Newsletter 32
31 October 2005
Dear Southland Sea Kayakers
The following is programme for the annual Monowai Sea kayaking Skills weekend.
Monowai Sea Kayaking Skills Weekend 19/20 November
Date: 19/20 November 2005. Course starts at 9.00 AM on Saturday at Monowai Holiday Camp but some may prefer to arrive on Friday night.
Course organisers: Stanley and Belinda Mulvany
Course instructors/Presenters: Terry Macnamara, Stephen Counsell, Jon Taylor, Belinda and Stanley Mulvany
Venue: Monowai Holiday Camp, Monowai Village on the right off the Monowai Road half way between the Blackmount Road and Borland Lodge.
Cost: $20.00 PP per night for accomodation and approximately $5.00 for the use of Blackmount Pool
Registration ASAP by emailing me.
Monowai Holiday camp has 1 self contained cottage with 3 double bedrooms and 8 cabins and tent sites. There is a common room and cooking facilities. You do not need to bring cookers. You need to bring your own sleeping bags, food and kayaking equipment. I have booked the whole camp so contact me rather than the camp ground.
Syllabus:
SATURDAY:
9-10am
Introductions - Stanley
Equipment for kayaking
- Basic
- Emergency equipment
- General emergency kit/grab bag
- Navigation equipment/ VHF radio/GPS
10-12am
Paddling strokes at lagoon - Terry Macnamara and Stephen Counsell
Introduction and safety on the water. The wet exit.
- Forward stroke
- Turning stroke
- Reverse stroke
- Stopping stroke
- Support Stroke
- Draw stroke
- Sculling stroke
- Low brace
Modified canoe polo as an alternative to above - Belinda
12.30-1.30pm
Lunch back at Monowai Holiday Camp
2-4pm
Blackmount Pool - Stephen and Stanley
- Re-entry _Traditional and paddle float
- Assisted Re-entry, T method, Between boat re-entry, 2 rescuer technique
- Eskimo bow Rescue
- Rolling practice
4.30-5.30pm
Coastal Navigation - Jon Taylor
6-7pm
Buffet Meal at Monowai Holiday Camp
Please bring a plate of food plus drink.
7.30-8.30pm
Medical aspect of sea kayaking - Stanley
- Minor problems: sunburn, blisters, tenosynovitis, enthesopathies
- Moderate problems: Shoulder dislocation
- Serious Problems: Near drowning, gasp reflex, hypothermia, CPR in the water, person recovery
SUNDAY
Breakfast and cleanup before 10am.
10-2pm
Lake Monowai
A group paddle on Lake Monowai with the opportunity to practice paddling strokes, paddling signals, towing, pod rules, rolling, self re-entry and assisted re-entry.
Debrief and finish about 2pm
What to bring
Kayak and paddle
Split paddle
Wet suit/dry suit if available
Paddle jacket or parka
Thermal tops and LJs
Warm hat
Paddle hat
Paddle float if available
Leash for glasses
Pogies if available
Safety equipment_ whistle, flares, VHF radio
Bailer, pump, sponge
Dry bag
Neoprene booties or sandles
Towel
Sun cream
Sleeping bag
Drink bottle
Food including something suitable for the buffet meal on Saturday night.
Money to pay for accomodation and pool ( $20.00 per night pp and $5.00 for the pool use)
See you there.
Stanley
On Sunday 9th of October we had a successful Riverton Day with 1.5 hours practice in the morning at the Riverton Pool followed by lunch at Tim and Jacqui�s house and surf practice in the afternoon at Taramea Bay. The weather was warm and sunny and conditions were ideal. We are grateful to Jacqui and Tim for hosting a most enjoyable day for the network.
I decided to postpone our Bluff Day on 30 October as I did not have time to properly organise it. I will run this at a later date.
New Website:
The Southland Sea kayakers Network has a new web-site address as follows
sskn.uniformnz.com
Terry has revamped the network web site which look great especially the photo gallery and links. Check out the photos of Preservation Sound.
