Mt Pirongia. Take 2.

Very soon after we arrived in NZ, I ventured up Mt Pirongia. It was a pleasant walk, with a nice hut at the top, so I've been planning on heading back for an overnight trip at some point. Last weekend had been an option, but heavy rain warnings put me off (OK, so call me soft!). This weekend they were just predicting showers, so I figured I may as well go - with Joanna. Ben had had his weekend tramping trip with Dad, now it was Joanna's turn. Ben was telling Joanna that going tramping with Dad was lots of fun, so she was pretty excited!
It was raining on the drive up there, but not very much by the time we got started - just a little bit of drizzle. The walk up was a lot tougher than I remembered it being - probably something to do with having 25kg on my back. I felt about as agile as an elephant on stilts. The track is rather slippery, steep and muddy in places. But we got up to the hut eventually - without getting too wet. By that time, we'd had some lunch, so Joanna had an afternoon snooze. During which it rained. Once she'd woken up, the clouds were gone and the sky was blue for a while - very pleasant timing!
Dinner was very yummy risotto, much appreciated by both of us. And as a special treat, we shared a block of blue cheese afterwards - it turns out the whole family are fans of stinky cheese! Bed time went pretty uneventfully, until about 11:30pm, when Joanna woke up and decided that she would rather cry than sleep. Just as well we were the only occupants of the hut. Between sleeping and crying, we got some rest until about 7am - when we got up to find that were enveloped in cloud. Which makes everything very quiet and peaceful. And the forest up the top very beautiful.
3 bowls of porridge helped Joanna's mood, but didn't leave enough breakfast for me. So I had some leftover peanut butter sandwich as well. The trip down was a whole lot easier than the way up, even if it was even slipperier and harder to stay upright.
All up, I only managed to fall over completely twice - once on the way up and once on the way down. That's if you don't count slipping off the track and chest deep into the bush. None of which came close to injuring either of us, so it was all OK!
We met Mel and Ben at the bottom and had a picnic lunch - Joanna claims to have enjoyed it, and I claim to be rather tired now (and I did enjoy it!).
(More photos at flickr...)

What the boys got up to!

Well, Mel's covered what the girls got up to for their camping trip, so, as promised, here's what us boys got up to for ours!
The destination we were heading for was Waitawheta Hut (try pronouncing that one correctly, all you non-Kiwis!), which is at the end of the Waitawheta Tramway track. This is a track which follows the route of an old tramway (active in the 1920's) which was used to haul huge Kauri logs out of the forests. Because it's an old tramway, it's relatively flat and easy walking, at least compared to going up a mountain. I'd read that it was a good first overnighter for families, so I thought Ben and I should be able to manage it.
The first part of the walk is across some farmland - interesting for Ben ("look, Dad, more cow poo!"), not so interesting for me. Once we got into the Forest Park itself, the forest gradually got denser and nicer - by which time I had to carry Ben (he'd walked for about 30-45 min, which isn't too bad I guess). There'd been a few people on the track, so I was a little concerned about getting a bed at the hut - there's no booking system, so I was expecting it to be full for the long weekend, particularly as the weather forecast had been good. As it turned out, we were the first ones there for the night (arriving at 1pm). So we got to grab the spots that we wanted (bottom bunks!). After some lunch, I tried to convince Ben to have a rest on the bed, which wasn't very successful. After that, we went down to the river to have a swim - Ben decided it was too cold to swim, so he just watched me as I slipped off a rock and into the water. "Can you do that again, Dad?"
After some time hanging around the hut, watching as more and more people turned up, we had some dinner (by which time the hut was well and truly packed - there ended up being lots of people sleeping outside on the decks). After dinner we had some wine and blue cheese (well, just cheese for Ben - it's tough being 3) and then went for a stroll down to the river again to take some photos. Then it was bedtime, which went pleasantly smoothly - Ben lay in bed and chatted to me briefly before rolling over and going straight to sleep.
The morning started around 6:30 when it was light - we weren't the first ones up, which was nice. Oats porridge for breakfast and then packing up to head back down the track to meet Mel and Joanna. It ended up taking a little longer than we had planned, just because I got Ben to walk a bit of the way, which ends up being pretty slow (understandably). Ben was a little grumpy (just from getting less sleep than usual I think), but we got out happily enough.
So there you go, that was Ben's second overnight bushwalking trip - he enjoyed it, and I enjoyed it. And we both lived to tell the tale.

