A soaking New Years Tramp in Kahurangi Natonal Park

New Years Gathering at Moonsilver

Since both McLaren siblings were back in NZ, it was a good opportunity to drag friends out to their house in the wops. It is located up on Barrons Flat some direction away from Upper Takaka (I am not an orienteer by heart). Julian grew up here - eating goat and possum meat, walking barefoot with his hobbit feet. Sylvia never had the opportunity to develop such robust hobbit feet as they moved to Rotorua when she came about.

It was great to see them both and their better halves too. Mark was in good spirit and wanted to show what a kiwi man he is by going hunting. Steve and him shot a couple of goats and could return to the camp very proud. We all had a bit of the BBQ goat meat that night..or was it chewing gum they offered? I never figured that one out. It was very dark. A new kind of golf. This is the world champs set in Moonsilver.

We had to get a special fire permit since the place is located in a National Park. At one point I think we all thought the forest was at risk when a huge wind blasted through and tried to nibble on the big tree standing next to the house. Jenny, Mrs McLaren, was very close to giving the pyromaniac father in the house a big bash.
Patrick says cheers!

Sylvia is happy to be back in NZ again. We were very pleased to be able to celebrate New Years with them.

After a failed attempt to climb the Dragon's Teeth in 2006, Julian, Caspar and I were very keen to give it another go. Unfortunately the weather forecast looked suspicious and we knew that we were likely to end up failing again. We were also a bigger group this time, so we decided to tramp from Cobb Dam into and around Fenella Hut, and of course not follow the easiest paths for added excitement.

Day One -Tramping to Iron Lake

The day after New Years was stunning and it was hard to imagine any rain charging towards us. We were a keen group of naive enthusiasts: me, charlie, Julian, Caspar, Joe, Michael and Mike (the Plank). It was meant to be a light weight running mission, but Caspar, Julian and Jo bringing cans of food...we had to ditch that idea and they ended up with massive backpacks.

When we arrived to Iron Lake and tried to pitch our tent in the very gusty wind, our center tent pole snapped. Great job! Charlie 15 year old tent had failed...as expected actually. It was on its way out and this was a certain way of finishing it off. We managed to fix it. We thought: as long as its dry, it is all good.... Michael looking cold (this is just the start) and Mike ready to eat anything.
The night sky was beautiful, but it didn't look to flash if you would ask a meteorologist Day Two - BAD WEATHER

The wind never gave up and I can't say we slept very well. I woke up with my sleeping bag in a puddle of water at the bottom of the tent. Great! I just can't wait to get out to do some tramping in this wind and rain! Jo had been ready to pack up his tent at 5 am, but I managed to sleep until 7 am when Jo was climbing his tent walls from boredom.

Time for porridge!!! The others were not happy when they had to wait for us to prepare and eat our super duper breakfast. Patience grasshoppers.

A double burqa

The plan for the day was to make our way over the tops to Fenella Hut. The whole day, we would be above the treeline in the midst of the wind and the rain. We kept on hoping the weather would clear.
Thanks to high winds we at least could see where we were heading and got some amazing views now and then when we were ridge travelling

Happy faces!

More happy faces! The most miserable looking was Michael Smithson, who took the photos. He became an expert in looking very very cold.








Both Charlie and I had our running packs and all the light weight gear. It made my life easier at least. I cheated a little bit and asked Caspar to carry my sleeping mat.




Joe - always a happy dog. Julian doesn't look as convinced. Caspar is loving it
This jacket is not really water proof. I wonder if anything would be in a water blasting weather like we had?

After 6-7 hrs of pounding rain we got to Fenella Hut. It was warm and lovely and since they even provide gas there, we could make endless cups of tea! Thanks DOC!

Caspar after eating all his food

Day Three - Tackling Xenicus and Aorere Peaks

The weather had somewhat improved. That's at least what we told ourselves when we headed out to climb Xenicus Peak and thereafter Aorere Peak. Once these were conquered we planned to head out to Cobb Dam again, maybe even to the pub if the beer seemed too tempting.

Kissing a rock - I hear it is meant to transform into whatever I wish. That didn't work. Maybe since Mike was watching?

Since the weather was more summer like than the day before (everything is relative), Joe just had to go for a quick swim. I don't think I ever remember him in the water, that's how fast he was up again.
Heading on up- as M people sang during the 90s. This is Joe taking 'a short cut' over the top when we mortals sidled along the mountain instead. I was sure I could here monkey sounds when he was coming down towards us.

Looking from Xenicus Peak down towards Fenella Hut and Monkey Man

The weather never really improved and the urge to go to the Mussel Inn Pub in Takaka overtook any common sense. After climbing Aorere Peak with zero views, more rain and wind, we felt that a pub visit would be the best way to compensate for the bad weather. The walk out the Cobb Valley felt very long and flat and not at all as exciting as the ridge traverse we had done the day before obove us.

We all had a great time, no one cried (Michael almost:-) and no one died, so in summary it was a success! Double success when we sat in the pub later the same night scoffing down nice food and beer!