Basic Emergency Kit
This is highly recommended for all tramping and sea kayaking trips. It is a Basic Emergency Kit not a comprehensive one by any means. For sea kayaking emergencies other equipment is of course necessary but not practical to include in this basic kit such as orange smoke, red hand held flares, VHF radio etc.
This is the list of items included
Dry bag xs
Waterproof matches and cigarette lighter
Small torch and spare alkaline battery
Pencil, paper and xs zip lock bags
Firestarters
Small compass
Mirror
Illumstick
Energy food
Whistle
Emergency Survival Sleeping bag
The cost is $ 100.00.
$100.00 is cheap if you life is in danger.
Contact Stanley if interested.
For Sale
I bought 2 screen tent for the Preservation Sound trip and I am selling one of them. It is called an Oz Trail Screen Dome Tent and Fly. It measures 330x330x210 and is brand new. It is ideal for sand-fly protection. I am selling it at whole sale price of $300.00. The other one I am keeping for future expeditions.
A red paddling jacket medium size with neoprene cuffs $50.00
Garmin etrex GPS $200.00
Contact Stanley 03-2157263 ( home) or email me [email protected]
Trip Report
The following is an account of a sea kayaking and mountaineering trip near Milford Sound over labour weekend by Jon Taylor and Stan Mulvany
Llawrenny Traverse
The Llawrenny peaks are a group of isolated glaciated peaks lying to the south of Mitre Peak near Milford Sound. They are just under 2000 metres high and lie in splendid isolation between the Transit and Arthur Valleys. They have only had a handful of ascents over the years and were first climbed by the indomitable Edgar Williams and his party from the Arthur in 1954. To my knowledge no one has done a traverse of the mountain from the Sinbad to the Arthur. On Labour weekend 2001 Richard Leppard and I climbed out of the Arthur along the ridge between the Giants Gate and Poseidon Valleys around Mt Terror but failed to summit due to lack of time. Then in January 2004 from the summit of Mitre peak we saw a possible route up the headwall of Sinbad Gully and along the ridges to the Llawrennys and an idea was born.
The project was not an easy one and after searching for a suitable firm I settled on the old respected partnership of Taylor/Mulvany. Jon has been my buddy of some epic trips in the past and was instantly keen. The weather too played ball with a slowly approaching anticyclone and excellent weather predicted for the whole of labour weekend. We felt we needed 4 days to complete the traverse and set off on Thursday night for Homer. On top of the car were our sea kayaks as access was easy using these rather than relying on fishermen to drop us off.
Friday morning saw us down on Fishermans Wharf early unpacking and loading our kayaks. We set off on a calm sound for Sinbad beach which we reached in about half an hour. Here we unloaded the kayaks and Jon towed mine back to Sandfly Point so we could pick it up later. Unfortunately when Jon was away I discovered the billy and cooker were missing when I went to light a fire to make a brew for Jon. I could have kicked myself for leaving them in my kayak. The wind had come up quite strongly by now and when Jon arrived back I jumped into his kayak and headed back. To add to the excitement of battling a very strong off shore wind Jons rudder cable came loose so I had no rudder for most of the way back! This setback cost us two hours.
We finally got away by mid day boulder hopping up the Sinbad creek. It has not rained for the previous 19 days so the river level was low which made travel much easier. About 2 hours in we passed two blue duck on the creek, which were quite unafraid of us. Then we waded/swam across a lovely wide blue pool, a most delightful spot. Another hour brought us to a lovely grassy flat with great views of the Phillips-Llawrenny ridge on the left and the Mitre Peak ridge on the right. The headwall was still several hours away and we could see it lay back on the right, our proposed line of ascent. We were walking through a patch of forest above this and disturbed a weka. An hour later we reached the second set of flats and these were mostly gravel. The upper valley was a bit tedious and we found a nice campsite half an hour before the waterfall at the head. We pitched camp in this delightful and had a nice meal. A kea paid us a visit.
