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In: Hiking, Location, Photography, Shane's Posts

Wow what a big day 19km tramp up Mt Arthur, 8.8km up, 8.8km down plus 1.4km returning because numb skull forgot to turn off the vehicle lights and had to return and turn them off. Yep it’s only 8.8 km to the summit but boy are the climbs long and steep. The first 4km to Mt Arthur Hut is not too bad as it climbs steadily to 1300mtrs. Once past the Mt Arthur Hut the wind blew over the ridges constantly lifting the cloud up and over the ridges amplifying the cool temps at altitude, the track narrows and starts getting into the long steepRead More →

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In: Hiking, Location, Motorhome, Shane's Posts

It’s now day three into 2019 and it’s up early for the hike up the Matiri Valley to Lake Matiri. This involves about 6km of 4WD track before walking 5 km up the Matiri River to the Matiri Hut. This lake was formed approximately 300 years ago and I would say coincides with the last big alpine fault movement that dropped a massive side of a mountain across the valley to block off the river, hence forming Lake Matiri. The first part of our journey was up the Matiri West Bank Road before we got another test for our Suzuki Jimny as the 6km 4WDRead More →

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In: Hiking, Jude's Post, Location, Motorhome, Photography, Shane's Posts

Time to move on today but before we do there is just one more walk track for us to knock off. Jude has kept reminding me since we’ve been in Tekapo, that she wouldn’t mind climbing Mt John, knowing when she says “I wouldn’t mind”… it means we’re going to lol. The morning was -2 when we woke but a nice warm Moho and a hot breakfast completed, we headed off to the start of the track. I looked at the sign that said an hour to the top… that’s cool as I am confident that we can do it in half the states time.Read More →

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In: Hiking, Location, Shane's Posts

Fantastic weather in Te Anau today and of course with great weather comes the urge to feel energetic. Up early this morning and of toward Milford Sound… well at least until we reached the Divide anyway. With our day-packs loaded with nibbles and lunch Jude and I did a short sharp climb up to Key Summit. It was interesting on the way in from Te Anau, the sides of the roads were littered with fallen trees and branches that the last snow brought down, the weight obviously too much for the trees to hold. Arriving at the Divide it was slightly cool but we knewRead More →

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In: General, Hiking, Jude's Post, Location, Shane's Posts

(Shane writes) – Yes… it is true, the curtain is dropping fast here in Sumner as the end of our House Sit crashes in what seems quite abruptly. Two months ago we thought wow what a long time to explore the area, the thought that it is a long time, but actually its come around so fast. We have been out doing things every day barring one where the weather was just not suitable for anything. We have always managed to find something interesting to do wether its hiking, biking, dining, Movies, theater plays, 4×4 drive or some other Cantebury attraction, really there is soRead More →

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In: Hiking, Jude's Post, Location, Photography

Really amazed at how fast time can pass you by when you’re busy out and about doing things. Doing things in Canterbury is easy to do as there is so much to do. Now as you can see by our previous posts, we have been busy, many bike rides and walks around Christchurch and the Port Hills. The weather for the past 3 weeks has been particularly dismal some sort of record was set 17 hours of sunshine in 17 days!!! We spent some of those grey days at the botanical gardens, Museum and Art Gallery well worth the effort! The last three days haveRead More →