So, where are you tramping over the weekend?

I've got a half marathon on Sunday so no long weekend good times for me. :-( Tramping next weekend though. :-)

Ahh, that must be the SBS one. Good luck with that! Im still looking for a tramp to do this weekend. If weather is okay I might just do some half day trips and check out Foggy Peak or Trig M near Lake Lyndon.

Mt Oxford is a really good day trip. Have you been in to Bob's Camp Biv or Pinchgut Hut? Red Hill is another of my favourites. It is especially good in summer with the alpine flowers. I walked up to Trig M last year in the snow -- beautiful (and easy). Foggy is also an easy snow walk.

Cool thanks for that. I have done Mt Richardson but not Mt Oxford yet. Had planned to do Pinchgut a couple of weeks ago with the CTC but it got cancelled for some reason. I do like the idea of Foggy & Trig M with some snow so that might be a good option. Might even do Mt Herbie too, still havent done that yet either (I kinda get bored if I dont have anyone to natter to and my local friends arent outdoorsy so wont come).

Hi Lisa We went over Mt Oxford recently. Lovely trip. Frank wrote it up last night on his blog. http://tramping.typepad.com/tramping_report/--canterbury-foothills/ Pinchgut is nice as a circuit. You can go from Pinchgut Hut up to Bob's Biv on one spur and down the other. Sorry your pals aren't into tramping. Have you done much with the CTC? You'll probably met some keen people there to do stuff with. They have an email network to bounce ideas off for private trips. I'm in the CTC too (as an associate member only) but mostly do club trips with the PTC as their subs and fuel costs are cheaper.

Did not get any tramping done :( My intital plan was to go over to the westcoast for Kayaking, but the swell forecast was not to flash. (It was wrong :( ) So I stayed at home, which might have been a good thing because the cold weather brought snow to the Wither Hills, first time i seen it there. First time in my fathers life that he seen snow infact... So once in a 50 year occurence maybe more. So that was cool to see snow in a spot which normally gets none. Drove up into the snow storm and played in the thin layer of snow on weld pass... There was even a little settling on the ground in the Awetere valley floor. Glad I was at home to see it. The weather around the richmond range for the most part was clear blue skys and all the visble snow has gone from fishtail and Richmond. On monday, decided to do a short walk in the wither hills to see the last of the snow before it melts... Maybe it was the cold air, asthma or a mild cold but I struggled to even walk up the flat section so never made it to the snow... Hopefully I would be fit enough to climb a few real mountains shortly :)

We just had a FABULOUS trip, Waihua Hut - Saddle Biv - Apiti Hut. See photos, GPX and track description will follow. I woke up on Saturday and a glance at the headlines in the Herald made me decide to chuck in that extra fleece that I decided not to take when packing. In the end the weather was magnificent. We were in the bush, in the valleys and only at 300-700m ASL so it was a pretty good place to be. I was wondering on Sunday if there were going to be some red faces in the Met Office as we weren't cold at all even though we were up to our ankles in water all day. Infact I didn't really notice it to be especially cold at all until I got home and everyone else was saying how cold it had been. It just shows that when tramping you add or remove layers as appropriate and when you are moving you keep yourself warm through the exercise, so, if you do it right, your temparature remains fairly constant no matter what the weather.

Thanks Honora, great blog. I read Franks report (great writer btw) but will check out the rest page shortly. As it turns out, my sister brought my niece and nephew down for a surprise visit so I didnt get out walking at all. They were disappointed that the weather wasnt as 'wild & exciting' as it was forecasted to be here but we had an awesome weekend just the same! Hoping to head to Black Hole (?) somewhere near Lake Coleridge this weekend with the CTC, weather depending, so here's hoping.

what is the tramping like in the kaimanawas like?, we are looking at going to purity hut in the ruahines then maybe travelling to the kaimanawas. what are the huts we can go to and how long do they take, and what are the tracks like?, i may go buy a map so i can have a better idea

The Kaimanawas are great tramping country. The tops might be a little alpine at this time of year. The huts are well stocked with coal so you will be pretty warm in them. I suggest Cascade Hut http://www.tramper.co.nz/?2198. It takes about 4 hours to get to from Clements Mill Rd end, then your could do a return trip via the Kaipo and over Te Iringa. That would be a longer day (probably at least 6 hours). Oamaru Hut http://www.tramper.co.nz/?2200 is another possibility. Access to that is either through Poronui Station (about 2-3 hrs) or over Te Iringa (about 4-5 hours). Waipakihi Hut http://www.tramper.co.nz/?2197 might be a bit alpine as you need to cross Umukarikari or else come up the Waipakihi river and its many river crossings. Boyd Lodge http://www.tramper.co.nz/?3165 is a bit further in so requires a multiday trip, but has an airstrip so you could fly in there and walk out if that is in your budget. If you go in from the Clements Mill Rd end, Sika Lodge (07-3780621)will mind your car for you and ferry you to the road end, or if going from the Turangi side, try Olwyn at the Motor Camp (07-3868724)