On Boxing Day we were both pretty slow with a hang-over after a lovely xmas gathering at Pete Banks' place with a keg of Challenger from the Twisted Hop, which proved to be very tasty. After spending about 3 hrs packing the van, we managed to leave Chch, but we didn't make it far. Since it was late in the afternoon we thought we'll at least have time to do a loop up and around Mt Oxford from Cooper's Creek.
Really bad weather was brewing in the west of the South Island which created severe northwester winds on the east side where we were. This is fairly common and I had a sneaky suspicion that we wouldn't be able to go to the top of Mt Oxford without getting swept away in the serious wind gusts. Charlie (being the super positive guy that he is) thought that this wouldn't be a problem at all.
This is Charlie heading down the hill again towards Coopers Creek which is where we ascended from.
It was a challenge to stay on the bike with the winds shaking me.
The descent was fast and fun and a perfect way to get rid off a hang over. I found a friend by the van...a kunekune pig. He was very friendly and liked being stroked (I promise that I didn't poke his nose).
The weather forecast was pretty bad for the west and heavy rain was forecasted to spread across much of the south island. The evening sky was beautiful but made us think that something serious was on its way.
We continued to Hanmer Springs. What could be better than sitting in hot pools if it was going to rain really hard anyway? That was my thought. The severe rain took ages to come, so we went to the hot pools wearing sun block instead. Thanks to a great wedding gift from Kerstin and Lindsay we also had a session in the private spa pool and it was great to get away from all the kids and tattooed muscle men.With recent purchases of camping chairs, we had it all sussed out this year, we just needed to chill the beer with ice and get the gourmet cooking going. 
The rain finally came and went while we slept. We got off lightly whilst the west coasters enjoyed about 48 hrs of heavy rain followed by flooding. The following day, we made it up to Mt Isobel via the Water fall track.
This picture below is from Mt Isobel which was a really windy spot. You can see that there is still a lot of rain falling in the hills behind me. Both Arthurs and Lewis Pass were inundated by floods and some parts of Marlborough Sounds were flooded too. When we were able to make it over to the West Coast all the rivers were severely swollen and came over the road in many places.
This is Lake Ianthe on the West Coast where the picnic table would be usable if I had a wet suit.
We have a large map of the south island on the back of our toilet door. As you sit there and mind your own business the eyes naturally falls onto Jackson Bay, which is located 50 km south of the main highway from Haast, i.e. the ass end of nowhere down on the West Coast. It looked like a very interesting place where we had not yet been so that was the next destination on our trip.
We had spotted a tramp into the next bay, Stafford Bay, which could be made into a loop track with return trip via the coast. After a quick chat to Department of Conservation about the track we had the green light that the hut was still there (no flooding victim). That's all the info we wanted. We totally ignored warnings from DOC woman who advised us NOT to take the coastal route back. She didn't have any reasons for her concern and since she had never done it herself, we thought..stuff it. Let's do it.
The tramp into Stafford Bay followed a few rivers into beautiful West Coast bush.
Charlie had the joy of picking away all this hook-grass from his hairy legs after the tramp. I was very pleased to be a woman with less fur.
The Stafford Bay hut was cosy and sand fly free. The following day was calm and sunny - ideal weather to wander back to Jackson bay almost entirely by following the coast line. 
This coast line made me think of Stewart Island and the fact that we were heading there a few days later. 
The coast had some peculiar rock formations. This one looks like giraffe horns.
This was the tricky spot which made the DoC woman advice us to take the inland route. We had to skirt around the rocks and managed to not get our feet wet. We had picked low tide to cross this section. Apparently there have been plenty of people who had to wade in the water with huge swells coming in. "People die out there" as we always hear.
New Years
I am a firm believer that New Years is totally overrated. People always get too stressed out about which party to go to, what to cook for the guests, which clothes to wear and always end up being disappointed that it was never as much fun as they hoped for. Therefor, I try to avoid traditional NY parties. We tramped up from the highway in Haast Pass to the Brewster Hut. I was surprised what a short walk can talk you up to such stunning place with amazing views (in nice weather).
The alpine hut was build in 2007 and provides a great starting point for mountaineers wanting to climb Mt Brewster its glacier.
The clouds were hanging just above the hut as we arrived and the weather gradually cleared revealing more and more of the stunning mountain above us. We all were eager to see the glacier and catch the moment when the sun was "right" to get the best photos.
And here is Mt Brewster...
and the views down towards the hut.
The hut was fairly full and since we had our tent and the night was calm we pitched the tent. Although it was New Years eve we only lasted to 11 pm. No fire works or bubblie. We are such boring old farts, aren't we?
We did have some stunning weather and views as we woke up though.
We climbed the ridge up from the hut onto Mt Armstrong (just over 2,100 m) on January 1st to celebrate the start of the new year.
After this we drove all the way down to Invercargill (with one night in horrible Wanaka with all Chch bogans). We were meeting Mike here to commence our 6 day tramp on Stewart Island...my next blog entry will bore you to tears with photos of forests so be prepared!
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