Aorangi: Putangirua to Washpool Creek via Surf (741m)

Looking back through past blogs, it seems we have developed a habit of long tramps around the solstices. Last year we tramped the Black Hills in June, then the Orongorongo in December (both summer); then earlier this year we climbed Holdsworth around Matariki. This summer, barring the end of the world as foretold by the Myan calendar, I decided to do a solo hike in the Aorangi Range, a compact (but daunting, it turns out) set of hills tucked in the remote Cape Palliser.

Before heading up, I first decided to greet some stinky friends at the seal colony on the rocks near the lighthouse. Here I found lots of pups wailing for mum, and some of those mums howling at me when I got too close. The little ones like to climb higher up than the adults for their naps, and you practically step on them before they announce themselves.

The remnants of cyclone Evan, which had battered Samoa and Fiji, were passing through, but the menacing squalls produced little in the way of rain, and by the following morning the sky was dense with mist, but utterly still and warm.

I had not tramped in the Aorangi Ranges before, and aside from a rather die-hard cohort of pig hunters, it seems neither has anyone else. From the Pinnacles, the first 4k is an old 4WD track that passes through beech, then scrub bush--and a lot of gorse! Thereafter, it's little more than a pig track (and plenty rooted up by the buggers) through very dense--and on this day, wet--bush.
In the end, these "afterthought" hills turned out to be a formidable day hike. I covered the 20k and 1600m total altitude gain/loss in just over 9 hours, and in the process became intimately familiar with the tree nettle (I still have paresthisias in my hands and shins a day later). Needless to say, I'll be going back to bag Mt Ross (982m) some other day. Merry Christmas!

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Avalanche Peak (1833m)

Took advantage of a rare cloudless and windless day at Arthur's Pass to climb Avalanche Peak. Was rewarded at the top by the presence of a Kea, the only alpine parrot in the world.

Te Kinga (1204m)

 Te Kinga is a moderate day hike east of Greymouth, adjacent to Lake Brunner.

 View of Lake Brunner from the first viewing platform. 

 Summit of Te Kinga looking south toward the Southern Alps.

Summit of Te Kinga looking west over Lake Brunner to the Pacific Ocean. 

Hobbit Red Carpet

 

Just me and 100,000 mates greeting Peter, Bilbo and the dwarves for an Opening Night stroll along Courtney Place (Embassy Theatre is at the left side of the panorama).

Kapakapanui (1102m)

Clouds at the top mean no pic, but still logging it: just under 12k circuit with 3100-plus feet of altitude gain in 4 1/2 hours. The knees are a bit sore.

Holdsworth-Jumbo Circuit

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Prague and Vienna

With the World Psychiatric Association annual conference being held in Prague this year, we braved the 21+ hours of flying time and headed to Bohemia.

Owen, a friend of ours, lived here for several years while doing his medical training, and gave us a great "to do" list, from lunch at Vaclav Havel's favorite restaurant to musical performances at the iconic Obecni Dun (Town Hall). Given the density of great music here, it was incredibly easy to pick up same-day tickets for top-notch performances: Vivaldi, Smetana, Dvorak and many others. The highlight, however, had to be seeing La Boheme at the Prague State Theatre, an ornate hall with an intimate scale and excellent acoustics.

Other highlights included a visit to the Botanical Gardens, Prague Castle and the surrounding hills of Petrin Park to enjoy the Fall colors--especially appreciated as the only seasons in Wellington are Early Spring and Late Spring (it's always windy season). Of course, there were the obligatory strolls through Old Town, Lesser Town, New Town and along the Vltava River; all of which were facilitated by the city's magnificent (and well-used) transit system (I.P. Pavlova!)

After the conference, we took the train to Vienna, where we undertook a whirlwind tour of the Ringstrasse and stopped by Freud's flat on Bergasse. Hey, that frau in the waiting room looks familiar!

Although we didn't take a lot of pictures, here are a few we liked:

 Fall colors along the Vltava

 The reflected Belvedere in Vienna

The art-deco Kavarna in the Obecni Dun

The Astronomical Clock Tower in Prague's Old Town Square

The pattern in the ceiling of Prague's Opera House

Aida: Back to the Sydney Opera House

Although we have a fairly robust arts scene here in Welly, it is nice (and just a 3 hour flight) to get across the ditch to the Big City for one-of-a-kind events like seeing Aida at the SOH. The show did not disappoint, and we returned to the in-house restaurant (Guillame at Bennelong) for a pre-show meal with city's best view.

 Speaking of views, we ran into some friends (Raewyn, Jordan and Lorraine) on the flight over, and had lunch at the Westfield Tower, where young Jordan (this was his first overseas trip AND first time in a plane) took this photo of us on the observation deck.

