24/3/2011

Can’t run on the Port Hills at the moment…and there is not much Orienteering happening around these part either due to the aftermath of the Earthquake that has crippled Christchurch. So to get out and do anything requires getting away from Christchurch….

Last Friday was  a public holiday in commemoration of the earthquake on the 22nd of February which meant a long weekend. I got out into the Canterbury foothills on Saturday with a few people for some overnight tramping. From the Mount Richardson carpark we headed up and over the ridge into Pinchgut hut. It was a pretty cool little hut and in typical unorganised style we ended up arriving  just on dark!

Pinchgut Hut

Sleep was good tucked away in the hills without any earthquakes to wake you up! But eventually it came time to leave the hut and head down the river. It was heaps of fun boulder hopping, deliberately avoiding the track. At the head of the track the two fittest people were tasked with running back to the car…one of which was me so 10km across the forestry tracks we were back the cars for about a 30km ferry to get back to the end of the track (we had to drive down stream and over a bridge to get across the river with the cars).

A cool weekend out in the hills all told.