Great walking and amazing milestones.

Well two years from my operation I'm finally feeling fitter and more able. As a family we walked into the Hope/ Kiwi halfway hut and out two Sunday's ago. We didn't quite get to the hut but I did five hours of walking up and down dale and for the first time ever I was not stopping on every little slope!

On the way back from our lunch stop I was worried about how I'd go as there was a 172 metre climb first up. No one else even notices up's but I am very aware of every step that is higher than the previous one. I had one pole but borrowed Aaron's pair to try out. I am converted!!!! It was so much easier. I also kept saying "look at how well I'm doing and how I'm finding this ok". I find it really hard to explain to people just how incredibly amazing it feels to be able to actually walk for both a distance and one that is not flat. It blows my mind and I want everyone else to feel like that too. But unless you experience it! Everyone else just thinks its normal. 

 Then the next weekend Aaron and I went to Akaroa for the day and we walked up Onawe Peninsular. The last time we did this with the boys (about four years ago) I just about passed out several times and was really ill as I just could not manage the hill. But I STROLLED up it! All these achievements only two years after looking the last photo in intensive care, having been told I would have only lived another six months maximum. Incredible.

Woo hoo - A Tramp

Last weekend we had no boys and I have been feeling better so off we went on a tramp. It was amazing!! I cannot describe how being out in the mountains again makes me feel. Mr Awesome enabled it. He was my sherpa and carried the load, he was the cook and he was my guide and water level tester.

Lots of river crossings as we went off route and made a beeline to make it a manageable day for me. Water no higher than the bottom of my shorts (brrr very very cold though). 

 

We got to the hut and Aaron pulled out my knitting. Such a surprise. I always knit tramping as you can do it by candle light, but with Aaron carrying the load he had refused. Et Voila - he sneaked it in. Love him to bits. 

A few things

Making yummy apple turnovers with our Peasgood nunsuch apples.

A flat walk

Up the hill behind our friend farm - Pons Mountain. Amazing to be climbing up.

Last of the summer swims at the Pons place. A night camping and relaxing and freezing cold autumn water.

Up Mt Thomas at last. A huge day for me. On the mountain top, never thought it would happen again. Thanks to heart surgery (though completely underestimated the amount of time!!)

My night in shining armour. He had to shoot up the hill with some head torches as I had taken the long way up and not gotten timing right.

Going down the fast way. Hmm sore knees

Absolutely rejoicing at becoming an outdoors girl again. Never thought I would ever be able to do these things. I cannot describe in words how it changes my life.

The Warfedale Tramp

Last weekend Aaron and Jakob decided to do the Warfedale Tramp. So in the morning to limber up and relax they jumped in the hot tub. Then Eli and I decided to make waffles so they even had breakfast in the tub!! 

The Track has had a massive upgrade, thanks due to the Mountain Bike club. It is one of the few areas where mountain bikers can go for weekends. See the bikes to the left of the hut. Because of this you do need to take a tent just in case as the hut only sleeps 8-10 and you can have triple that. 

But a good nights rest was had in the hut with 5 others. 

Gorgeous bush on the top of a rise looking over Canterbury Plains. The track is very up and down. 

As tired as they look, I would have loved to be with them. But everyone has things that they can no longer do.

 Two sticks looking like NZ!!

Happy trampers, ready for their meat pie on the way home.

Early Morning

Well it is only 8am and we have all had breakfast and the boys have gone. They are off Tramping up Mt Oxford with one of Aaron's workmates. This is very early for us on a Saturday morning. Pancakes in their tummies to keep them going and off they went.

This tramp has many memories for Aaron and I. We met while tramping into Lake Daniels. A week later Aaron called me at work to say that he was going tramping up Mt Oxford and do I want to go. Only it all went very wrong. He asked for Karen when he got the switchboard and they put him through to a different Karen! 15 years older, no interest in tramping at all. He had a very bemusing conversation with her. Fortunately Karen realised that it could be me, as though we worked in different areas and on different floors, I had talked to her in the staff cafeteria. She rang me and asked if I knew a Aaron who was into tramping. We laughed quite a lot when she told me of the conversation. It all ended well as I rang Aaron back and explained it all. If it had not been for Karen realising it was me he wanted, we may never have gotten together, as he thought I (as in the other Karen) was putting him off and not very interested.

The tramp we did was great, though for the last 50 metres I ran out of steam and Aaron pulled me up. His story is always that he pulled me up 500 vertical metres!!!! Anyway we now know that my inability to keep the steam going up hills was due to my heart. In spite of that I have done extensive tramping and just used to take going uphill more slowly. Unfortunately now I can't even go up a flight of stairs without it getting to much. So the boys are off without me.

The second picture is all the seed sewing that I did yesterday - spring fever hit. I also put some pea seeds directly into the garden. So we will wait and see if I am just too ambitious for the weather.

Awesome Mount Cook

We had such an amazing time at Mt Cook last year that we went for longer this time. On the way we stayed at the Lake Tekapo camping ground in a standard cabin. I have to say that it was a very expensive standard cabin! Poor tourists.
Then we went on to Mt Cook on Saturday and had two nights at the fabulous Hermitage. We stayed in the motels where the boys had their own room (yeah - some relief from their noise!) and we had the amazing complimentary buffet breakfast looking down the valley to Mt Cook itself.

The boys on the deck outside our backpacker room

The weather was amazing and so we completed or semi completed some walks. The boys love walking on the Moraine's - they look like adventurers against the skyline. Unfortunately I did not manage so well. I am noticing my deteriorating heart a lot more when in the outdoors. But this did not detract from our fabulous few days.
On Monday Aaron tramped up to the Mueller Hut and then on to Mt Olliver. He stayed the night at the hut. His photos are amazing.

The view from the deck off our room

The cool thing was that the boys and I walked with him to the track turnoff (where it goes uphill for 3 hours solid!!!) and we could see him climbing most of the way to the Sealy tarns. We found that really exciting and everytime we saw him appear we screamed and shouted. Eventually we had to contain ourselves as others high on the track thought there was something wrong when we were yelling.
We had awesome weather most of the time but Monday night the rain started. The boys and I stayed in a room at the backpackers (it use to be the old THC hotel when I worked for SPHC chain) and the picked up a drenched Aaron the next morning after he tramped down the hill.

A very wet but very fast Aaron at the end of his Mueller Hut tramp