Paradise Valley – Ohau Conservation Area
14/15th December
Christine, Robert, Catherine, Colin and Judy departed from Timaru at 7am. With partly cloudy skies but nice calm day to start out the forecast was for rain to come. After a scenic 3 hour drive into Lake Ohau and following the Hopkins valley we were able to drive within a 20 minute walk of Memorial Hut . This gave us a great head start on which could have been a much longer walk. The walk up the Hopkins valley was very pleasant, sunny and warm. We all linked up to cross the Huxley River to save the longer walk up to the swing bridge. After a short distance from here and a lunch break, we turned in to the ridge we were to climb and follow for a few hours upwards, then after sidling off to the west and a gradual decent we finally came out of the bush to a scrubby opening with Paradise Valley opening out in front of us. Truly a pretty hidden valley, especially at this time with the grassy flats, mountain daisy and mount cook lilies in flower. After setting up tents and at about this time the gradual arrival of cloud and eventual light rain we set out for a walk into the valley to explore. We built a campfire, cooked tea, boiled the billy, and later on toasted marshmallows over the campfire. A pleasant evening despite the light rain falling.
After packing our wet tents we set off the same way home. The rain held of mostly and as we departed the valley. Behind us we could see the weather closing in. All in all a great trip.
Thank you Robert our trip leader, and Colin for driving us.
Christine