I had gone up to Queenstown to work for the week – a very long and hardworking week. It was Friday 5PM, with a 3 day weekend coming up. All week I had been looking at the weather, in the hopes of going tramping. It was looking dismal to say the least – dangerous even, especially if I were to go out on my own as usual.

By about 6PM, Jayne (the new mid-level engineer was just hired) and I decided to take our chances and embark on the Gillespie Pass tomorrow morning. We made a quick list and packed up the tent and bags, ready for an early morning departure the next morning.

We woke up before the sun and started our 2 hour drive to Makarora. The weather was looking grim and the river was way too high to cross, so we drove down the extra 10km or so, which added about 5 hours of walking to our first day.

Along the way, the river had washed out a lot of the track, which made for some steep climbs. There was one point where we were literally rock climbing up the side of a slope.

We continued up the Young Valley for what honestly seemed like forever. We finally caught the scent of wood fire and guessed we must be nearing the hut. We walked inside and everyone was huddled around the fire – exhausted. This one guy walked up to me and said hello to me by name. Yes, I was confused too. NZ really is a small place! Apparently, he was a Geotech Engineer who was working in the office on my first day – must have made an impression. Anyways, we chatted to the guys for some time then headed off to sleep.

When we woke up the next day there was a heavy frost as we set out to conquer the pass. It was a beautiful walk through the tussock valley and then the mountain went up and up and up. All the little puddles of water were frozen at the top. We took some pictures and admired the views then felt some snowflakes coming down and decided it was best to head down before the weather roll s in full steam.

Down it was. Down. Down. Down. Through snowgrass and mud. Needless to say, we left a few bum prints in the mud. We needed a break so we stopped for a great lunch. Jayne an d I are really good at lunch spots 🙂

On it was. We made it to the river and the weather broke out – rain, cold, I think even some ice. Well, we just kept going. There was a turn off to do Crucible Lake (an alpine lake with glaciers), but there would have been no point because visibility was very poor. When we made it to Siberia Hut (for that was a very long day of walking), we dried off and had some tea to warm us up.This actually turned out to be an incredibly fun night. The group of guys and us found a puzzle in the hut. Puzzling and some gin – it was a great night!

The last day was a moderate walk out along the river. We opted to get a jetboat ride out, which not only saved about 4 hours of walking, but was also fun!

We collected our cars and ended the trip with a coffee at the Makarora pub before getting on the road home. Successful tramping weekend in the face of dismal weather 🙂