Solo Hike to Mt Arthur

Finally a Sunday with sunny weather. That means it's finally a chance to hike Mt Arthur! I've been wanting to hike since few weeks ago but it was always raining on Sunday for the past few weeks. I couldn't find any companions to go with me so I decided to go alone. Actually I do prefer hiking alone, you can stop any time you want to take some photos, decide your own pace, and do things on your own way. But the disadvantage is that you have to pay for the petrol by yourself. Lol.

So I woke up at 6.30am and arrived at Flora Car Park at 8.30am to start my hike. It was windy like the first time I went there but it wasn't raining. There was no problem at all from the car park to the Mt Arthur Hut, there shouldn't be any, that was a pretty easy track to be honest. We stopped at the hut when we first went up months ago because of the rain. But I proceeded anyway with this big wind, it was as big as the last time we went but I'm not gonna go back haha.

The track from the hut to the summit was in good condition even though there were few ice pieces on the track that caused me slipped for a few times when I paid too much attention on the scenery. And the wind was very very strong too. But the track was really interesting because you can see more frozen grass the further you walk, the ice on the grass near the summit was so thick it was few times thicker than the grass. I was really happy when I saw the big block of ice haha, it's my first time seeing that.

I had a lunch less than 100m from the summit, enjoying the ice rocks and ground and everything around me haha. In less than 50m before the summit, there is a huge block of ice so I had to do ice climbing to hike up there toward the summit. With no hiking poles, I used my mini tripod to hike up there, it's not that hard after all.

When I reached the summit, there were mist everywhere, and the wind up there was so strong it can actually move me if I didn't stand still. I dared not to go to the edge of the summit as I'm afraid the wind will push me down haha. It's one of the best experience I've ever had, everything I did that day is something I had never tried before, everything's for me, but I really love doing it haha.

I took a long time to walk back to the hut and the car park because I stopped a lot as the mist were gone on my way back. The scenery from the track was so good I couldn't stop myself.

By the time I went back to my car I realised I did something stupid. I didn't shut my car headlights off and the battery was dead. Luckily it was 3pm that time and there were still many cars in the car park. I found two helpful women to help me jump start the car but I still couldn't jump start my car. It was still a failure attempt when we asked another car for help. But as usual, I'm a lucky person. The two women, Rose and Rebecca drove me back to Motueka even though they wanted to head back to Nelson. People here are god damn nice.

Today my housemate, KK drove me back to the car park to jump start my car again. This time we allowed the battery to charge for longer time before I tried to start it up. Success. Thanks Google. My car must be feeling lonely there yesterday night argh.

First time stepping on a pile of snow.

Ice Saber.

All of the previous photos are taken on the way to the summit from the hut.

Chillin' at the summit.

Photos on the way down to the hut.

This weka bird keep annoying me for food, it found my sandwich on the table but luckily it wasn't fast enough to snatch it from me. Like monkeys.

The entrance from the carpark, taken when I came down from the summit.