Around Mt Bruce - 30 August 2020

 Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No. 175

Mt Bruce - 30 August 2020

The vagaries of spring weather dictated the location of this weekends trek, the original destination was Mt O'Malley in Arthurs Pass National Park but with some weather sites predicting rather strong winds upon the tops at our destination and the possible avalanche risk stated as rather high, the trip leader wisely decided to have a go at Mt Bruce instead.

11 keen trampers arrived at Cora Lynn station in bright sunshine and light winds and set off on the usual track to Lagoon Saddle Hut. As we sidled across the  North face of Mt Bruce, we could see the clag hovering over Mt O'Malley,  although conditions didn't appear to get as bad as some predicted. Lunch was had at the hut and there it was decided by the leader to head up to the saddle south of Mt Bruce and from there assault the mountain.It was a nice creak bash up to the saddle and then rest and enjoy the views while the party regrouped. Everyone was keen to head up onto the top but one of the party was struggling and it was now after 3pm. I decided I also might not have enough fitness to storm up to the summit in time before dark and so offered to stay with the struggling member and guide them back to the road via Broad stream. The track down Broad Stream was well formed and very pleasant, through lovely beech forest. We made it back to the road to find one of the fast team there to take us back to the cars and found the rest of the crew not long arrived off the hill.

Bobs Biv Camp - 23 August 2020

 Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No. 174

Bobs Biv Camp 23 August 2020

A post popped up on the Christchurch Tramping Clubs Facebook page offering a trip, on short notice, to Bobs Biv on the coming Sunday. I realized that it was only a couple of weeks short of the 20th anniversary of my very first club trip to the very same location and as I hadn't been out much this year what with all the goings on in the world that I thought this would be a good opportunity to kick start my summers tramping.

 Met the party at the Wooded Gully picnic area around 9am on what was supposed to be a gloomy and possibly drizzly day, although we appeared to have stumbled into a window of sun and warmth and that is pretty much how it stayed for the majority of the day. We found that the Wooded Gully track was closed for maintenance so we had to head up the ridge track instead. That track, at the start shown on the map, no longer really exists and so we found ourselves crashing through the prunings of the replanted pine plantation until we found the forestry road and then the track proper. There are currently on signs to indicate where to find the start of the track. 

It wasn't too long before we left the plantation section and entered the beautiful native forest section as we headed up to the clearing near point 1043, where we stopped for refreshment and to regroup. After snacks,  we headed off again in a North West direction along the top, dropping down a bit before re entering the bush again. Before this though, the leader said one of the party was struggling to stay with us and so he was going to stay with here and then head back down to the cars and would I lead the rest of the group to Bobs Biv. 

After a bit more travel, I checked the time and asked the group if they wanted to lunch now or perhaps hang on till we reached the Biv, which I estimated we would soon after 1pm.  All were keen to lunch at he Biv at which we arrived at about 1:15pm. It was most pleasant in the sun near the Biv as we lunched and I suggested we needed to be gone no later than 2pm to get back to the cars before dark.

The return trip was exactly back the way we had come so not much to report there, except that we did indeed get back before dark and found the leader and sidekick had just arrived back themselves after a pleasent nap on the tops while we were at the Biv.

According to the stats provided by one of the participants that recorded the trip, we walked almost 20KM and made about 1500M of height gain in just over 8 hours.

Nadia Reid - Grainstore Gallery - Oamaru - 24th July 2020

The Wife and I had been thinking of heading back down to Oamaru for a weekend visit for some time. She had stayed with a friend at a wonderful holiday house near the old part of town and wanted us to spend a weekend together down there checking out the old town and it's funky buildings and shops. The COVID lockdown had put paid to that plan for a while but as normality had resumed and work is plentiful, it was decided to go, the only decision left was when. Fate decided when browsing Facebook one day, a post came up from Nadia Reid announcing a show in Oamaru in about three weeks from the day I saw it and so I quickly checked availability of accommodation and gig tickets and all fell into place.

 The show was on the Friday night and she was doing an early and a late show. We were booked for the late show. The Grainstore Gallery is housed in an old 19th century Victorian Oamaru stone grain store, on the upper floor. The Gallery is run by a local artist and is full to overflowing with arty type stuff for purchase, but they seem to have had quite a few local NZ musicians play there. A pretty funky venue.

 Nadia was supported on this night by her old friend Flora Knight, of whom I had hear of but had not seen play before. Flora is a fiddle player and did a great little set of old-time fiddle tunes that she had learned on her travels in America and I suspect she is quite familiar with some of Harry Smiths Anthology Of American Music. I am pretty sure I recognized a couple of tunes she played and defiantly knew the song Cindy Cindy from Nick Cave's version of the song. She played a great set of some slower ballads and some foot stomping hoedowns. Yeehaw!!

  Nadia played for over an hour. She played mostly her acoustic guitar with some beautifully subtle support from and electric guitar played by a bloke who's name I don't recall now, but it was just wonderful. Her singing was delicate but powerful as she presented an array of her songs spanning her three albums. Although I am still not intimate with all her music, I have now been exposed to it enough to recognize several tunes and appreciate them even deeper in the live setting, and it was a lovely intimate setting and gig with maybe less than 100 people present. A Stunning gig.