tents to ensure that they didn't blow away! I have to confess I really was quite worried, maybe I was being a tad over protective! But hey!
So the morning was filled with tales of tent poles actually hitting the boys in the face! Yes, you read correctly, the wind was SO strong it literally flattened the tent poles which then pinged back up, only to be flattened by the next gust! THenk goodness for good quality Macpac tents! So the boys really got to test them to the extreme! More photos to follow!