Sunday - April 2nd

We woke this morning to a chill in the air and overcast skies. Five of us made an emergency dash to Kathmandu for more thermals! By the time our bus arrived the skies had cleared and the day was warming up.

We were met by Geoff, the head of Adventure South, and our guide, before heading to Sumner Beach for lunch. We got our first mountain climbing experience climbing a huge rock on the beach and crawled through a cave underneath.

Then we headed off up Summit Road to the start of our first warm-up hike. 10 metres into the hike Meredith tripped and went flying straight into the only thistle on the path!

The rest of the group continued on while she was sent back to the bus, but she hitched a lift up the road and reappeared on top of the mountain to rejoin the group.

We had a great one and a half hour hike ending at a tea house. We then got back on the bus and headed to Rangitata Lodge for dinner and our base for the night.

There we met our other three guides, Southy, our paramedic, Mark, and chef Kathy. After a great dinner we headed to bed, ready for the start of the trek. All hiked really well today, especially Susan Fishpool who led us up every hill!