Winter Wonderland

Winter is upon us here in the Southern Hemisphere. As you can see. The snow made a bit of a challenge on last weeks hunting trip. Just driving in was a chore. As you can see we managed to get stuck. But thankfully with Jim's expert driving and super tough 1983 Toyota Land Cruiser we managed to make it up to the creek we were going to hunt. After a 3 hour hike up the creek we finally made it to the huts. The snow was about knee deep. Hiking up the creek was pretty tough. By the time we made it up to the huts I was soaked from the waist down. Putting on frozen stiff pants in the mornings and solid ice in your boots wasn't the most pleasant thing. But the scenery more than made you forget the cold. As you can see the huts were tiny. And no heat. So long nights in the sleeping bag were the order. In bag about 7:30pm and out about 8am the following mornings. Thank goodness for the new sleeping bag I bought before coming to NZ. It was really neat to see the mountains here covered in so much snow. Unlike Montana they tell me that all this snow with the exception of the very tops of the mountains will melt. It comes and goes all winter. Where in Montana you know that when snow comes at the start of winter it is going to be with you for 5-6 months. The last few days here have been really beautiful. Mid 50's and full sun. Not to bad for winter I'll say!!