The start of summer trips

Hopes of getting away for an overnight tramp with my son did not eventuate in the last week. Maybe it was just as well too, as on one 3/4 day trip we experienced very windy conditions at the relatively low altitude of nearby Lake Hawea, where we did quite a bit of exploring.

The spectacular private road to Dingleburn Station...


I'm not sure when this road got built, but it was relatively recently and Ian S. the station owner apparently became a bit of legend in the doing of it. In his later years my dad and uncle spent a lot of time with Sarge over on the Coast, after my mum and aunt passed away within 3 months of each other back in the seventies...


I'm quite a fan of making photographs of our native Cabbage trees. This one has been through a fire though...


Dougal admires the view...


I had no idea Mt Aspiring could be seen from this area...


I've never seen a quail hang out in/on bracken fern before either...


Over the weekend one of my close friends Ian flew down from Wellington for a overnighter with me in my camper truck. I met him in Queenstown and we visited a few mutual friends then adjourned to nearby Moke Lake, and did a moderate walk in this area reeking in gold mining history.

Towards Moonlight and Ben Lomond Station...


Looking back towards Moke Lake

And lastly dawn this morning - a smaller lake nearby...


This week's site, The Green Children's Blog. A lot to look through, but inspiring.. more>>

Rites of passage and learning to let go

According to Wikipedia a rite of passage is a ritual that marks a change in a person's social status, which was exactly what I was realising last night as I attended my son's first formal as a gentle bouncer stationed on the edge of the light, to keep wayward souls in, while another layer of professional security behind me in the darkness seemed to not only do this, but keep wayward strangers out!

The concept of learning to let go, as a parent, first came to me from another parent of older children about 18 months ago. Since then I've been sort of waiting, hopefully prepared to handle myself well, while reviewing my strategies in life and in the outdoors - my hope being that in the outdoors' environment with it's lessons [so far consistently non dramatic] we'd be paid back for the investment.

The process is speeding up now though, and two weekends ago I was jolted out of my comfort zone when Dougal asked if he could float down the Clutha with friends from the outlet of Lake Wanaka. The trip is gorgeous and so was the early evening, and as the trip is basically obstacle free, I went into check list mode to help him prepare well - the ritual gave me some comfort!

Looking upstream up the mighty Clutha...


After I'd dropped him off and they'd launched their array of rafts and lilos I came home for a cuppa then drove down to the pull-out spot at Albert Town and waited and waited.

Did I mention how I waited!?? I had to learn the lesson of patience and tried some landscape photography, but the camera only really got used in earnest for this shot of them coming into view with the lower Dean's Bank in the background...


Contemplating the past I've realised the whole game now is more subtle, but that the rules are just same.

It was easy a few years back - just state the activity, ask if it was OK and then lead, letting them think they're leading, while we hover nearby...


Preparing for a short 100m trip along an historic mine shaft in the Dunstan Mountains, in Central Otago, but near home...


We're parked up waiting for cousin Michael while near Moonlight, on our way out from Ben Lomond Station behind Queenstown...


And all of a sudden last night I wished him well - now a young man embarking on "a rite of passage"


By 3 am I was throughly confused as we never agreed on what time, in regards to daylight saving changes, he'd be back from the after-party [held at a secret location], and he'd not shown up. The plan was hourly buses would drop them back at Mt Aspiring College - thankfully only 10 mins. walk from home. So I drove around the block a couple of times and never saw a soul except one parked/hovering police car in my street. So realising the futility of it all I turned in thankful for all the time we've spent together in the hills and otherwise - the mileage gave me trust.

The trust was not misplaced - minutes later he turned up, and said he'd missed the first bus, and that he enjoyed the "formal" formal, but found the after-party "interesting". Elaborating this morning he said it was his first time observing the affects of alcohol, and how it changed the behaviour of many people he knows quite well.

I guess wilderness values and concepts have taught us both to trust, detach and observe!

We're off on a Rees/Dart 4 day tramp next weekend. With any luck we'll do a side trip up, past the Dart Glacier, to Cascade Saddle.