Our second overnight tramp was to Speargrass Hut. It was a longer way in than last time but Oscar made it through pretty easily. There were lots and lots of roots, and in his words a dumb river crossing. He found a perfect walking stick that should do well for him. The flies were pretty bad, and I found two more bug repellents that don’t work. It rained over night and was a little misty on the walk out so we suited up and took our time down the slick hills. Afterwords we got some chips for the drive home.

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We went to Quinneys Bush after New Years to camp for a few days. It’s a huge campground and has a swimming hole with slide, a huge flying fox (zipline), another huge water slide, and lots of biking for littles. Oscar had a great time running around and keeping in touch with us on our walkie talkies. Many kids came to know Burton and sit with us while he got much attention.

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We celebrated Christmas down here with the A/C going. Lamb and cinnamon rolls were still eaten. Oscar got a few Legos so his day was set.

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I went down to Wanaka to do a guided climb of Mt. Aspiring. The drive down was pretty and then there was a crepes stand in Wanaka that had Nutella. We took a helicopter up to the side of the glacier to hike over to Colin Todd Hutt where we’d use as our base camp.

After dumping our gear in the hut and claiming a few berths we headed up the route to set in some tracks. On the way my feet started to hurt a ton and I had to stop frequently. On the way down from our high point I pulled the plug as I wouldn’t be able to do a 12 hour day if my feet hurt after 10 min of climbing. The guide, also named Sam, called the helicopter service and booked a flight out for the next day.

We went back to the hut and lazed around and ate dinner while climbers streamed in to get bunks. The Kea birds were in full form and hunted around for anything left lying around - they sound like cats. In the morning after little sleep we geared up and headed back across the glacier for a flight out. We went from freezing weather in parkas to being on the valley floor in the heat in about 5 minutes.

I got more Nutella crepes.

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Oscar did a Ninja competition at Ninja Kids and came in second in a few events and got an award with chocolate.

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Celebrated Thanksgiving with a few friends and Rachel’s mom. The pumpkin pie was a hit.

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Lowkey birthday for Rachel’s 40th. Mainly a cake made by her mom and Oscar.

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We went on our first overnight tramp to Bushline hut. It was a little hard going in, but then Oscar had a great time playing around with some other kids up there. M&Ms were key for the hiking.

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There is an occasional steam train from Blenheim to Sedon. It was awesome. Oscar got treats and a new train hat.

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Weekend camping at Pelorus Bridge up in the valley. Our first spot was just a place to park the car in some dirt, so we were able to switch to a nice grass spot for our tent. Camp sites don’t have tables or fire rings like back in Oregon. There is a large communal building with showers, tables, and stoves. It was pretty nice.

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