A week ago I hoped to go tramping around the Camelbaks in the Tararuas, but wasn’t feeling well and ended up pulling out. By Sunday I thought I was doing better though, and was getting a little bored of sitting around. The weather was sunny and I found myself on a morning walk around the Karori Sanctuary Fence before ending up in Aro Valley.

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It’s probably just as well I didn’t go tramping in the Tararuas, though. At times it still felt as if I was only using 2/3 of my lungs. The last time I went tramping with a cold like that I had a rather bad time (also because of silly decisions I made about what to wear at critical times, to be fair), and it wouldn’t have been good for anyone in the group given the yucky weather on Saturday and all the bush-bashing in that region. Now two weeks later I can still notice the effects, and I hate the way the remnants of colds can just hang around sometimes, but I think it’s dissipating now.

In unrelated news, Stacey and I are about to head overseas to South-East Asia for 3.5 weeks. (Specifically Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.) It’s the first proper holiday we’ve had for a couple of years and it’ll be fantastic to get away for a while. I suspect there’s not a lot of Wellington-based tramping in that part of the world, however, so I’m unsure how much I’ll update this blog during the coming month. When we return in mid-November I’m expecting one potentially stressful week and weekend at work, and after that I’m certain I’ll want to get out for a tramp or two.

We’re having yet another attempt at Kapiti Island on this coming weekend, after the previous two efforts to get there failed due to forecasts of undesirable wind. I guess it’s the time of year, but with DOC having taken our $22 for visiting permits, we should definitely get there sooner or later. Maybe third time lucky, perhaps? I’m sick at home today which has been a minor let-down, but if I’m still sick then and the weather’s nice enough to go, I’ll be very disappointed.

Meanwhile, we’ve been down to Otari-Wilton’s Bush a few times recently, which is within an easy walking distance and has helped to pass the time. It’s a very nice place to wander around. I suppose it’s one of the reasons I enjoy Wellington so much, given that between all the population it’s still easy to find places where it feels as if you’re much further away.

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I’m taking a break from tramping next weekend. To help fill it in, Stacey and I are hoping to go and visit Kapiti Island. I’d been put off in the past because my speedy anecdotal investigations had implied that it must be quite complicated to arrange a DOC permit to visit the island and separately arrange the transport. I browsed the online booking system (for DOC permits) last Friday, however, and discovered that rather than having to book weeks or months in advance, there were actually quite a lot of permits available… even for the following day.

Earlier this afternoon I ordered a couple of permits for next Saturday. I only hope that DOC’s online booking has improved since I last used it about 3 years ago, when we booked some huts on the Abel Tasman Coast Track (aka the Hiker’s Superhighway). That time we booked the huts about 3 months in advance, as soon as the online booking system was opened for that period. This seriously confused the DOC ranger at Anchorage Hut on the first night, who tried to tell us we didn’t have tickets. It turned out that because we’d booked as soon as we were able, the records of our tickets were off the end of her print-out.
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