The Hakatere

One of my mates is a hut warden and the night before they'd left our spare water in pots through in the wardens quarters. It froze. Solid.

I have no idea how many degrees below zero it got to last night but I'm grateful to her for stoking the fire all night. It meant I was reasonably happy tucked up in my sleeping bag wearing socks, long johns, a short and long sleeved top and a beanie.

It was bloody cold at midnight when I went out to the loo. I slithered around like a cartoon character but managed to stay upright.

There is something strange about blokes and fires. It doesn't matter if they don't have one at home and never light one, they're still an expert. Last night we had a plonker who kept shoveling out the hot bed of embers into a metal bucket. Yes, that's right, the engine room of the fire into a bucket. Why? To fit more wood in.

Another twit tinkered with the fire this morning and filled the hut with smoke. (It's burning, just leave it alone, grrrrr.....).

Enough of that. We took the high route out which meant slick ice covered rocks and frozen snow. Treacherous but oh so beautiful, starting with crossing the half frozen stream outside the hut.

Do click on the 2-headed arrow icon, beneath the image on the right. This was the view from where we stopped for play lunch. We lingered for longer than usual but even with sun and the lightest of airs, the cold had us scurrying on.

It was often slow going with stretches of continuous ice to get around. There was no room for error but we climbed, traversed and descended safely.

I've had a great weekend :-)