Avalanche peak

Yet another tramping trip! This one was probably my favourite so far with a group of amazing people who have so quickly became my friends here on the other side of the world. We decided to go on a trip to Arthur's Pass National park, walk the Avalanche Peak track and spend the night there at a holiday house we rented out. It was great. Amazing how many exciting things can fit into one day. Our adventure began with simply gazing upon all the natural beauty of our surroundings and I immediately felt sorry I didn't take my camera. Luckily I still had my phone and the others had gone the extra mile to take theirs.

We later encountered some very sneaky Kea's. Their lack of fear of us amused us greatly as we could walk right up to them and they wouldn't fly away. However, they quickly became rather naughty, breaking our rubbish bag and lastly flying away with our map :D Note to self, do not trust their apparent cute innocence, they are masters of deceit. 

Although the clouds were coming in fast and we still had a bit to go we decided to brave it through the rocky and partly snow covered track and successfully managed to reach the peak which was a first for some of our group. We then figured we'd try going down a different way and it was the best decision we ever made. The path went down the other side of the mountain and there was a lot of snow cover. As I was carefully climbing down as instructed, I heard a Wooohoooo behind me and when I turned around saw one of our group members sliding down on an improvised sled he made. After that it was goodbye to walking and hello to snow fun as we all started to slide down the slopes :) We even formed a three nation bob sled team and went down the mountain on one of our back packs covered by a rain cover. We then got even more adventurous and did this off track... it was awesome! Although, we did spin around, fall off our sled and roll down the mountain a bit (quite scary at the time), we had so much fun that it was all worth it :)

After coming back to our holiday house and a short rest we decided the day is still young and set out in search of some boulders to climb. We couldn't find any close by so we went with the next best thing- a stone built house :P Our climbing shoes on and around and up the house we go! One of us managed to climb the chimney and end up on the roof, a great achievement for any man. After this small practice, we came back to the house to find a delicious dinner waiting for us! We all sat around the table, remembering the events of the day and enjoying each others company. Despite there being plenty of beds in the house most of us decided to fall asleep in the living room all cosy, by the fire- the perfect end to a perfect day.

Video of us having fun in the snow

The next day we made a stop at Castle rock - a great place for bouldering, which some of us set out to do. The others enjoying a pick nick. Fun fact - this is the set where they filmed Narnia, I believe that battle at the end of the first movie.