45 Green Bottles

But in this case the bottles aren't hanging on the wall, they've all decided to come to Carrington hut, all 45 of them. It's Good Friday evening and with this many people everything is in a state of chaos and hut etiquette is strained. It's 9pm and people are still arriving, trying to find a bunk or even just floor space and placing their wet boots in front of a fire that is not even going. In the midst of the chaos there is a small corner of order where Monopoly Deal is being fiercely contested and recipes for dehydrated meals swapped. The two Swiss hunters look a bit overwhelmed.

The next morning there're only 2 green bottles as we leave the hut early to get ahead of the hordes. We don't expect to be on our own as there's bound to be plenty of people doing the Three Passes.
There's already a cluster of head torches forming a bottleneck at the Clough cableway and we quickly cross the Waimakariri and leave them behind as we head up Taipoiti river. And that's the last we see of anyone on the trip! All the green bottles have fallen and it's just us.That night at Park Morpeth we cannot believe no one else has arrived. That's one of the things that's great about tramping: out of 4.5 million people, only 2 have decided to do the Three Passes this Easter.

Park Morpeth hut

The zig-zag track up Browning Pass turns out to be far less steep than expected. 160 years after it was made, it is still clearly visible ans easy to follow. Not wanting to join the shades of the miners who benched the original rote through the bluffs, we wisely decide to give it a miss and follow the modern orange markers. This could definitely be challenging in winter but at Easter it is a piece of cake.

View from Browning pass down the Wilberforce river

The trip is worth doing just to see Lake Browning which is definitely a highlight of the trip. There is fantastic camping around the lake and next time we will spend the night there for sure.

Following the old miners track down the valley one gains a huge amount of respect for the prospectors who carved this trail into the mountains. Strange to think that this could once have been the main road to Canterbury. The Three Passes is a classic backcountry trip linking Canterbury to the West Coast. Picking the weather and the season will greatly influence the difficulty of the trip. Doing this in winter would make it a full-on alpine experience.

Lake Browning

Bloody helicopters!

Im standing on the side of a steep, scrub covered spur and having a roaring contest with a stag thats barely 20 yards away. Whats preventing him bolting is that the cloud is so thick i cannot see him even though hes so close his roars are making the scrub shake. This is adreniline pumping stuff. Im waiting for a break in the clouds so i can see him but the mist remains as thick as soup. A couple of steps forward but i dare go no further, if he smells me its all over. Im cursing the cloud when i start seeing his antlers moving ine mist but thats all i can see. It feels like im there for hours but its more like 10 minutes before the cloud thins for a few seconds and there he is; broadside on and so close i could throw a stone at him but this damn cloud is like a smoke screen, i need a clear shot and its not happening. The cloud has let me stalk right in but its preventing the money shot.
God this is frustrating, but exiting as all heck and then it clears, i take the shot and he leaps off the spur and crashes into the scrub and then it all goes quiet. I didnt miss did i?

No, a big splash of blood is on the flax where he was standing and i find some more leading downhill but it then peters out and i spend the next 10 minutes trying to pick up the trail in the oleria. Damn being colourblind and trying to see red blood on green foliage, impossable! The stag is located just as i start thinking ive stuffed it up, hes made it about 50 yards downhill and is lying stretched out with his antlers caught in the scrub. Looks like a lung shot as ive gone just behind the engine room. Could have been better but not that bad all things considered. Its open sights after all.
Irony, 1 minute after i fire the mist starts clearing!
A typical narrow bush head but the timber is nice and thick and 12 points. A really big bodied animal as well. Its great to have success when you have worked hard for it.

Yeeehaaaaaww, Success!

The trip hadnt started that well, after a 7 hour walk in, i was watching a young stag out feeding when a blue and black R22 came over the ridge and started shooting the shit out of the place. About 10 rounds were needed to put the stag down which is disgracefull. I was not impressed, this was going to screw the trip up. Bloody helicopter cowboys!!!
Turns out i was right. On the open side of the ridge the deer were keeping right out of the tussock. The stags were only roaring at night and were staying down in the bush during the day. However on the steep side of the ridge where the helicopters didnt hunt the deer were more active with 4 stags seen and a few hinds as well.
2 stags were having a roaring a roaring contest on a far ridge when i spotted a couple of hinds on a spur below me, "hello girls, wheres your boyfriend?" It took about 10 minutes of glassing to spot him where he was lying down in the tussock about 300 yards away.
Well if i had a bipod and a scope and a 7mm Remington magnum i could have taken him then and there but thats not really hunting as far as im concerned. With a 308 and open sights, yes thats right, Open Sights! i need to get to 100 yards or closer and thats not going to happen today as theres no way to close the range without being seen by those hinds.
The next day is a differant story however. With thick cloud concealing me and my first roar being answered by a mighty bellow the stalk is on...

What a place and deer cental as well