We set the alarm for 5.00 AM next day and we were off by 6.30 AM. We quickly climbed up the steepening creek bed to the waterfall and climbed this on the true right. Above this we could see a good route up the left of the scrubby face at the head of the valley. We worked over to this and saw another weka. Then it was up a series of steps either on rock or scrub to the band of cliffs above. Here we made a traverse to the right and then straight up a few bluffs to the tussock. By now it was noon so we had lunch and then on up to the ridge at 1272 metres. There we were greeted by a stunning view_ to the north a great sweep of northern Fiordland coast out to Yates Point with the glaciated peak of Mt Pembroke to the east while below cruise ships streaked out past Dale point to do a circuit near St Annes Point and back into Milford Sound.
Travel was easier on the west side of the ridge so we set off on tussock benches and reached a spur joining the main Mitre-Llawrenny ridge. Here there was a mighty view down to the Transit valley with breakers on Transit Beach and Lake Ronald visible to the south across the intervening hills. The Transit looked a fantastic valley with a gently meandering river and lovely flats. We carried on along the ridge which steepened and became more difficult. There were some exposed scrubby faces we climbed and eventually the rope came out as we struck some exposed rock climbing. At one stage we reached a rock overhang but more careful study revealed a route on the other side. Then we came up against an intimidating cheval and here my courage almost failed. Jon suggested we try the left. We left our packs and climbed on the Sinbad side on easy slabs.. Further along we came to a welcome snow patch straddling the ridge perfect of our tent so we back tracked and got our packs. We levelled out the snow and had a comfortable night in this spot.
We arose in the dark and I got the stove going to melt snow. There was little wind and there had been a hard frost. It was light by the time we were putting on our frozen boots. Then we had the Minaret rolled up and were off climbing along the ridge towards a prominent triangular peak. We sidled on the north side and reached easier tussock slopes which led easily to snow slopes to the northwest of the peaks. The snow was in excellent order as we sidled and climbed towards the narrow gully that separates the peaks from peak 1767. Then we were backing down icy slopes into the gut and climbing up towards the plateau under the peaks. Cloud was spilling in off the sea and shrouding the tops. Jon headed off up the northeastern peak while I slowly ground my way up to the col between the main two peaks. Here I found a slump and breakline of the ice field tilted towards the glacier overlooking the east face of the Llawrennys. It looked a bit awkward to downclimb as the slopes below were quite steep with a bergschrund cutting the slope. On either side the mountain was heavily corniced. We wandered up the two main peaks and then hurried back to the col. Here Jon found a sort of tunnel between one end of the slump and the corniced ridge and we had only one pitch below this to easier ground. Then it was a quick walk down easy slopes to the frozen lake 540 metres below.
We had lunch on the rocks at the lake. The sun was intense and it was balmy and soporific. My legs felt like lead. We set off on the 200-metre climb up softening snow slopes to Mt Terror. Then it was a careful sidle along the southern slopes to the ridge beyond. Mt Terror is an impressive mountain with ice fields that drop over an incredible 1000 metre drop into the Poseidon Valley. It is no place to loose it! Further ahead is another less impressive peak that Jon named Death Peak. We picked the south side for the sidle and had a frightening time cramponing across very steep ice slopes that plunged off vertical 1000 cliffs into the valley. This might not have been so bad if we had two ice axes and lighter packs. On and on this scary traverse went till eventually after several hundred metres we reached easier ground. Jon named it the Traverse of the Gods. Then we picked up a series of benches that sloped down to the southwest of the end of the ridge. At the bottom of these was a gully falling into the valley and on the other side was a steep face of tussock and rock that I recognised from my previous effort here. We crossed and traversed it to arrive onto a flat col with a large tarn and lovely easy tussock ridges stretching away towards the Arthur.
By now it was evening of day three and all the danger had passed and life felt good. We ambled slowly down and stopped by a large tarn further down the ridge amid glorious golden tussock. On either side the mountains were resplendent with a golden tussock mantle while above the stark rock and ice fields were sharp against a cobalt blue sky. We unpacked all our gear and I dried out the tent which had frost on it from the previous night. Then I had the primus going and we lay back in the tussock gulping down hot drinks.
