Rainy Days and Fire Pit Evenings

Tuesday 10 February

After two rather lovely days, the “weather watch” hit, with rain, rain & more rain! Had a lie in 🦁, did some blogging 💻 and just chilled 😎 all morning then after lunch, packed up, left via the supermarket & the dump station (what goes in, must come out! 🫢) then hit the Milford Road again - this time through cloud & lashing rain. 🌧️

Set up at Cascade Creek in a fairly unswampy space and had a sneaky snack of toasted buns & marmalade because the day demanded comfort food! Hung out inside Banjo for the rest of the afternoon except for a quick wander outside to pay for our campsite.

Burgers for dinner then it began to brighten a tiny bit and the pouring rain turned to light showers so we went out again, got chatting to Mark & Thomas from Toronto and after a gentle sunset we ended up spending the evening with them, chatting by the fire pit as the rain had finally cleared. Mark was in the police force and had been a sniper, in charge of SWAT teams and now managed the “Gucci Police” which is what they call the force based in Toronto’s richer neighbourhoods! Thomas was a hand surgeon who had been training for 16 years and seemed to work impossible hours even at this high level of surgery. Both had escaped for a couple of weeks of decompression from their high stress jobs and were loving Aotearoa NZ 🇳🇿... and had the foresight to buy firestarters, kindling and logs to bring with them as nothing was dry enough to burn after the day's downpours!

Eventually a few stars popped out and it was a wonderful night. 🌟

EXTRA - Meanwhile on the Kepler Track Day 2 with the Fernandi... Terrible weather forecast, winds trying to blow everyone off the ridge across the saddle, more rain, and only the occasional break for an epic view... but they made it, sodden, windswept and interesting, to the Iris Burn Hut.