Ramblings

Having just read my journal account of the last of my South Island holiday, hoping to have interesting things to tell you, I find that without photographs it does not make enthralling reading. And photographs I do not know how to include. If you people knew the Tablelands and the Cobb, it would be interesting to read where we went, but not one of you except Ray has been there.

For the record I shall tell you somewhat anyway. Margaret and I were the only clients on this trip, so Maryann and Bill did three days each with us, while the other got on with things like office work back at Motueka, laying stoat traps on Cobb Ridge and preparing for the next Heaphy Trip.
For us it was good to have a guide to ourselves. Maryann took us on the Tablelands part of the trip, and Bill took us up the Upper Cobb valley.

Margaret was very interested in the flowers, and Maryann knew all about them. Margaret was particularly fascinated by the alpine plants on Mt Peel. Some of them are so very tiny, some are so dry as to seem lifeless, and some survive on what appears to be bare rock. In winter they are covered in snow and ice. In summer they are dehydrated and scorched. There was a band of snow on the edge of the mountain even now.

We had wonderful weather. Things had been dry for so long that there were no muddy stretches on the track, and not many off the track. We went to several interesting places off the beaten track, potholes and caves and historic places from gold mining days. We climbed Mt Peel, and we bathed our feet in Lake Peel at its foot. We looked down into Cobb valley.

Then we descended into the valley, and there we changed our guides. Maryann and I were just showing Margaret a little hut called Myttons Hut, which we particularly like, when Bill came rushing up the track. He had hoped to catch us before we got as far as Trilobite Hut, where it was planned we would stay that night. He said there was a school group at Trilobite, so the three of us, he, Margaret and I, would stay at Myttons.

The school group was one we had shared the hut with the first night on the Tablelands. They were doing an 80km hike for the Duke of Edinburgh gold award. I was delighted. I had wanted to stay at Myttons ever since I had first seen it with Ray in 1988. Bill returned to the van to collect our supplies, then Maryann went to pick up their trap-layer helpers and return with them to Motueka. Bill had brought extra delicious food for that evening, not having had to carry it far, and we enjoyed our tiny peaceful 4-bunk hut.

The next day we headed up Cobb Valley and stayed two nights at Fenella Hut, located in a lovely spot looking up at the mountains. The first night there we shared with one other tramper. The second night we were joined by another school group, this one from Motueka. The other lady took off to stay at a little hut down the track a bit, but the boys did not bother us unduly. There was plenty of room in the spacious Fenella Hut.

The plan had been to use the whole day we had at Fenella to climb Mt Gibbs and go down the other side of the saddle to Round Lake, after having looked down on Island Lake which Bill thinks the most beautiful lake in the park. For me it was a bit of deja vu. Or rather deja not vu. Although there were clouds on the hills we started off in hopes it they would clear. They did not. Up on the saddle it was cold and it was drizzling. We caught one tantalizing glimpse of Round Lake before deciding to turn back. Which was exactly what happened the last time I was there. We got back to Fenella and the clouds had cleared right off. Exactly like last time. Shall I ever have a third chance?

Despite that one disappointment we had a good trip. When we got back to Motueka it really rained. We had been just so fortunate with weather, but the country needed that rain. The next day we flew to Hamilton, and all else was as Ray has written