Mount Holdsworth

After a few weekends of terrible weather we decided we needed to get out of Wellington - even if it was only for a day. So when the weather forecast was for no rain or southerly gales we decided to take a chance on a day walk up Mt Holdsworth. Bec has not been walking in the Tararuas yet - so this is one of the nicest day walks as the track is in good shape and not too steep/muddy/rocky/rooty. It has been quite cold lately, so we were all dressed and prepared for bitter cold and wet. As it turned out, we got sweaty as it was a bit muggy on our ascent.


Aaron, Helen and Bec at Rocky lookout - with Mt Holdsworth behind (under the clouds)

As we got up to Powell Hut, at the tree line, we started to see patches of snow. After lunch at the hut we headed up to the top of Mt Holdsworth and there was a lot more snow, and the temperature definitely dropped a couple of degrees. It was, however, surprisingly calm, cloudy - with no views to speak of, but the sun did try to break through a couple of times.


Near the summit


On the edge


Mount Holdsworth summit trig and the sun (well sort of)

We got back to the car park at 5pm, a little tired and sore. The walk is about 17 km and over 1000 m of ascent/descent. We had a nice dinner in Upper Hutt on the way home - it was great to get out of the house and do something... needless to say we will spend the rest of the weekend recovering.

Easter

Despite having been up at Taupo the weekend before for the trailwalker, we had booked a bach a few months earlier just south of Taupo for the Easter long weekend. We took along a couple of our friends who have just arrived in Wellington. The day before the long weekend, we had the first wintery blast - with a very cold southerly blowing through Wellington. It obviously affected the whole of the North Island as on Friday we were greeted with snow covered volcanoes as we set off to do the Tongariro Crossing. It was very pretty - like someone had sprinkled a thin layer of icing sugar over the mountains. However this did mean that is was very cold - much colder than I think any of us had anticipated.


Ngauruhoe and the Central Crater

While our friends who had not done the Tongariro Crossing previously headed over Red Crater and down past the blue lakes, Aaron and I headed up Tongariro. When we did the Tongariro Crossing a few years ago (2003) we also walked up Ngauruhoe. We then headed back down to the cars at Mangatepopo to shuttle them around to the other side to pick up the others.


At the summit of Tongariro

The next day we had a more cruisy day. Bec, Viv and I headed off to Kinloch to check out some climbing crags that are very close to the lake and about 1 min walk from Kinloch. We dropped Aaron off on the way as there is a mountain bike track that ends right next to the crags. So he cycled over the headland and met us.

It is a while since I have climbed on real rock. It takes a lot more thought as there are so many more options and not always obvious options for your hands and feet. Bec led 3 sport climbs and Viv and I then seconded them. I have to admit I struggled with the harder climb we did - I could still do the individual moves, but I just don't have the stamina to string them altogether, so I had to take a few rests on the way up. It was a sunny day and we had fun, despite the sore fingers afterwards!!! On the way back through Taupo we headed to the hot springs on the Waikato River to relax.


Climbing at Kinloch

On Sunday we headed up to Rotorua to go mountain biking.
Pictures to follow - we haven't got them from Bec yet.

Then before we headed home on Monday - Aaron and Bec headed out for more mountain biking around Wairakei, while Anne-Laure and I headed out onto Lake Taupo for a paddle.


Betty on Lake Taupo

Taupo Oxfam Trailwalker - Kath and the J-walkers

A few weeks ago some friends of mine from NIWA who had signed up for the Oxfam trailwalker asked me to be one of their support crew. None of them or their partners had done any long endurance event before, so they thought that I might be able to help as I have a little bit of experience - although always on the side of the participant rather than support crew.

The Oxfam Trailwalker is 100 km, which has to be completed by everyone in a 4 person team in under 36 hours. The girls had been training, but mostly short and hilly walks around Wellington. The actual course around Taupo is not too hilly and a lot flatter.

The event starts at 6am in the morning. It was very cold as we listened to the traditional Maori prayers, haka, waiata before the start. Off they set and the support crew went back to bed - well at least I did for another hour.

Jill, Jo, Kath and Jeni waiting for the 6 am start

The first check point the was a bit of a disaster. The support crew couldn't find each other and we were a long way from the check point. But by the time we got to the 2nd checkpoint we had it sorted and by the final checkpoint Gavin and John could put up the green pergola in just a couple of minutes.

Check point 2 - the support crew of John, Gavin and Glenn setting up

As it was such a nice day I decided that I couldn't let them enjoy this lovely walk on their own. So I joined them for a steady stroll on the W2K track around Lake Taupo. This is a mountain bike track and it climbs gently up to a headland before heading down into Kinloch. Although most of the track is in the bush, there are quite a few points where you get some fantastic views out across the lake.

Views of Lake Taupo from the W2K track.

Walking Leg 3 - around Lake Taupo

After walking the first few legs of the event at a speed of 4.5-5km an hour they slowed down a little after half way, 50 km, and as it got dark. The 4th leg was the longest leg and they started to show a few signs of fatigue..... They were a little worse for wear and not coping too well at the 4th checkpoint. So I decided to join them again on the 5th leg, which was a short 7km through the forest. I guess you could say I was their entertainer... I tried to keep telling random stories and jokes to keep their spirits up and stop them thinking about the blisters and pain they were all now starting to experience.

The checkpoints during the night were hard work - we had to make them eat and drink as they didn't really feel like it. It was also very cold (the support crew were wearing a lot of clothing and ice formed on the ground) and they were experiencing a few little cramp-like twinges, and quite a few blisters. At each checkpoint we were re-bandaging up the feet. I had also brought along our walking poles and they were all being used as the knees got a little sore!

But they all kept on going.... they never said they didn't want to continue.