I slept well that night but nevertheless I did not enjoy hearing the alarm going off at 5.30 AM. We got organised and were off by 7 AM descending the ridge to Shoulder Hill. The route from the tussock onto the ridge in the bush below is critical as huge cliffs bar the route. I spent about an hour trying to find the exact spot to arrange the first abseil over a 20 feet cliff. Shortly after this arrived out onto the top of a pinnacle in the bush with awesome drops around it. Here was the 70 crack I had climbed before with Richard. We arranged the abseil and off I went relieved to find it was definitely my old route. Once past this there was a steep bush climb up a ridge onto an open top and then it was all downhill following the ridge to the south. This peters out onto a broad bush covered hill at 600 metres with some open rock slabs. Here we hung a left aiming for the island at the south end of Lake Ada till at about 300 metres cliffs bar the route. Here we turned left again in a northerly direction dropping very steeply through near vertical bush interspersed with cliffs. Then we were in a wee stream draining the face above and we followed this down to a bridge on the Milford Track. What an anticlimax for us. One minute in vertical trackless bush and the next on a graded track.
It was a one and a half hour walk to Sandfly Point. Here we picked up my sea kayak. Graeme of the Mitre Peak Cruises was white baiting nearby and said hello. I set off to get Jons kayak at Sinbad Beach. Graeme told Jon Id be lucky to get there in the big seas. Once out of the river there was a very strong onshore wind and the sea built quickly. I felt happy enough in them but I was concerned about the tow back and how Jon's kayak would fare. The odd wave washed over me and one had to concentrate on staying upright. Eventually I closed on Sinbad beach, which is sheltered so landing was not difficult. I dragged Jon's kayak out of the bush slipped on my tow belt and took off. It was blowing like stink but surprisingly Jon's boat rode well and I had not trouble getting it back to Sandfly. When I was closing on the point Jon appeared and shouted, Where the f--- have you been? and then burst out laughing. Graham had apparently put him up to it. I think I was too jaded to offer a smart reply.
All that remained was to load up and scoot across Fishermans wharf for a quick shower and drive home.
Stanley
The probable first traverse of the Llawrenny Peaks on 21-24 October 2005 by Jon Taylor and Stan Mulvany ( Southland Section NZAC and Southland Sea Kayaking Network)
Dear Southland Sea Kayakers
The following is programme for the annual Monowai Sea kayaking Skills weekend.
Monowai Sea Kayaking Skills Weekend 19/20 November
Date: 19/20 November 2005. Course starts at 9.00 AM on Saturday at Monowai Holiday Camp but some may prefer to arrive on Friday night.
Course organisers: Stanley and Belinda Mulvany
Course instructors/Presenters: Terry Macnamara, Stephen Counsell, Jon Taylor, Belinda and Stanley Mulvany
Venue: Monowai Holiday Camp, Monowai Village on the right off the Monowai Road half way between the Blackmount Road and Borland Lodge.
Cost: $20.00 PP per night for accomodation and approximately $5.00 for the use of Blackmount Pool
Registration ASAP by emailing me.
Monowai Holiday camp has 1 self contained cottage with 3 double bedrooms and 8 cabins and tent sites. There is a common room and cooking facilities. You do not need to bring cookers. You need to bring your own sleeping bags, food and kayaking equipment. I have booked the whole camp so contact me rather than the camp ground.
Syllabus:
SATURDAY:
9-10am
Introductions - Stanley
Equipment for kayaking
- Basic
- Emergency equipment
- General emergency kit/grab bag
- Navigation equipment/ VHF radio/GPS
10-12am
Paddling strokes at lagoon - Terry Macnamara and Stephen Counsell
Introduction and safety on the water. The wet exit.
- Forward stroke
- Turning stroke
- Reverse stroke
- Stopping stroke
- Support Stroke
- Draw stroke
- Sculling stroke
- Low brace
Modified canoe polo as an alternative to above - Belinda
12.30-1.30pm
Lunch back at Monowai Holiday Camp
2-4pm
Blackmount Pool - Stephen and Stanley
- Re-entry _Traditional and paddle float
- Assisted Re-entry, T method, Between boat re-entry, 2 rescuer technique
- Eskimo bow Rescue
- Rolling practice
4.30-5.30pm
Coastal Navigation - Jon Taylor
6-7pm
Buffet Meal at Monowai Holiday Camp
Please bring a plate of food plus drink.
