i was lucky enough to have my family come visit. our holiday conicided perfectly with my mom's spring break. it's really hard for her to get away, being principal and all, so it worked out quite nicely for them to come.
they weren't arriving until sunday (because even when you leave friday in the states, you don't arrive in new zealand until sunday), so i had friday and saturday completely free. a guy from the tramping club (rob), my friend sean (who also came with butler) and i had no commitments until sunday, so we decided to go tramping somewhere.
we did a poor job of organising it, and i ran into sean thursday night and he said to show up at his house at 6 am the next morning and we'd go somewhere.
so rob, sean, and i headed off to the rock and pillar range, which is only about an hour northeast from here, near the town of middlemarch. we probably should have only done a day hike, since it was only three hours to the hut, but we had a good time anyways.
the drive there was gorgeous, since it was so early in the morning, allowing us to see the sun rise and the clouds were still low over the valley.
[eerie effect of low clouds making the valley look more like the ocean]
we got to the base of the mountain around 8:30 am or something ridiculous like that and set off. the hike was through a farmer's land along a farming road, with cows and deers running around and over some tussock grass. a very nice walk up, steadily climbing up, but nothing too vigorous.
the day was clear, sunny, and absolutely beautiful.
[view from above the hut looking back over the valley]
we arrived at the hut around noon, so had lunch and lay in the sun, soaking up what seems like a very rare sunshine. i completely understand why people worship the sun.
about three hundred metres above us was the top of the range, and, as the name suggests, it is completely covered with clusters of rock formations. so after our siesta, we left our packs at the hut (the "leaning lodge", a very fitting name, i had to reposition myself at night so all the blood didn't rush to my head) and headed up to explore the rocks. both sean and rob are geology people (snore), and i just think that these rock formations are cool looking, so we definitely enjoyed our walk at the top.
[the rock and pillar rendition of american gothic]
[see that peak that juts out above the rest of the mountains? that's mt. cook. my first glimpse of the southern alps!]
that night we attempted to make a fire in the absolutely ancient stove, but couldn't get any sort of vacuum going to get the smoke to actually go up and out the chimney, and instead succeeded in filling the hut with smoke. we figured out why it wasn't working almost an hour later: a big hole in the back. whoops. but we managed to have fun and not freeze to death by playing cards for a few hours before going to bed.
we also caught the moon rising
we rushed back to dunedin on saturday in time for me to stop by the farmer's market and buy tons of fresh produce for my family and for sean to leave for his south island tour vacation.
it was great to get away for the night and get a small tramp in.
pictures from my family's visit later...
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