Sunday 20 November - Murray's Creek Reefton
We spent a couple of hours in the Blacks Point Museum in the morning and then headed out on a walk that was to take us past sites of a number of different disused gold mines where towns had sprung up in the 1870s and a previous open cast coal mine. The track started out very steep and became easier after an hour or so. We enjoyed the native bush, the friendly bush robins and bell birds and were fascinated by the various remnants of machinery that had been abandoned at the sites. We walked for around 5 hours in total for a thoroughly enjoyable day. I hadn't had an opportunity to recharge my GPS so didn't bother to wear it today.
Our quads are feeling pretty sore after two days with steep climbs. I guess that makes a change from sore hamstrings.
Saturday 19 November - Foley's Track and Mt Travers
Today we decided to climb one of the peaks in the Lewis Pass to give us a good view over all the hills in the area. Fresh snow fell on Thursday night and was still around on Saturday so we weren't sure what it would be like on the tops. We got to the tree line in half the time that the track information suggested. We were really only climbing at a steady rate so I hadn't expected to be that far ahead of schedule. The weather was fine with a cold but moderate wind so we had to put on coat, hat and gloves to continue our climb. We did have to cross some snow in our running shoes but all that went without incident and we got to the top in another hour. It was like being in the mountains with all the snow topped peaks around. It certainly was a good idea to base ourselves in the Lewis Pass for a couple of days to try some of the tracks that we have driven by so many times in the past.
This was a fairly flat, easy walk of 8 km each way to the hut then another km each way along a disused track to the head of the lake which was quite slow due to difficulty in finding the way. The scenery was beautiful and there was lots of bird life. We stopped frequently to admire the views and I didn't bother to stop the watch so the speed means nothing.
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