Day 2: Traveling Light

Left Christchurch and on the way picked up a couple of last-minute things that we thought we really needed but as it turns out, we really didn’t need (see below).

We stopped and did an awesome hike just to loosen the legs. Emily Falls. Not everybody took their poles and it was quite muddy so we did witness a few spills along the way. Nonetheless everybody got back to the travel van safely.

We then drove on to a beautiful little town, called Geraldine and stopped and had an awesome lunch at a Verde

There is still a wanted poster for Dave’s luggage, which has not yet arrived. So in Geraldine, he bought some tighty Whiteys and a couple of other things to manage for the trip. What a GREAT sport.

We then moved along to Takapo, our home for the night and met Elka our Mountain Guide.

We had the gear check. It’s important to know at this stage that we’re going into the mountains for the next 4 days and we have to carry all of our own stuff, food, tents, and toilet paper. In that order.

Needless to say, nobody has a pack big enough for what we actually think we want to bring so there’s been some trimming and thinning and trimming and thinning. We’re really down to it. Most of us taking one pair of underwear for four days. Just saying.

We then did some avalanche training just a reminder for us that we super hope that that’s all it’s going to be is a reminder.

We’re now out for dinner at the dark sky project, which is for stargazing. It’s incredibly dark at night here in this town so perfect to see the night sky. It’s adjacent to Takapo Lake, large cerulean blue lake framing the southern Alps where we will be tmrw. Oh boy

We may not be able to transmit in the mountains. We will try.