Ruahine Range; Lake Colenso

A tramp over easter with Chris and N in the Ruahines. We started at Mokai Patea and walked to (almost) Runahine corner hut, via Lake Colenso. Highlights were seeing blue duck on the lake, and in the stream between Lake Coleso and Ruahine Corner.

11-04 Ruahine Range Colenso Hut

Chermoula

Chermoula. Pretty; tasty.








2 cloves chopped garlic
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4-1/2 tsp ground chilli
1 medium chopped tomato
1 handful chopped fresh coriander
3 Tbsp olive oil
zest + juice from one lime (or lemon)
salt and pepper

Blend. Marinate something in it for half an hour (prawns work well). Fry your stuff, not for too long.

Old Porirua Rd

Old Porirua road (nowhere near Porirua), with a southerly building.

Otari-Wilton's Bush

Butterflies and mushrooms at Otari-Wilton's Bush.

Tramping in the Matiri Range

Soooooooooo. I've been sitting on these photos for a month or so now. While Romaric was in NZ I headed down to the southisland with him and Bastien for a spot of tramping. I'd planned a trip around Hokitika to visit some remote Westcoast huts. The weather forecast looked a bit dodgy for the middle of our trip and Romaric started fretting about getting stuck in a hut with me and Bastien. Instead, we headed up the Matiri Valley, north of Murchison. The trip went roughly like this; (A map of the trip with the GPS tracks is included in the album of photos for day one.)

Day one: Walked in the Lake Matiri Hut, meet a bunch of bat watchers. Romaric discovered that the Matiri Valley is one of the few places in NZ where trout were never introduced.



Day two: Headed up the Matiri Valley a short distance then took the track the climbs on to the 1000 acre plateau. Cloudy at first, good views across the plateau later in the day. Lunch at Poor Pete's Hut (interesting but rather grotty), arrived at Larakin Hut about 3pm, climbed up to the ridge/saddle between The Needle and Haystack. Excellent views into the adjacent valley, and across the 100 and 1000 acre plateaux.



Day three: Climbed back up to the Needle/Haystack ridge and dropped down/traversed across the top of the adjacent valley. Followed the ridge north of Haystack and then dropped off the side and bush-bashed towards the track to Hurricane Hut. Got caught by bluffs twice. Thick forest, steep slopes. Hurricane Hut track is in an excellent location.



Day four: Headed back down the Matiri Valley to McConchies Hut. Track undulated along above/besides the river. Closer to the hut this got a bit tedious so we traveled down the river for the last km or so. Arrived at the hut in time for a late lunch, just as heavy rain started. Rain all night. RAIN!



Day five: Less rain, but still an awful lot of it. River was well up. Tried to carry on down the valley towards Lake Matiri hut but got stopped by a flooded side creek after 30 mins walk. By this time we'd been though waist deep (slow) water already. Back to the hut, eating, eating, eating and drying clothes.



Day Six: Clear skies. Headed down the river, past Lake Matiri hut and in to Murchison for lunch. Fush'n'chups. Dinner in Nelson.



Day seven: Wandered around Nelson, then headed back to Picton and onto the Ferry.

Big Coast Bike Ride

N. and I volunteered as marshals for the RaboPlus Big Coast mountain bike ride organised by Hutt City Council. The ride began at Te Marua in Upper Hutt and headed over the Rimutaka Fell Incline rail trail to Western Lake Rd in the Wairarapa before heading south to the camp site. The course for the second day followed the south coast along Ocean Beach past Turakirae head, over the top of Baring Head and down to the Pencarrow Head track to Eastbourne. Two days of great weather, great riding and lots of people (around 250 riders I believe) enjoying themselves.

Fill the Basin

More post-dated (out-of-date) pictures. These ones from the "Fill the Basin" charity cricket match to raise funds for people affected by the Christchurch earthquake.

Martinborough Hills

Some pictures of the hills north-east of Martinborough.

Somes/Matiu Island Photos

From Somes/Matiu Island, with Romaric and Bastien:



The regular (non-flash) gallery is here:

11-02 Somes Island

Mohaka River

Romaric is back in NZ for a holiday. Below are a few of pictures from a trip with him (and several others) to the hot springs on the Mohaka River in the Kaweka Forest Park.

11-02 Mohaka