Across the Canterbury Plains

I awoke feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed :-)

Just as well as we took a circuitous 7.5 hour route mostly uphill to Black Hill Hut. A big day but a goodie. With a severe wind warning for inland Canterbury being predominantly in Beech Forest protected us from most of the wind.

Black Hill Hut is beneath a ridge about 20mins from the summit, right on the bush line. Some protection but we still knew it was windy. The hut isn't well secured with wires for nothing.

2 of us decided to see how far we could get to the summit. We took the emergency beacon and plenty of protective clothing. Only a few minutes from the hut the wind was so strong Malcolm had to hold onto me while I took photos. Even my close fitting beanie wanted to leave my head.

This shot shows a dust storm in full force down the Waimakariri River Cabbagetree often blips. Certainly my most memorable shot of the day. I did have a brief crawl when I couldn't stand but if I mention that Mum will worry and there was nothing to worry about ;-) Suffice to say we didn't venture on to the summit. That would have been stupid.

Definitely best large

Only the 4 of us in the 6 bunk hut. We laughed and laughed, sampled 3 whiskeys and dined well. I produced a punnet of strawberries for dessert. They traveled superbly and we enjoyed them as the hut creaked and groaned. Two young wind blown hunters joined us briefly. The weather drove them down and out a day early. They continued on their way.

If I have a choice I prefer sub alpine and alpine trips. But the Oxford Forest area and Puketeraki Range are rugged and beautiful. There is something beautiful to see branches deer rub against. It's like nature is sharing her secrets with us. We saw plenty of pig marks - not quite as charming or easy to miss. June's snow damage is now a standard feature of wherever I tramp.

We were happy to crawl into our sleeping bags when darkness fell, lulled to sleep by the roaring gusts. Perfect :-)