A packed Friday evening and Saturday morning going on an easy adventure to a local hut. Packhorse Hut is one of Christchurch’s closest huts, with an easy walk of 1-2h depending on the side you walk in from.

The Teamsheet

The team for the big adventure was (ordered by the scrabble score their name would obtain):

  • Becky (16) ‘Rebecca’ would have been a mere 13
  • Michaela (15)
  • James (14)
  • Grace (8) ‘Breb’ beats ‘Bros’, just
  • Marine (8)
  • Ally (7) interestingly ‘Allison’ would have also only got 7
  • Ryan (7) ‘Dob’ beats ‘Gil’, just
  • Logan M (6) ‘M’ for 3 beats ‘G’ for 2
  • Logan G (6)
  • Georgio (9) De-ranked for lack of booking

Friday PM

The Walk

An early Christchurch departure of 3pm was well timed to get the long weekend off to a good start and allowed us to walk mostly in the light. We got to the car park for the Kaituna Valley Packhorse Hut Track at around 4pm, to begin the hike.

start Packs nearly as full as our hearts.

The walk in took around 1 hour 40 minutes and was simple but steep. Chatter of social sports, hunting and crosswords kept me busy powering up the hill. This, excitingly, was the first hut trip in New Zealand for Michaela!

We arrived at the hut just after sunset, with the moon bright in the sky guiding our way. We had fully booked out the hut with 9 of us, so were surprised to see a fire burning as we approached. Some company, perhaps?

hut-fire A fire burning in the hut as we arrived.

The Hut

We got in the hut to meet Georgio, who was from the Czech Republic. They had missed a boat to Ōtamahua (Quail Island) and were seeking some refuge in with us for the night. They were nice, but mostly kept to themselves; at least until night fell.

We bounced in and soon got started on our dinner: risotto.

There are some meals that you just realise are prime for camping: convenient, tasty, and filling. Risotto was not one of these, but two out of three ain’t bad. Risotto, for all it’s glory, is something which requires a rather large pot, espeically when feeding 9 people. Instead of a large vessel, however, we had many tiny pots.

No fear however, Marine took charge and we all kicked into gear. Despite being some amount of faff, the teamwork to boil broth, saute veggies, and cook the rice brought us together.

mushroom-men The Mushroom Men. With not mush-room in their pans.

Alas, a delicious dinner was served along with some fire-top warmed mulled wine and the jovial atmosphere was in full swing. We recounted stories of unstoppable bodily emissions as the chat turned silly.

wine Mulled wine from the fire.

risotto-team A fine hut meal.

Bedtime swung around at about 10pm, with varying energy levels. Logan G gave some hyper-active impressions of Michaela which were somewhat uncanny; Marine did God’s work clearing out Ally’s bed of spiders; and I had a red face (apparently comically so).

Lights out was not complete however without a rendition of each of our respective national anthems. Aotearoa first, then USA, Canada and Scotland last. Or so we thought…

In pipes Georgio with the Czech national anthem in a beautifully high pitched tone. Curtain falls.

Saturday AM

Sunrise

I was awoken to news of a beautiful sunrise, which I was not mis-sold on.

sunrise Rise and (sun)shine.

Breakfast

We took in the views for a while, before turning our attention to the second day of inconvenient cooking: pancakes. We were high spirited at first, readily piling pancake batter into pans. However, luck was not on our side, and flipping not an option. Some small wins happened in the pancake space, but these were indeed small.

tiny-pancakes Laughably small, like James’ “Big Knife”.

Logan G did an excellent job consistently feeding us a real breakfast of cheese and crackers and James crafted some bougie espressos. Patience wore thin on the pancake making and left over batter was ready to be tossed.

Logan M told me I had earned the right (after a few moderately successful mini-pancakes) to at least try a mega pancake. All remaining batter in a single pan. Nay-sayers stayed true to form and said: ‘Nay’. Some close allies supportively encouraged me.

We packed up in the interim, as the mega pancake sat atop the fire.

I tentatively took it off, as the top came into a solid form. Success… A mega pancake to feed our travels back to home base.

big-pancake A cake, in a pan, with sous-chef Logan.

Home time

We split up into smaller groups for the walk back, some heading early, others doing a bit more exploring of the hills.

Reflections…

A truly splendid time was had. The short trip meant we could carry in lots of exciting food, leave late on a Friday and still get there with time to spare. The hut is great because with a big group you can effectively book it out. I’d definitely recommend Pack Horse hut with a group of friends.

A big thanks to Marine for booking and coordinating many of the plans and food! On to the next adventure.

Bonus: Cryptic Clues

Some of the time on this trip was spent in discussion of cryptic crossword clues. We had been discussing how self-created clues fared in their adherence to being Ximenean (i.e. following the rules laid out by crossword setter Ximenean). As a bonus, here are some related crossword clues, in a small grid.

I’m under-construction. Come back later for some fun…