For a lengthier and much more creatively written report of this trip take a read of Sam’s account here: https://medium.com/engage/tapping-out-of-tappy-de5027b8a21b. We caught the ferry on Thursday afternoon after squishing five people’s alpine packs into the car, and then stayed the night at a Picton backpackers – which made for a very leisurely start to the … Read more
Looking across the Cook Strait my eyes habitually fixate on one striking feature – the centerpiece and highest peak of the Kaikoura Ranges, Tapuae-o-uenuku, also affectionately known as ‘Tappy’. A couple years ago I started consolidating the skills and experience to attempt Tappy and enjoy its panoramic and lofty summit at 2885m. Miraculously the stars … Read more
Tapuae-o-Uenuku – a late summer climb An Easter climb of Tapuae-o-Uenuku (Tappy) via the Hodder River in fine weather Our trip started on Easter Friday morning when we left our road-side camp next to the Hodder River bridge. From here we took the 4wd track from Gladstone Downs upriver to the south. After about 20 … Read more
I had been looking forward to this trip for ages. The plan was to catch the Friday evening ferry—but which then got delayed due to a bit of a storm passing through. We were rebooked on to the Saturday morning ferry and despite getting up early we then spent an additional two hours waiting for … Read more