From Thursday the 26th to Saturday the 28th of September nine ABL students circumnavigated Mount Fyffe in Kaikoura.

Accompanied by Miss Lowen, Al Moore and Alec Christey, we drove three hours to Kaikoura and started walking up the Kowhai riverbed. It was very nice terrain and an easy walk; we had to do a lot of river crossing though. Around 4 pm we arrived at Kowhai hut. The evening was chilled out with food, fun and friends. We had to get up pretty early the next day because we climbed up Kowhai Saddle which took us 3-4 hours. It was pretty steep going and bushy for the last 30 minutes. We had a well-deserved lunch break; proud that everybody made it there in a great time. On top of the saddle (1153m high) there was not a breath of wind from either side of the valleys so we had a stunning lunch view. 

The way down to Hapuku hut started with huge scree slopes so we got to 'rock surf'! It was easier to half walk/half run down the scree and go with the flow of the rocks falling. The rest of the walk was in beautiful native forest. 

We had another nice evening at Hapuku hut with stunning views of the mountains around us and of the night sky. The last day consisted of a variety of bush and riverbed walking. Sadly we had to walk around a big slip which added an extra hour to our tramp. We climbed 120 m vertically only to travel not even 300 m across! The rest of the way was very nice and we got a beautiful view of the mountains and a glimpse of the sea while we walked through a big river bed.

It was a very nice experience, we were very lucky to have the best weather we could wish for after a night of snow in Oxford before we left.  We had stunning views of New Zealand's beautiful countryside and had a lot of fun while making new friends.

We would also like to thank Miss Lowen for giving us this possibility and motivating us, Al for helping us so much and giving us interesting tips, facts and stories. Alec for pushing us up the big hills and helping us shuttle vans and a big thank you to all the ABL team for keeping  motivated and never giving up, and making it a fun time.

By Eva Schaefers