… and then back into the mountains!
After I finished my roadtrip over the Southern Alps, I arrived in Christchurch on a rainy day.
And while it definitely helped with the bush fires in the Port Hills, it also made for a rather unpleasent day to explore the city.
What left the biggest impression on me, was the ever present destruction from the earthquake in 2011. Even 6 years after tragic event with 185 deaths, a lot of the inner city is still one big construction site!
Since the summer is coming to an end in the southern hemisphere, I didn’t stop too long in Christchurch, as there are many hikes I want to walk and many places I want to explore.
Consequently, the next stop was Mt. Somers!
I started the Mt. Somers South Face track, but after around an hour, the trail came to a rather sudden end. So I backtracked to my car and decided to try another trail around Mt. Somers. But I still got some nice views of Mt. Somers itself.
Since I heard only good things about Woolshed Creek Hut, I made my way to the respective car park to start the rather short trail towards the hut.
The trail started out with a steep ascent to an old coal mine and then continued over tussock grass alongside an old mining road.
After one final descent, which I knew I had to get up the next day, I arrived at the hut.
With 26 bunks it is on the larger end of DOC huts, but in the end, we were only 7 hikers that night.
Before I left for the car park the next day, I did a sidetrip, since the trail is rather short.
I made my way up a small peak next to the hut, which looked more promising the day before without clouds!
After I got back to the hut, I had an early lunch and started the short walk down to my car.
I came across the abandonded coal mine again, where I took s ahort break.
Sadly, I couldn’t explore the mine, since it was closed and nailed shut. It was interesting history nonetheless.
After I got back to my car, I made my way towards Timaru, where I am writing this post now.
Tomorrow I am going to continue onwards to Lake Tekapo and Mt. Cook National Park.
A blog post will follow.
Until then,
Cheers!
Max Abbe 