On 25 October, we returned to where the year started - the Woolshed Creek carpark of the Mt Somers walkway. But this time our mission was to complete the whole 3 day walkway.

So while the students sorted their gear and cooked their tea, the teachers shuttled a van to the finish carpark of the track. Once that was done we walked into Woolshed Creek hut, this was a repeat of the trip done in term one - but this time everyone knew exactly where they were and how far to go. At the hut students set up camp and went to bed, after comparing stories with students from Avonside Girls High School. 

Day 2 dawned fine but not for long. As the day went on, the weather slowly deteriorated till by day's end it was snowing. We began by exploring some water caves beside the track - then as the snow began to fall, we continued up and over a saddle and made our way to Pinnacles hut. Setting up camp here was quite challenging due the weather conditions, and the fact that students from ARA polytech were already there. It did mean that we had a fire in the hut with which to warm up. 

Day 3 dawned sunny and clear. Students emerged from their tents to enjoy the sun and be amazed by the views from the hut, hidden the previous day by the snow fall. After packing up, we all enjoyed a nice leisurely tramp down hill from the hut to the stream. In order to avoid a gorge section with rapids and a waterfall, the track climbs steeply up and over a hill to reach the stream again just before the carpark. Once there we went back for the other van and returned to Christchurch, mission accomplished.