New Zealand 4- Meg Hut awaits us

We arrive in Wannaka at Heather’s aunt’s house. Hmmm, not sure this is good idea. Joss’ children are grown up, ours are small and noisy. Methinks there are too many of us, we will have to stay out of the house as much as possible. Jemima, Gabriel and Zebedee sleep in the tent in the garden – they are delighted. There is a large trampoline in the garden – they are doubly delighted.

Our camera has arrived – John Lewis came good in the end and sent us a new one, so back on track with reliable photos.

There is plenty to do round here. Wannaka lake is surrounded by snow-capped mountains. This glorious country, lends itself to the outdoors, in fact there would never be any reason to stay indoors. You name it, the Kiwis have invented a way of transport for overland / over water through the air travel, up the hill. There are jet boats and jet skis, surf boards surf paddles, water planes and heli skis  etc. That’s pretty much all there is to do here on the South Island – admire nature in all it’s glory.

We spend as much time out of the house as possible, having picnics, swimming in streams, lakes, rivers – cold but refreshing and we (not me) also do some more rock-climbing with Heather’s cousin Biddy, who expertly clambers up a rock face as if she were a monkey. It all looks so easy. Jemima follows, easily behind her. Mark looks a lot more cumbersome, not quite so elegant and Gabriel follows too, but lacks Jemima’s enthusiasm.  MIllie climbs a few feet but would rather play at being Elsa with Loma.

The weather is unbelievably hot, that piercing sun that burns right through you. Factoring up with No 30 is a daily routine – you don’t want to get caught out, and hats are a must.

Dynamite goes to the garage to be fixed – eek, a new battery and new tyres are required. Not such a cheap car anymore.

We plan a tramp (kiwi word for hike) up a hill to the Meg Hut in the Cardrona range of Mountains. The idea is to set off quite early, before it gets too hot and walk to a hut, carrying all our stuff, food, sleeping bags etc. The hut has beds and mattresses but nothing else. Just as we are all packed up and going through our check list – torches, yes – gas stove, yes – sleeping bags, food – we hear a massive crashing sound of glass followed by a second of dumbed silence. Joss’ mirror has crashed to the floor and gauged out a hole in Gabriel’s foot. It is followed by an ear-piercing scream….. Mark takes Gabriel to the hospital to have glue administered to his foot. Not as bad as the scream sounded, no stitches required but a change of plans: Heather Toby and I with Jemima and their 3 set off on the walk, leaving Mark, Millie and Gabriel behind. Only it is now 3 pm and very hot and the walk which should take 2 hours takes us 5 1/2 and we run out of water pretty quickly. It’s a beautiful walk climbing up and up , but hot and I am unfit and unused to carrying weight on my back. How did I manage to do 3 months of this on The Pacific Crest Trail- must have been made of different stuff in those days)

Jemima and Zebedee  manage the long upward hill, with little resistance. They chat all the way, side by side, playing word games not seeming to notice the climb. The incredible little legs of Loma only 3 and Thalia 2 only occasionally being carried, get there in the end. We are all fairly overjoyed when we do arrive finally at our picturesque “Little  House on the Prairie Style Cabin”. Sitting alone in the middle of the mountain, surrounded by 2 streams and a dramatic looking copse of dead wood. We turn the handle on the door – phew, it’s empty except for a packet of matches and some wood to start a fire. Jemima’s reaction is wonderful. We spot the house ahead of us and she runs with outstretched arms, exclaiming” this is fantastic”. This is music to my ears. The strange thing about kids is they do actually enjoy going for a walk, but the idea of GOING for a walk, is always a loathesome prospect.

The Meg hut was originally built as a temporary seasonal home for cattle herders. They are now solely used as accommodation for trampers and climbers. The Hut welcomes us in with its wood smoked scented bunk room. it’s 8 pm, still warm, still light. Zeb and Jemima light the fire excitedly, fill the water bottles from the stream, and we heat up our pre-made – thank-you Mark for making us that – chilli-con carne . We make hot chocolates and toast marshmallows on the fire  and then we all fall simultaneously into our sleeping bags, into a heavenly sleep, on surprisingly comfortable mattresses.

So it’s goodbye to the Gees for now, as we go this way and they go that way, back to their normality and life in Wellington! On South to Milford and Fjordland and the west coast, more exploring to be done. We are armed with copious amounts of sandfly repellent. We have been warned!