Diary

Saturday, 03.04.04
Gabi and I decided to do the Mt Sommers Subalpine Walkway. Hitching out of Christchurch proved to be harder than I thought. We were walking a long time through the city with people showing me their middle finger and one even trying to throw water from a bottle at me, before we finally managed to get a lift.

From Mt Sommers Village we also had to walk a long time until we finally got a lift to the trailhead. We were sitting in the back of a small 4x4… well… I was more or less sitting on Gabi because there was no space. Great weather and a lot of mining history next to the track made this day remarkable. Going up Trig R was steep but not too long. After we arrived at Mt Sommers Hut we dropped our bags and went to the water caves a bit further on the track. Like a playground for adults ;o)
In the hut we met 3 Kiwis and had a good time talking about all sort of things.

Sunday, 04.04.04
Bloody rain!!! Mice ate up Gabi’s breakfast snack during the night. I learned from my mistakes earlier and put all my food in an airtight thick bag… well… the next step would have been to share the knowledge. We decided to go back to the car park with the Kiwis because the weather was shite and they offered us a lift back to Christchurch.
Went back the Canyon Rout this time which proved to be a lot more demanding and interesting than the one we took on the way up. Steep descents, boulder hopping and river fording. Gabi had a great time as well ;-).
The Kiwis dropped us right in front of the house we stayed after we invited them for a coffee. Perfect, isn’t it.