Peak-bagging in the Waikato

The Waikato isn't particularly renowned for it's mountains - the big mountains of New Zealand tend to be either in middle of the South Island (e.g. Mt Cook), in the central part of the North Island (e.g. Mt Ruapehu) or Mt Taranaki (it's a whopping great big volcano which kind of just sits out by itself).  The highest mountain in Waikato is, I believe Mt Pirongia (959m), which is the mountain I trotted up a few weeks ago.

Over the weekend, the weather forecast was good, so we decided to get out and get the kids into the bush again.  Pirongia was the destination again, seen as the rest of the family hadn't been there and it's pretty close to Hamilton.  Ben was excited about going for a bushwalk, but only if I carried him (lazy boy!).  So, Ruapane (728m) was climbed - it's one of the minor peaks on the way up Pirongia.  It only takes about an hour of walking, which Mel reckons was far enough to carry Joanna!  I did pretty well considering how heavy Ben is now (I know, I know, he's still a lightweight, compared to some other kids his age...) and wasn't feeling particularly tired by the top.  The way down was a bit harder on the legs - my quads and calves are feeling a little achy, but not too bad.  I guess I'll have to do it again sometime to make sure my legs get used to it!

All up, it was a nice walk through some nice forest, with very expansive views from the top.  The kids both had colds, but still enjoyed it (J fell asleep on the way down).

Mmm... maybe I'll have to get them up Taranaki one day... :)

(A few more photos are at flickr as well!)

yay for the weekend!

Living somewhere where I have yet to make adult friends makes me appreciate the time I do get to talk to Peter in the evenings and on the weekend. It is also nice to do things together on the weekend such as going bushwalking like we did today.
We went to Bridal Veil Falls, which is a nice 5min walk to the top of the falls then another 5min down a few flights of steps to the bottom of the falls. With the above average rainfall over the last few months there was plenty of water falling over. Ben got a bit freaked out at the top as it was a big drop down, and also was making comments about it being really noisy and the water going up into the air (ie. the spray). Joanna seemed to enjoy it (her 1st family bush walk) and it was a nice short walk to ease Peter (and especially me) back into carrying heavy packs with us (we have bought a 2nd Macpac Child carrier backpack [a 'Possum' for those interested], so we can carry a kid each). I'm a bit out of fitness too as I haven't been to a gym for over a month now (although I did go and check some out yesterday).

The weather forecast was for morning cloud and then sunny, but the reality turned out to be showery and windy (we are quickly learning that the weather forecast can change numerous times in a 24hr period - they really can't predict what is going to happen with any degree of certainty as the weather is so volatile). Our next planned outing is going to Hawke's Bay for the Labour Day long weekend (in a fortnights time).

Nice walkies...

For those that might not know, Mel and the kids are currently in Australia. Mel had organized to mark the Year 12 QCS tests before we left, so when we left, we decided she may as well fly back and still do that.
Seen as she's away and our container still hasn't arrived, I thought I may as well get out and go for a walk today. Mt Pirongia Forest Park was the destination. I wasn't sure how far I'd go seen as I only had running shoes and didn't really have any idea what track was like. I'd asked a guy at work and he'd recommended heading up to Ruapane lookout, and I could keep going to the top of Mt Pirongia if I felt like it. That sounded good, so I headed out early this morning... and started walking at about 6:40am. I'd got to the lookout by 7:20am, so I figured I may as well keep going! The track past there got progressively muddier... this is NZ after all. Still quite pleasant though. From the summit (959m apparently) there were pretty impressive views - Mts Ruapehu and Taranaki were clearly visible - and they're a long way away. Having a nice clear day was also good :) I'd reached the summit by just after 9, so I figured I may as well keep going... there was a hut about 30min further apparently. So, 20min later, I reached the hut, to have some lunch. At 10am. Oh well.

I had at least an hour relaxing at the hut. The walk back seemed a little more muddy and slippery than the way up... I think gravity has something do with the slippery part anyway. And then home for a wash - the shoes were mudcakes by the time I got back to the car. So, all up, a very enjoyable day out!
Some photos are now on flickr... so head on over to them if you want to check them out!