7.30-8.30pm
Medical aspect of sea kayaking - Stanley
- Minor problems: sunburn, blisters, tenosynovitis, enthesopathies
- Moderate problems: Shoulder dislocation
- Serious Problems: Near drowning, gasp reflex, hypothermia, CPR in the water, person recovery
SUNDAY
Breakfast and cleanup before 10am.
10-2pm
Lake Monowai
A group paddle on Lake Monowai with the opportunity to practice paddling strokes, paddling signals, towing, pod rules, rolling, self re-entry and assisted re-entry.
Debrief and finish about 2pm
What to bring
Kayak and paddle
Split paddle
Wet suit/dry suit if available
Paddle jacket or parka
Thermal tops and LJs
Warm hat
Paddle hat
Paddle float if available
Leash for glasses
Pogies if available
Safety equipment_ whistle, flares, VHF radio
Bailer, pump, sponge
Dry bag
Neoprene booties or sandles
Towel
Sun cream
Sleeping bag
Drink bottle
Food including something suitable for the buffet meal on Saturday night.
Money to pay for accomodation and pool ( $20.00 per night pp and $5.00 for the pool use)
See you there.
Stanley
On Sunday 9th of October we had a successful Riverton Day with 1.5 hours practice in the morning at the Riverton Pool followed by lunch at Tim and Jacqui�s house and surf practice in the afternoon at Taramea Bay. The weather was warm and sunny and conditions were ideal. We are grateful to Jacqui and Tim for hosting a most enjoyable day for the network.
I decided to postpone our Bluff Day on 30 October as I did not have time to properly organise it. I will run this at a later date.
New Website:
The Southland Sea kayakers Network has a new web-site address as follows
sskn.uniformnz.com
Terry has revamped the network web site which look great especially the photo gallery and links. Check out the photos of Preservation Sound.
Basic Emergency Kit
This is highly recommended for all tramping and sea kayaking trips. It is a Basic Emergency Kit not a comprehensive one by any means. For sea kayaking emergencies other equipment is of course necessary but not practical to include in this basic kit such as orange smoke, red hand held flares, VHF radio etc.
This is the list of items included
Dry bag xs
Waterproof matches and cigarette lighter
Small torch and spare alkaline battery
Pencil, paper and xs zip lock bags
Firestarters
Small compass
Mirror
Illumstick
Energy food
Whistle
Emergency Survival Sleeping bag
The cost is $ 100.00.
$100.00 is cheap if you life is in danger.
Contact Stanley if interested.
For Sale
I bought 2 screen tent for the Preservation Sound trip and I am selling one of them. It is called an Oz Trail Screen Dome Tent and Fly. It measures 330x330x210 and is brand new. It is ideal for sand-fly protection. I am selling it at whole sale price of $300.00. The other one I am keeping for future expeditions.
A red paddling jacket medium size with neoprene cuffs $50.00
Garmin etrex GPS $200.00
Contact Stanley 03-2157263 ( home) or email me [email protected]
Trip Report
The following is an account of a sea kayaking and mountaineering trip near Milford Sound over labour weekend by Jon Taylor and Stan Mulvany
Llawrenny Traverse
The Llawrenny peaks are a group of isolated glaciated peaks lying to the south of Mitre Peak near Milford Sound. They are just under 2000 metres high and lie in splendid isolation between the Transit and Arthur Valleys. They have only had a handful of ascents over the years and were first climbed by the indomitable Edgar Williams and his party from the Arthur in 1954. To my knowledge no one has done a traverse of the mountain from the Sinbad to the Arthur. On Labour weekend 2001 Richard Leppard and I climbed out of the Arthur along the ridge between the Giants Gate and Poseidon Valleys around Mt Terror but failed to summit due to lack of time. Then in January 2004 from the summit of Mitre peak we saw a possible route up the headwall of Sinbad Gully and along the ridges to the Llawrennys and an idea was born.