I had a little sleep between checkpoint 5 and checkpoint 7 and then joined them once again for the last leg down to Lake Taupo and along the foreshore to the finish. The last 7 km were along the edge of the lake and seemed to take a very long time, and the km markers seemed to pass very slowly.

Finally they reached 100m to go - where Gavin was waiting with their fancy dress costumes in the back of the truck. So a quick change and they shuffled to the finish line......

Dressed in fancy dress for the last 100m - RV Tangaroa and and ARGO float

The Finish - 30 hours 45 minutes!

They had made it.....Great team effort girls! They were all very tired and emotional, but I never once heard them bitch about each other or talk about giving up. They stayed together as a team the whole way and looked out for each other.

If you want to donate to their team fundraising efforts go to - http://www.oxfam.org.nz/events/teams.asp?a=show_team_pages&eventid=23&teamid=3663

Official statistics

The fastest 4 person team finished the 100 km in 13 hours 48 minutes - a new record!

77 of the 278 teams had one person or more drop out.

Screaming O MTB Race

The Orongorongo Track


Hoop bridge near the end of the track


Looking down the Orongorongo River

Shamrock Hut and Mt Matthews

Mt Matthews is the highest peak that we can see across Wellington Harbour and a peak we have been aiming to conquer for a while. The problem is that it is a very long/hard day walk - with a 3 hour walk in/out. So when Barbara and Sam booked Shamrock Hut in the Orongoronga valley for the weekend we eagerly accepted the offer to join them and several friends to climb Mt Matthews.

We walked in on Friday night - after the compulsary stop for "Fush and Chups" on the way to the trailhead. We set off in the light - but it soon turned dark, which made the track finding a little interesting at times, as it wasn't easy to spot the orange triangles that were 100 m apart and parts of the track were somewhat overgrown! Our walk was also slowed by 2 idiots who were trying to walk up the track to another hut in the pitch black. They walked in amongst us using our light to walk. It reminded me of doing the 24 hour mountain bike races when people's lights died and they tried to use you to guide them around the course!


Shamrock Hut

We got to the little hut around 9:30pm and after a cup of tea and some cake we all retreated to our sleeping bags. The next morning the weather was still nice - despite the threatening weather forecast. So Sam, Aaron and Helen set off up Mt Matthews with our day packs. The others spent the day exploring the upper half of the Orongoronga river valley.


Half way up Mt Matthews - Aaron, Sam and Helen

The walk up Mt Matthews is very steep in places. You found yourself holding on to trees and roots to pull yourself up some sections. Eventually we made it to the top after 3 hours. We had walked about 4 km and climbed 750 m. Admittedly we hadn't been racing! Unfortunately the views from the top were intermittent, with the odd gap in the clouds allowing the view down to Lake Ferry and across to Cape Palliser. We had lunch on the top, and Aaron and I participated in our first Geocache - a whole new world of reasons to go places!

The walk back down took almost as long as the climb up and we made it back to Shamrock Hut just before the rain hit - perfect timing. Barbara had organised for each of us to provide a different part of dinner. It turned in to quite an impressive affair with pasta carbonara followed by meringes with cream and berry coulis provided by Grace.


Barbara cooking yummy pasta dinner


Andrew and Dee watching the dinner preparations from the top bunks

It rained and rained all night.... so we had a lazy morning in the hut with Andrew and Dee cooking us banana buckwheat pancakes and making proper italian coffee. Definitely no slumming this weekend. We played a couple of rounds of charades and another game while we waited for the rain to stop. Around 12pm we decided it wasn't really going to stop - but at least it wasn't heavy. So we packed up and set off down the river valley. After all the rain the river crossings were a lot more interesting on the way back than they had been on Friday and Saturday when we had managed to keep our feet dry by jumping between rocks.


Aaron crossing a rather deeper, faster flowing river after all the rain over night and most of the morning.


Danny and Grace (the smurfs) crossing the suspension bridge heading back on Sunday afternoon

We got back to the cars - rather wet and a little chilled. It was a fun weekend. Shame winter is coming and the days are getting shorter.....

Mount Lowry ride

Homegrown

Yesterday Helen and I attended Homegrown - a music festival that celebrates New Zealand bands. They split the venue up into different stages to suit different genres of music - rock, indie, electronic and dub & roots. We spent most of the day at the "rock" stage.

The first band was Streetwise Scarlet. I was only familiar with one of their songs which was the theme to a C4 (music television channel) commercial. There weren't very many people there when they started as it was only 2:00pm. We weren't very far from the stage and it was awesome! The sound was a bit rough but these guys were amazing. They were so good I actually went and bought their CD.

Next up was Goodnight Nurse. We have their newest CD and were one of the reasons to get tickets. They were even better that Streetwise Scarlet! They played some of their older stuff which I hadn’t heard but really liked. They played covers of Blink 182’s “Dumpweed” and Nelis “Milkshake” which were both really good.

After them was Elemeno P. Another band I first heard as the theme music to a TV commercial (Telecom this time). I wouldn’t really call these guys rock and wasn’t all that impressed. Some of their stuff was pretty good.

By this time we needed some food so decided to take a break and find some food. We also checked a few of the other venues to see what they were like.

After food we headed back to the “rock” stage and caught the end of Evermore. We got hear “running” probably their most recognizable song. Next up was Op Shop. These guys were probably biggest surprise of the day. I expected them to be more soft rock but much of the stuff they played was fairly heavy and the sound was great!

Blindspott came up next. They were super heavy with kind of a Nu metal (rap-rock sound). THe first half of their set was a bit to load and over the top (guess I am getting old). The second half slowed down a bit and was much better.

The final band was Supergroove who were also pretty good.

All in all, we had 10-11 hours of music for less than $100. Great deal and we will probably be back next year.