28-31 July 2023

Leader: Owen Cox

David Williams did the organisation for this. Unfortunately, he had to pull out as the rest of us were heading to the Paraparaumu Airport for the Sounds Air Flight to Blenheim. It was at the airport I got told I was leading, based solely on me having been there before.

At Blenheim our transport was waiting and it took us to St Arnaud and the Mt Robert carpark. Our first day was an easy tramp up to Speargrass Hut. We got there mid-afternoon and spent the time lazing about enjoying the place and chopping a bit of firewood. A few other people arrived, including one guy whose pack seemed to be full of beer cans. It gave us a bit of entertainment and it became clear his one topic of conversation was: beer.

Saturday, day 2, was fine. We headed up to the head of Speargrass Stream in the sun. We hit the snow near the headwater flat and then had more snow and a bit of icy stuff higher up. So we put crampons on for the climb. We had lunch on the saddle and then carried on to Angelus Hut. Awesome place in fine weather. The little lake was completely iced over and the main lake was rimmed by ice. We crossed the lake outlet and climbed towards the ridge for an evening stroll.

On Sunday we had a walk. Three of us followed the track to Cedric as far as the ridge and then angled across the basin back to the hut taking in views of the lower Hinapouri Tarn. The others did a high sidle and ridge trip around the lake basin. We got back to hut about the same time for lunch. We had looked at the weather forecast and it was for low cloud, misty rain and wind on Monday. We opted to head along Robert Ridge in the fine to Bushline Hut rather do it the next day. We would have been rushed anyway as we had a 2 pm pickup. This was a good change as there were some mildly tricky bits and we enjoyed doing it in the fine. We got to Bushline Hut quite late and found one other person there.

After a warm night we headed off through a little bit of mist down the zig-zag below the hut to Robert Road. We had rung ahead so our ride would meet us by the Buller River to save them going up to the Mt Robert carpark. It looked nasty on Mt Robert with wind, mist and drizzle. We were a bit early so got in a short walk down the river and back around to West Bay.

There are still a few eels under the boat ramp.

Then a short walk to the Buller River. Our van driver brought us coffee and muffins which we thought was pretty awesome.

Special thanks to David for all the organisation. It all went very smoothly.

Those on the trip were:

John Sturgess, Julie James, Owen Cox, Paula Richardson, Peter Davis, Rob Dey, Stephen Bowler, Yingjun Shelton

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.