On the way home, we scored some underpriced Aussie 1996 Shiraz ($20!) at the Duty Free, and Richard was rewarded with a bottle of bubbly for answering the "is there a doctor on board?" call and helping out a fellow passenger in distress on the flight home.

Ka Mate Haka: All Blacks v. Pumas

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Mt. Matthews (941m) Video Hike

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The Valkyrie

We've been on a good run of late when it comes to performing arts. This weekend, our own local hall, the Fowler Centre, undertook Wagner's The Valkyrie. 

For this one-off performance, NZSO assembled a stellar cast and the largest orchestra it has ever assembled on its intimate stage. We arrived early and used the iPhone to snap pictures of the beautiful performance hall and the lobby.

We had seen Stravinsky's Prometheus here during the Summer Fringe Festival, but this piece was much more suited to the hall's acoustics.

It was full daylight (around 3PM) when we snapped this shot of ourselves getting ready to take our seats. The performance is a nearly six-hour affair, with a full dinner break between acts II and III. Speaking of dinner, Sir Ian McKellan was sitting right next to us at our favorite little hole-in-the-wall Malaysian place, Roti Chenai.

Both in terms of content and endurance, The Valkyrie is not for the faint hearted. The standing ovation was truly earned, for is spite of the absence of staging as such, this minimalist performance was absolutely engrossing.

We're hoping to catch the other three Opera's in the Ring cycle over the next few years; and what fun it would be to see Der Ring des Nibelungen across four continents!

Aussie Holiday: Planes, Trains & Automobiles

As we approach the end of of our first year back in Aotearoa, we decided to use our holiday time to improvise a bit. No real plan to start with, other than opera tickets, and flights into Sydney and out of Melbourne. But before crossing the ditch, we traveled along the newly refurbished rail service between Welly and Auckland (formerly known as the TraNZscenic). 

The iconic Mt. Ruapehu, blanketed in snow above, is still the centre-piece of the journey. The new cars have been in service only a week, and are quiet, comfortable and elegantly designed.

Upon arriving in Sydney, we undertook our usual city-scouting tour, which included Circular Harbour, the Botanical Gardens and the better part of the CBD. Remarkably, when we needed them, we found a tuxedo rental, camera shop and car rental agency all within a block of our Pitt Street hotel.

The highlight of this trip was, far and away, a dinner and performance night at the iconic Sydney Opera House, where we attended the opening of Bizet's Les Pecheurs des Perles (The Pearlfishers). It was beautifully sung and lavishly staged. We've had such good luck in the past month, between this and Rigoletto, which we saw in Welly.

The next ten days were spend meandering through the coastal areas and mountains between Sydney and Melbourne. The distance between the two cities is 600km as the crow flies, but we took a drunken-crow route of over 2400km.

We passed through the Blue Mountains, stopping briefly at Katoomba to see the Three Sisters formation (above). Then onward to Canberra, which surprised us with its qualities, including abundant green spaces, beautiful lakes, and high quality cultural infrastructure. As a "designed" capitol, Canberra doesn't have the same vibrancy as the larger cities, but still has much to offer. We especially enjoyed our visit to the Tidbinbilla Reserve, just 30 minutes outside the city, the Botanical Gardens and the view from Telstra Tower, where we stopped for lunch in the revolving restaurant and took this photo.

Although we had hoped to do some skiing, the crowds of kids (school holidays!) at Jindabyne/Perisher  and later the slushy conditions at Dinner Plain/Hotham foiled our aspirations. No worries, though, as we detoured to the coast and discovered the delightful little towns of Eden and Mallacoota, which between them contain some of the most beautiful land in all Australia. We especially enjoyed the 30km coastal "lighthouse to lighthouse" walk in Ben Boyd National Park (below, that tiny dot on the beach is Richard), where we saw Sea Eagle, Lyrebirds, heaps of Emu Wren and the endangered Eastern Ground Parrot. Near Mallacoota, the Pebble Beach and Double Creek walks at Croajingolong NP were highlights. In addition to these, the Drummer Rainforest walk near Cann River was also impressive, as the canopy above was filled with Satin Bowerbirds and King Parrots-- that is, when it wasn't crashing to the ground, as recent flooding has undermined many of the giant old Eucalyptus, many of which blocked the untended winter path and one of which crashed mightily while we were just a few meters away.

At sunset, we found ourselves at Ricardo Point, a lovely isolated stretch of beach (below) just outside Obost. We pushed on to Lakes Entrance, then left the coast for the mountains again, crossing the Great Alpine Road in howling winds and freezing conditions (i.e. just like home).

