The Gap and Ghost Creek
A big group of 22 trampers left Christchurch at about 7 am. After dropping off all passengers at Porter’s Pass car park, we repositioned most cars at Ghost Creek car park. It’s a wee car…
Read More
Mt Grey and the Grey River
Mt Grey is a pretty popular hill to climb for Cantabrians. It’s a reasonably easy and straightforward walk. As trampers are always looking for a challenge, our ancestral trampers came up with a twist –…
Mt Izard tarns
Two car loads of CTC trampers set off on a journey to check out four tiny-looking tarns that drain the basin between Mt Cheeseman and Mt Izard. From Texas Flat car park, we followed the…
From Sumner to Sumner (via Godley Head and Lyttelton Market)
After the somewhat violent and highly volatile weather last week, all CTC overnight tramps were cancelled, including my planned trip to Top Trent Hut. Since I was really keen to stretch my legs, I put…
Eye of the Needle, Mt Bradley, Packhorse hut and Mt Herbert
Lambing season track access restrictions finished on Friday at Orton Bradley, so I thought it’d be a good opportunity to check out some of the local tracks a couple of days later. I put a…
Castle Rock in Port Hills with kids
This was my second attempt to run a Helicopter Hill trip – and the second time it had to be cancelled, so we ended up in the Port Hills instead, aiming to climb Te Tihi-o-Kahukura…
Rocky Creek Biv track cutting birthday party with small kids
The goal was clear, ambitious, and far from easy: reach Rocky Creek Biv with our kids (aged 3-6). Some of them had recently celebrated their birthdays, so we thought – what better gift than a…
Pinchgut hut with kiddos (4-7 years)
Alright, Pinchgut Hut is quickly becoming my favourite hut for tramps with kids around Christchurch. The track is pretty entertaining, and it’s far more sheltered and less popular than Woolshed Creek Hut, which is always…
Edwards Valley with kids
When tramping with small kids, it’s the journey that counts, not the destination. For this trip, both me and Miranda completely threw away all our ambitions and just decided to play it by ear. We…
Washpen Falls – Romantic and family-friendly
Washpen Falls Track is a privately owned walk nestled in the Canterbury Foothills near the Rakaia River. It’s about 4 km long and very pretty and scenic. I was quite surprised to find such a…