Travel
Vacations and interesting work trips
Wildernest: I have TWO condos. One condo is owned by a friend of mine, who’s letting me have it for the weekend for $100. It’s near where we were last year, Treehouse condos. The problem is… their Rec Ctr burned to the ground and there is NO hot tub or swim pool! Sooooooo, I got another condo up the road 1/2 mile that has 3 beds AND a HOT TUB (or two!)
It was definitely cold when I got home. There was about 3 inches of snow every, crystal clear, and felt much colder than -4F. I think I’ll be able to sleep for at least three days…
We headed back to Sumner to take the high road, which runs a ridge-line high above Christchurch. We went to the eastern end of the peninsula, where there’s a farm with sheep and cattle sharing an unbelievable view northwest through Christchurch with old gun emplacments.
Well, today started out with a bang. Literally. Actually it was more like a whoop-whoop-whoop. A New Zealand Air Force helicopter landed about 100 feet behind our A-frame, and the Alpine Center. It must have been Search and Rescue training, since the loaded up with people in bright red-orange jackets, and took off about an hour later, heading up towards the Mueller Glacier area.
Today we took a tramp (a walk, not a person) up towards the Hooker Glacier. We headed up a canyon covered with huge gravel moraines left when the 6 glaciers that worked this valley retreated at various times. We continued right on past the terminal of the Mueller Glacier, up towards the Hooker (Glacier, that is).
We headed north, back to Queenstown, before turning east for the rest of the trip to Mt. Cook.
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