Tom about to get on the water taxi across Lake Rotoiti
Tom on water taxi
Shortly after leaving Coldwater Hut and the masses of sandflies
Travers Valley
First and only lunchstop where the shoes came off (the sandflies got lunch too)
About to start walking after lunch
And 5 hours later we got to John Tait Hut (we were the only ones there)
Dinner on night 1 - fresh vegetables and meat!
The dehydrated packs for day 2
The (home) dehydrated food supplies for the trip (pumpkin, yellow squash, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, tomato pasta sauce, cauliflower, eggplant)
Tom photographing Travers Falls
South Island Robin - incredibly friendly
Crossing one of many avalanche paths
The cirque where Upper Travers Hut is based
Tom chopping wood supplies at Upper Travers Hut
Slightly less pleasant weather to start the day
Golden Spaniard
Tom on the climb up to the saddle
Getting rugged up as the sleet hits
Unsurprisingly we didn't spend long at the Travers Saddle
On descent
East Sabine Valley
Long scree slope descent
Buttercup
Checking out the map at lunchtime
West Sabine Hut
Fern
King of the castle
Climbing
Daisy
Not having to carry water - fantastic (pretty icy in this instance - see snow drift above where Tom is drinking from)
Tarn on the way to Blue Lake
The standard lunch: vitaweats, hummus, cheese, semi-dried tomatoes and ham/salami
On the Moss Pass track above Blue Lake
Sabine Valley
Golden spaniard
Tom in the grass
Daisies
Pasta - before and after
Blue Lake
Climbing a scree slope to bypass bluffs round Lake Constance (spot Tom)
Our best weather day - blue sky!
Looking back to Lake Constance
There was still a lot of snow on the way to the pass
Tom at Waiau Pass - massive snowdrift on other side
Looking toward to the Sabine Valley from behind the rock I was using as a wind break
On the way down
Descending with Lake Constance in the background
Lake Constance
Mt Mahanga
Enjoying soup back at Blue Lake Hut after the 9 hour round trip (it started raining shortly after we got back)
It rained all morning so we didn't leave the hut til after lunch. The afternoon was fine and Tom spent quite a bit of time photographing waterfalls.
Sabine Hut (you can't see the thousands of sandflies in this photo)
Enjoying a swim in Lake Rotoroa - if everying is underwater then the sandflies can't get you!
We had hoped to take the route via Mt Cedric but the weather wasn't great so we opted for the longer wet-weather route.
The track from Sabine Hut to Speargrass Hut was predominantly beech forest
There were some long sections of boardwalk as well
Speargrass Hut for an early lunch
Close to the high point on the way to Angelus Hut
The weather was closing in when we arrived
At least we could see the Lake Angelus in the morning (unlike when we arrived the night before)
Lake Angelus and Angelus Hut
alpine flowers
Angelus Hut
By the time we left after lunch the cloud had lifted
Lake Angelus and Angelus Peak
Robert Ridge
Descending to Lake Rotoiti
The last section of track