MOUNT THOMAS: HOW TO GO TRAMPING AND END UP IN YOUR COSY BED AT HOME

Easy enough. Set off on a weekend after a rainy week. Instead of little Ohoka stream you will encounter chest-deep Ohoka river and simply turn around because it is possibly the only thing (apart from swearing of course) you can do. That is exactly what happened to me today.

Never mind, instead of taking an easy walk along the river with a nice little hut waiting for me at its end, mum and I went to explore Mount Thomas (1 023 m). After three months since Canada I almost forgot how to use my backpack and I was very keen to learn how to do it again. Much less keen to walk of course. Once the track got wet and steep towards the ridge I did so well pretending I fell asleep that I got carried all the way up! At that stage mum was stopping to catch her breath a lot as well: I bet she has forgotten one or two things since Canada too.

I enjoyed nice views and had lunch while mum was just lying down and looked pretty much dead. But we still had to make it down and my strategy did not work for me so well this time since towards the end mum just put me down from my neat place up high and I actually had to walk by myself! She was lucky I had my pole and there was a lot of mud I could jump into so eventually it was quite fun.

Because we were supposed to stay in a dry and warm hut not only did we have no tent, but we only brought one sleeping bag. While we were having our dinner in the campsite at the foot of the mountain I could see mum contemplating our options heavily but then sandflies found us and the matter was quickly decided. We jumped in our car and home we went.

So this is how I went tramping today and now I am fast asleep in my cosy bed at home. I will see you next time, little Pinchgut hut.

Your Annie