The project was not an easy one and after searching for a suitable firm I settled on the old respected partnership of Taylor/Mulvany. Jon has been my buddy of some epic trips in the past and was instantly keen. The weather too played ball with a slowly approaching anticyclone and excellent weather predicted for the whole of labour weekend. We felt we needed 4 days to complete the traverse and set off on Thursday night for Homer. On top of the car were our sea kayaks as access was easy using these rather than relying on fishermen to drop us off.
Friday morning saw us down on Fishermans Wharf early unpacking and loading our kayaks. We set off on a calm sound for Sinbad beach which we reached in about half an hour. Here we unloaded the kayaks and Jon towed mine back to Sandfly Point so we could pick it up later. Unfortunately when Jon was away I discovered the billy and cooker were missing when I went to light a fire to make a brew for Jon. I could have kicked myself for leaving them in my kayak. The wind had come up quite strongly by now and when Jon arrived back I jumped into his kayak and headed back. To add to the excitement of battling a very strong off shore wind Jons rudder cable came loose so I had no rudder for most of the way back! This setback cost us two hours.
We finally got away by mid day boulder hopping up the Sinbad creek. It has not rained for the previous 19 days so the river level was low which made travel much easier. About 2 hours in we passed two blue duck on the creek, which were quite unafraid of us. Then we waded/swam across a lovely wide blue pool, a most delightful spot. Another hour brought us to a lovely grassy flat with great views of the Phillips-Llawrenny ridge on the left and the Mitre Peak ridge on the right. The headwall was still several hours away and we could see it lay back on the right, our proposed line of ascent. We were walking through a patch of forest above this and disturbed a weka. An hour later we reached the second set of flats and these were mostly gravel. The upper valley was a bit tedious and we found a nice campsite half an hour before the waterfall at the head. We pitched camp in this delightful and had a nice meal. A kea paid us a visit.
We set the alarm for 5.00 AM next day and we were off by 6.30 AM. We quickly climbed up the steepening creek bed to the waterfall and climbed this on the true right. Above this we could see a good route up the left of the scrubby face at the head of the valley. We worked over to this and saw another weka. Then it was up a series of steps either on rock or scrub to the band of cliffs above. Here we made a traverse to the right and then straight up a few bluffs to the tussock. By now it was noon so we had lunch and then on up to the ridge at 1272 metres. There we were greeted by a stunning view_ to the north a great sweep of northern Fiordland coast out to Yates Point with the glaciated peak of Mt Pembroke to the east while below cruise ships streaked out past Dale point to do a circuit near St Annes Point and back into Milford Sound.
Travel was easier on the west side of the ridge so we set off on tussock benches and reached a spur joining the main Mitre-Llawrenny ridge. Here there was a mighty view down to the Transit valley with breakers on Transit Beach and Lake Ronald visible to the south across the intervening hills. The Transit looked a fantastic valley with a gently meandering river and lovely flats. We carried on along the ridge which steepened and became more difficult. There were some exposed scrubby faces we climbed and eventually the rope came out as we struck some exposed rock climbing. At one stage we reached a rock overhang but more careful study revealed a route on the other side. Then we came up against an intimidating cheval and here my courage almost failed. Jon suggested we try the left. We left our packs and climbed on the Sinbad side on easy slabs.. Further along we came to a welcome snow patch straddling the ridge perfect of our tent so we back tracked and got our packs. We levelled out the snow and had a comfortable night in this spot.
We arose in the dark and I got the stove going to melt snow. There was little wind and there had been a hard frost. It was light by the time we were putting on our frozen boots. Then we had the Minaret rolled up and were off climbing along the ridge towards a prominent triangular peak. We sidled on the north side and reached easier tussock slopes which led easily to snow slopes to the northwest of the peaks. The snow was in excellent order as we sidled and climbed towards the narrow gully that separates the peaks from peak 1767. Then we were backing down icy slopes into the gut and climbing up towards the plateau under the peaks. Cloud was spilling in off the sea and shrouding the tops. Jon headed off up the northeastern peak while I slowly ground my way up to the col between the main two peaks. Here I found a slump and breakline of the ice field tilted towards the glacier overlooking the east face of the Llawrennys. It looked a bit awkward to downclimb as the slopes below were quite steep with a bergschrund cutting the slope. On either side the mountain was heavily corniced. We wandered up the two main peaks and then hurried back to the col. Here Jon found a sort of tunnel between one end of the slump and the corniced ridge and we had only one pitch below this to easier ground. Then it was a quick walk down easy slopes to the frozen lake 540 metres below.
