3 days off. Suggestions? Go!

what do you mean you had no idea how bad the weather would get? i told you you would get cut off by the snow. but what would i know?

No, it wasn't about the snow. I was LOOKING for the snow. It was the almost entire island holy-crap style of weather I was referring to. :) And after I tell you such a vivid story, THAT'S what you take from it? :D

"Life is a journey, not a destination" they say. And that was a journey :) Shame you didn't get to hit the hills, though there were probably a few safe options on the east coast, but life gets in the way sometimes eh. One decision compounds on the next and before you know it your 48 :)

overseas visitors just don't get it when we try to tell them how bad the weather can get here, they think they know what its like... and no amount of explaining from a serious tramper makes a difference.

Sorry Wayno. I bow to your serious-tramperness. ;) Honestly though, did ANYONE truly expect the full extent of that weather?? At any rate, I had fun. Very different fun to what I was planning, but as 1strider points out, life's a journey, not a destination. And I choose to ride this journey like a rollercoaster! :D

you were fortunate you have the experience to recognise when you were likely to overstep the boundaries of what was safe. a lot of people don't have the experience. Based on the weather forecasts that were coming out, the weather didn't surprise me, the forecasts aren't the gospel but there was enough indication that something major was doing to happen.. someone I know was caught out by the weather years ago, he's still in the southern alps somewhere, a trained search dog couldn't find any trace of him.. if an experienced tramper says watch out for the weather it is a serious matter. global warming can bring more not less snow because theres more moisture in the air in the colder seasons. average wind speeds around the planet have been increasing on average over half a percent a year since the nineteen eighties. forget what you knew about the weather, its going to keep getting worse... one in a hundred year weather events will become far more regular, records will kept getting broken, people will get caught out mor frequently and in larger no's than before... its matter of time until the day when theres a mass event where people get caught out on the tongariro crossing and it will become our countries worst mountain disaster when a dozen or several dozen people die from exposure. for the first time in recorded history, NZ dodged the bullet when a category 4 cyclone (hurricane) came this far south but missed the islands.. http://m.metservice.com/mountain/mtn

God, the 'NZ is tougher than anywhere else' line has me screaming, yet again. I would love to see some of the serious kiwi trampers who spout that line go for a stroll in the Pennines on a typical sunny day when the fog decides to suddenly roll in, or a real blizzard arrives. Try navigating when you can't see your feet and can barely see your hands. Try daytime, sea-level temperatures that drop down to double-figures below freezing when a cold-front rolls in. Or wind speeds in triple figures (and that's mph - not your poncy km's) And when you've done that, come back and explain to me how much more severe / changeable the weather in NZ is. Because: that's the stuff we used to walk to school in. We know what weather is. Yes - I get the point that help is generally further away here. But the weather is not more severe, or more changeable, and the bush is a hell of a lot more forgiving in any weather that miles of bare, exposed moorland. if you want to knock townies, go for it. Or the x-box generation. Or any other group with no experience of the big outdoors. But stop the blanket foreigner-bashing, because we're not all ignorant.

Love it madpom! :) And you're dead right. I know PLENTY of Kiwis that would be scared witless just beyond their own back fence, and plenty of experienced hikers (as the rest of the world calls them) who have been-there-done-that in conditions just as bad as what NZ throws out, and even worse. But is there really such a thing as "worse"? It's just different. It's about being familiar and comfortable in whichever environment you choose to live in. I'd challenge any Kiwi backcountry tramper to go and take a stroll across any section of middle Australia. Trying not to die from dehyration. And that really isn't an exaggeration. Been in that situation a couple of times. Which is why I specifically practiced arid region survival regularly. So take it from me - it's got knobs on it. And that's the kind of stuff I've been hiking in for all my adult life. So. Worse? Nah. But I guess it's human nature to feel like we have some kind of inherent knowledge about our beloved backyard, wherever that may be. And that we're more resilient, because our conditions are 'worse'. But it's simply not the case. Cause and effect. That's all it is. Any weather system. A cyclone 'almost' reached New Zealand. Well, I've been through several, and even sailed into one. Pucker factor was high, I can tell you! Does that make me and my fellow shipmates any tougher than someone else? Nope. Does it mean that Australian weather is worse than NZ weather, because New Zealand doesn't get cyclones, drought (and please, do not ANYONE try and attempt an argument that NZ suffers true drought!), raging bushfires that raize massive regions of bushland and even towns, annually? The answer is no. It's just DIFFERENT. The weather is a fickle bitch. You prepare as best you can. Just two nights ago I was at a local meeting here in Greymouth discussing flood prevention measures. Everyone KNOWS those big, holy-snappin'-duck-shit weather events are gonna happen, and will overrun whatever measures are in place. But the flow of that meeting went much the same way a conversation within a tramper's mind goes when planning for the unwelcome weather on the trail. Mitigate to the best of your ability, and have an escape planned if it really turns into the brown stuff! So I back what you're saying madpom. Just as I have the utmost respect for those here who have extensive local knowledge, so too do I appreciate the condition of the human spirit, regardless of man-made borders.....

sorry about generalising, I'm on limited time, theres plenty of people who come to our mountains the first time and they've been elsewhere with similar or worse conditions. but similarly I wouldn't go to aus and assume I know squat about handling myself in the desert or the tropics, having read about the conditions doesn't qualify me for squat to function in those conditions, just because I liked watching Lawrence of Arabia is the worst qualification in the world to be venturing into the deserts... I don't know everything about nz alpine conditions either. just enough to be wary and know when to quit. and I did read madpoms earlier accounts how he was told he wouldn't cope with nz when he first came here and the reality was far from the truth. he'd experienced at least as bad a weather in Britain...

Yeah, it's all good. All about the love here in the forums. :) I just enjoy being able to have great conversations with knowledgeable and passionate people.