Spring has been slow to show itself, but we’ve gone from having heavy rain, frosty, cold nights and now the evenings are lighter and the days warmer. As I write this it’s 16 degrees, blue skies and the birds are singing outside my open window.
It’s been a busy month, I started the month with 2 days in Auckland. Well, more like a flying visit. In on Friday and back early on Saturday. The following week, my wife and I went into the Tarauas for an overnight hike. The hut we were to stay in had been rebuilt and only opened two weeks earlier, so we were keen to see it at its prime. The good news was the weather was kind until lunchtime at Mountain House Shelter, then it rained. Luckily we were mainly in the bush and sheltered from the worst of the weather by the near vertical mountain we were climbing. However when we moved through the occasional clearing we found ourselves windswept and soaked while we hurried along the track and back into the next set of trees. That night it hailed, snowed and hailed some more. The next morning the snow had gone, but it was freezing and with horizontal sleet to walk through. Needless to say, by the time we arrived back in the car we were soaked to the skin and for five days later we both ached from the exertion.