Trip Report – Taranaki Snow Cave Weekend 2016

Adventures were had and memories made during our Taranaki snow cave weekend on 27-28 August! With 13 of us in total, 6 went high into Hongis to build their cave whilst the other 7 stayed low in Hongis to build three small 2-3 person caves. The snow cave digging/construction was tougher than we thought. Yet after an afternoon of sweaty perseverance, much shovelling of snow and laughter in cold windy weather, our caves looked great with tunnel entrances, kitchenette areas for dinner, platforms for sleeping and beautifully smoothed walls to stop any drips. Once dinner was cooked, everyone settled into […]

Trip Report – Larapinta Trail, Australia

Larapinta Trail Robin and Bernice Southern The Great Walks of New Zealand include the Milford Track among many others. Google “Great Walks of Australia” and you will find the Larapinta Trail on the top of the list. About the only similarity are the words “Great Walks” In the second half of April 2016, Bernice and I completed the walk. Officially listed at 223km long, it seems by most accounts to be much longer than that. Indeed half of the trail that I GPS’d, I found longer. An Australian we spoke to that had GPS’d the trail twice found it 280 […]