The denoument of the trip saw us birding in Chillern, chilling in Bendigo and finally ending up back in our beloved Melbourne. On our last night, we grabbed dinner at a fantastic Greek restaurant and caught a big screen (actually, massive screen) viewing of The Sound of Music at the 1,100 seat Astor Theatre. Before catching the Friday evening return flight to Wellington, we wandered back though our favorite streets, alleys and arcades of Melbourne Central and browsed the Queen Victoria Market.

Mt. Holdsworth (1470m) for Matariki

 Since we took on Mt. Hector a few weeks back, proper winter weather has set in, meaning time to strap on the crampons and grab the ice axe and head up-- this time, to Mt. Holdsworth, just outside of Carterton.

The bush is remarkably diverse on this side of the Tararuas, and above 1,000m it becomes a proper winter wonderland.

 The winter weather was somewhat less wondrous as we cleared the tree line and approached Powell Hut.

Luckily, the group of trampers who'd arrived before us has started a fire. Jake, Gareth, Chris and Matt were "gastro-camping", and carried plenty of libations as well. And, as if we needed more proof that Wellington is a village, we quickly discovered a common connection in Lucia, who is working with me at Te Whare Marie and godmother of Jake's son.

 Although is snowed most of the night, the weather cleared around midnight. We got up before sunrise to see the Matariki cluster of stars in the pre-dawn northeastern sky. The first new moon after the rise of Matariki (aka the Pleiades) heralds the Maori New Year.

 Then it was up to attempt the summit. With all the fresh powder, we made it to the ridge before the final ascent, but were hampered by thigh-deep drifts. Still, it was absolutely magical.

We made quick work of the descent, and snapped this "here's where we spent the night" photo on the way down (at Rocky Lookout).

Here is Kristen's Tanka commemorating the journey:

Oblique winter moon

Casting long, mid-day shadows

The forest approves

Ascending, green turns to white

These shortest days: Exquisite

Otaki Forks to Mt Hector (1529m)

With the calendar turning to June, the days grow short and the nights cool. Soon the Tararuas will be covered in a blanket of snow, but the peaks (for now) are still relatively accessible. We began our ascent at the Western trailhead, Otaki Forks. If you look closely along the right slope of the hill in the centre foreground, you can see a little shimmer coming off the river flat where we started.

The bush is fairly lush up to Field Hut, but quickly gives way to high-country tussock above 900 metres. Luckily, the clouds were hanging out at 1200-1300 metres, so above them we had clear sky (well, not on the way back down, but what's a tramp without a little weather?).

 The picture below of the moonrise was taken from Kime Hut, the icebox where we spent the night.

Well, to be fair, we only spent part of the night there, as we got up at 3:30 AM to summit Mt Field and watch the moon set. It turned from bright silver to pumpkin-orange as it set below the clouds, leaving us in total darkness with the Southern Cross low on the opposite sky and the band of Milky Way stretching at an oblique angle from horizon to horizon. Before heading back to bed to warm up, we sat and mused at how small we are, two specs on a tiny planet looking inward from the edge of the galaxy. 

Soon the sun rose from the same Eastern sky where the moon had risen the night before. As the wind and clouds were rising rapidly, we scrambled up to the peak of Mt Hector, at the far right of the picture below.

And here's the view from the summit of Mt Hector. Looking to the East . . .

. . . and to the South.

The coolest part of this experience was the fact that this is the highest peak of the Tararuas we see in the distance when looking North from the window of our flat in Wellington on a clear day. Now we can point to it and say, "I've been there."

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Totaranui Orchard

After a wet, cool summer we have been (thus far) rewarded with a mild autumn. and no matter where you are, fall means harvest--in this case, apples. Marshall Hatch, a visiting clinician from New Hampshire, kindly extended us an invitation to pick apples and share in the hospitality of Gregg and Carla, on whose farm he has been staying just outside Otaki.

Marshall explained that the pressing method used at Totaranui to make fresh apple juices and ciders is similar to traditional small scale operations in Europe. We enjoyed a collective lunch during which we sampled some magnificently fresh juice and spot-on dry cider. While the orchard currently consists of just under 1,000 Pacific Rose and Braeburn apple trees, Gregg has been doing some grafting and may be pressing more "specialty" ciders in the future.

Picking apples is pretty hard work, but Marshall and Kristen don't seem too tired to smile for the camera. In fact, it was a lot of fun; a kind of moving meditation and nice to see the bins filling with our collective labor. 

Gregg and Carla's farm (which is organic) also has chooks, pigs and couple of geese. This is doubly impressive given that he is a master carpenter who specializes in staging and installations (including Te Papa) and Carla is a busy and successful arts director. 

It sure would be nice to spend more time getting to know these fascinating and accomplished folks.

We stole this last pic from Marshall's blog!