My plan for the weekend was to do a tramp in the Tararuas, although with Joss staying the night at home this meant a slight change of plan as I couldn't really leave him alone. Luckily his Dad picked him up relatively early and he gave me a lift to the railway station so I wasn't really impacted too much. The Tararuas are a mountain range north of Wellington and there is an array of hiking opportunities available. I was originally planning to walk part of the Holdsworth Jumbo circuit, stay the night in Powell Hut, and then head into the Waiohine Valley the following day, leaving as early as possible to hitchhike to the car park at the base of Mount Holdsworth. Instead I caught the train into the Wairarapa and got off at Matarawa and went for my planned walk the opposite way round. It was funny getting off at Matarawa as it is a request stop and is literally in the middle of nowhere, the station basically a halt with a shed. I was the only one to get off.
From Matarawa to the car park at Waiohine Gorge was a fair but doable walk and I was half hoping to hitch a ride there although only two cars passed me and I was unsuccessful getting a ride. I got there in the end though and started my walk into the Tararuas, crossing a particularly long swingbridge over the gorge. The path followed the gorge above it crossing a few tributaries along the way which were pretty. I eventually made it to the Totara Flats where the gorge opened out to some grass flatlands and I followed the river to the Totara Flats hut. Just after the hut I crossed a pretty intense swingbridge which was essentially metal wires with a soft mesh to walk on. The crosswind as I crossed made it very wobbly!
The next part of the walk briefly followed a tributary of the Waiohine River before starting my ascent through the forest to join the Holdsworth Jumbo circuit. It was a long slog but I eventually reached a ridge line before continuing the long slog up to the junction where I met the circuit. From here it was nice and flat as I followed the ridge line along a more open stretch with views of Mount Holdsworth in front. I eventually reached the Mountain House Shelter which signalled the start of a very steep ascent towards Powell Hut. It was very hard work but I eventually made it to the hut. About 400m prior to the hut though the ascent left the forest and went into open tussocks which presented me with great views of the Wairarapa, but also incredibly strong winds so I was glad to reach shelter! The hut itself was pretty busy with probably about 30 people inside, predominantly families, so it was nice to speak to some like minded people.
Through the night it was incredibly windy and it even rained. It felt at times the hut was going to blow away as it was literally shaking! The weather in the morning wasn't great with the hut effectively in the clouds and it was a bit moist in the air. I decided to crack on pretty early though and I was the first to set off, heading up to the 1470m summit of Mount Holdsworth. The ascent was slightly interesting with incredibly strong winds making it very hard work staying on my feet but I made it. There were no views however due to the cloud. From Mount Holdsworth I had a choice between dropping back into the forest for cover or continuing along the open tussocks to the next peak, the 1405m summit Jumbo. I went for the latter and getting there was very challenging, especially crossing the ridge which had sheer drops both sides and a savage crosswind but I made it, just. The were occasional breaks in the clouds too so I got a few views along the way, all be it very briefly!
The descent from Jumbo to the Jumbo Hut was a bit easier as the wind was behind me instead of a difficult crosswind, and it was nice to reach the hut just to get out the wind for a bit. From the hut I was soon back into the cover of the forest and made a pretty steep descent down to the Atiwhakatu hut and stream, which also meant it became hot again. I followed the stream all the way out to the car park, which included several swingbridges on the way. Just before reaching the car park I did a short excursion up to this lookout of Mount Holdsworth and you could see how bad the cloud cover was on the top! From the car park I hitched a ride out to SH2, which from there I easily got a lift back into Petone, all be it with some religious family which was interesting. All in all though it was a good weekend and a real challenging hike which I enjoyed.
On Monday I discovered that the vomiting/diarrhea bug which Joss had was enjoyed by Liz and Liza over the weekend, so I had a lucky escape avoiding one of Joss's illness again! They were both hoping to do some work out in the garden over the weekend and were unable to, so I went out there for a couple of hours in the morning before it got too warm. When Joss got home from school he was much better then when he left, and we therefore went inside his pool for a bit while Liz did some painting. The following day there was no swimming as the school were going to the cinema in the morning. After school we did have conductive though and Joss apparently did really well in his walker.
On Wednesday I had to go into school in the morning with Joss and help out with this triathlon thing they were doing. As with a normal triathlon, the three disciplines were swimming, cycling, running and Joss was able to do the first two disciplines. Liza even came to watch although was absolutely fuming after he was effectively completely excluded from the rest of the year by doing his swim on his own whilst everyone else was cycling, so he had basically no one to cheer him on. After his bike ride we sat in the park and cheered his friends on in the run, before heading back in the afternoon to do some more work in the garden. I cleaned the front of the house whilst Liz and Liza painted over the odd little bits which needed doing on the deck. It will hopefully be looking good for Joss's birthday party at the weekend now!
Thursday was another really busy day, with the school having a day down the beach. In the morning however Joss had an appointment at conductive about getting a new walker. Liza has been fighting for funding for a long time now to get a hydraulic walker which would require no physical effort to get him in and out, hence meaning his teachers could use it at school, and could be used without my help. They basically wanted to see Joss walk in current walker and luckily he did so fingers crossed there one step closer to getting the funding. After conductive it was down the beach where we were able to try out this beach wheelchair we'd hired for the day, which was actually really good as it enabled Joss to go on the beach and it even floated in the sea with him in! I did take him in without too though as he does like normal swimming. It was a nice day and we even had lunch and played games at the pavilion.
When we got home from school we went straight out to the dog wash place to wash Max as he was getting very smelly, tieing it in with Joss's haircut appointment. Joss enjoyed helping wash Max and it tied in perfectly with getting his haircut after, something he doesn't like doing as he won't stay still. It was quite challenging too having Max with us as each time we got the wheelchair in and out he jumped out the car! And would only go back in when I carried him back in. Not long after we got back Joss's Dad arrived to pick him up for the night, so I decided to pop into Petone for the evening. Friday was another busy day getting ready for the birthday party the following day, spending much of the day when Joss was at school doing the housework, as well as popping into Wellington to return the beach wheelchair. We only just about got back before Joss's taxi arrived! We then spent much of the rest of the day preparing food for the party and sorting out a few odd little bits in the garden.
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