We had lunch on the rocks at the lake. The sun was intense and it was balmy and soporific. My legs felt like lead. We set off on the 200-metre climb up softening snow slopes to Mt Terror. Then it was a careful sidle along the southern slopes to the ridge beyond. Mt Terror is an impressive mountain with ice fields that drop over an incredible 1000 metre drop into the Poseidon Valley. It is no place to loose it! Further ahead is another less impressive peak that Jon named Death Peak. We picked the south side for the sidle and had a frightening time cramponing across very steep ice slopes that plunged off vertical 1000 cliffs into the valley. This might not have been so bad if we had two ice axes and lighter packs. On and on this scary traverse went till eventually after several hundred metres we reached easier ground. Jon named it the Traverse of the Gods. Then we picked up a series of benches that sloped down to the southwest of the end of the ridge. At the bottom of these was a gully falling into the valley and on the other side was a steep face of tussock and rock that I recognised from my previous effort here. We crossed and traversed it to arrive onto a flat col with a large tarn and lovely easy tussock ridges stretching away towards the Arthur.
By now it was evening of day three and all the danger had passed and life felt good. We ambled slowly down and stopped by a large tarn further down the ridge amid glorious golden tussock. On either side the mountains were resplendent with a golden tussock mantle while above the stark rock and ice fields were sharp against a cobalt blue sky. We unpacked all our gear and I dried out the tent which had frost on it from the previous night. Then I had the primus going and we lay back in the tussock gulping down hot drinks.
I slept well that night but nevertheless I did not enjoy hearing the alarm going off at 5.30 AM. We got organised and were off by 7 AM descending the ridge to Shoulder Hill. The route from the tussock onto the ridge in the bush below is critical as huge cliffs bar the route. I spent about an hour trying to find the exact spot to arrange the first abseil over a 20 feet cliff. Shortly after this arrived out onto the top of a pinnacle in the bush with awesome drops around it. Here was the 70 crack I had climbed before with Richard. We arranged the abseil and off I went relieved to find it was definitely my old route. Once past this there was a steep bush climb up a ridge onto an open top and then it was all downhill following the ridge to the south. This peters out onto a broad bush covered hill at 600 metres with some open rock slabs. Here we hung a left aiming for the island at the south end of Lake Ada till at about 300 metres cliffs bar the route. Here we turned left again in a northerly direction dropping very steeply through near vertical bush interspersed with cliffs. Then we were in a wee stream draining the face above and we followed this down to a bridge on the Milford Track. What an anticlimax for us. One minute in vertical trackless bush and the next on a graded track.
It was a one and a half hour walk to Sandfly Point. Here we picked up my sea kayak. Graeme of the Mitre Peak Cruises was white baiting nearby and said hello. I set off to get Jons kayak at Sinbad Beach. Graeme told Jon Id be lucky to get there in the big seas. Once out of the river there was a very strong onshore wind and the sea built quickly. I felt happy enough in them but I was concerned about the tow back and how Jon's kayak would fare. The odd wave washed over me and one had to concentrate on staying upright. Eventually I closed on Sinbad beach, which is sheltered so landing was not difficult. I dragged Jon's kayak out of the bush slipped on my tow belt and took off. It was blowing like stink but surprisingly Jon's boat rode well and I had not trouble getting it back to Sandfly. When I was closing on the point Jon appeared and shouted, Where the f--- have you been? and then burst out laughing. Graham had apparently put him up to it. I think I was too jaded to offer a smart reply.
All that remained was to load up and scoot across Fishermans wharf for a quick shower and drive home.
Stanley
The probable first traverse of the Llawrenny Peaks on 21-24 October 2005 by Jon Taylor and Stan Mulvany ( Southland Section NZAC and Southland Sea Kayaking Network)