Above: Mount Rolleston from across the valley Joe & Sue at the Wamikari river
The ridge up to Lows Peak
Joe had a great idea while in Sydney; car rental!!! Within two hours of arriving in Christchurch we had spilled all fifty five kilos plus of our gear into the back seat and boot of a one litre Toyota starlet and were on our way to Arthurs pass!! She may be small but once we learnt what the 2 and L meant on the automatic gear box we were cruising along nicely. We rented a map and headed up Con's track to the summit of Mount Cassidy. From there we had a wonderful view of the surrounding South Alps. It was the perfect location for a fine picnic.
Our next destination was in the north of the south island, Takaka. We drove for about six hours with the ipod playing in the car as we gave some time to our spanish lessons. We were heading to ´Hang Dog´ Camp site. Set up by a local climber it provides camping at a cheap price, right beside Paynes Ford Park. The park is home to a lovely line of rock faces which are frequented by sport climbers. ( Unlike in Ireland, where permanent fixtures are not allowed, all the routes have bolts. Instead of the leader placeing small wedges in the cracks for protection, traditional climbing, they simply clip a fixed bolt, sport climbing). It didn´t take long for our arms to ache and our finger tips to weep. We spent about a week up north, climbing in Paynes Ford & Pohara , swimming in the many swimming holes and wandering in the national parks. The weather was extremely similar to Ireland and our rain costs got quite a bit of use. We went for a wander at the farewell spit but the heavy rain & mist prevented us seeing across to the north island.
We camped for the whole two weeks in our fine new tent. We cooked on the stove and sat out in the evenings under a wonderful bright sky, bulging with stars. Orion and the southern cross in view. On our return journey to Christchurch we stopped again in Arthurs Pass and waited for a fine settled day. We chose to Climb the ridge of Low´s Peak and then carry on to the summit of Rolleston. We started at 8 am and got back to the car at 8pm, so a long day. It started with a hike as we came through a lovely forest being followed by small birds, calling to us on our way. As we rose above the trees we moved on to steeper terrain where we scrambled up the ridge to the top of Low´s peak. Time was against us so we didn´t climb the last ridge to the top of Rolleston. We instead started our descent. Absailing first to a snow field and then glissading down it, to walk out through numerous scree fields. On discovering that we had missed the shop we treated oursleves to a hot dinner in a restaurant and a fine cold beer, or two.
We overnighted in Christchurch, giving us time to spill the contents of the car into a car park and coax it back into our bags. An early start on Saturday 19th January and we were in the airport waiting for a flight to Auckland for an onward flight to Santiago, Chile.
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