Cascade Saddle Day One: Wanaka > Aspiring Hut

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Transport arrives a wee bit late - the driver is sure he recognises me from a few years back which is possible but it's also quite likely to be one of my many twins he's actually thinking of (they get everywhere). Bumpy but fun ride to the road end - an interesting Austrian couple (he's actually Japanese but lives in Austria and he's wearing trainers) are sharing the trip - they're also heading over the saddle but are camping instead of using the huts.

Road end to the hut in two hours through more agricultural land - sheep and cattle polluting the wilderness. Last night's rain has cleared and it is very warm but beautifully clear giving stunning views up to Rob Roy Glacier, Mt Liverpool (the hut still nestling up high, looking tempting) and Mt Aspiring.

One couple in the hut who are snoozing in the main room. I say hi, dump my pack in the bunk room and head out for a wander. Out to the flat just beyond the hut, fantails whizzing around me as they chase the bugs that are chasing me then I spot a beautifully patient Mohua (Yellowhead) sitting atop a lone wee beech tree in the middle of the flat, posing and singing happily in the breeze. He waits for me to get some good pics and then leaps into the breeze and is a mile away in seconds.

Back to the hut for a lazy night chatting to the German couple have been studying in Auckland and are on their (sad) way home next month. He's itching to get out on the hills, she's not. They were heading to Liverpool hut (10 bunks) but then discovered that 11 people are already on the way there so decided to stay here tonight.

As the sun droops low the mountains shine their picture-postcard alpenglow.

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Photos

Mohua
Yellowhead posing

Comments

[Rob]

Damn cattle
So, isn't it the case that the reason that there are so many cattle about the planet, farting and belching an inordinate amount of methane into the air, is because there are too many humans? Better have a war or two to thin them out a bit :-)