Weekend wander with the boy.

My son Ryan had a bye on the weekend for soccer so we planned a walk into Boundary Creek hut in the Ashburton lakes area. Drove in to paddle hill creek and left the truck just before lunch. Nice easy walk up the valley with a couple of stops saw us reach the hut at 3pm.

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Met 10 members from CHCH tramping club at hut so decided to pitch tent to sleep in.

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I carried the mighty JW15 in with us in the hope there would be a few rabbits in the area but a late afternoon walk showed nothing but a lone NZ falcon.

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Back to the hut for dinner of pasta and salami with chocolate for dessert. Next morning the trampers said they were walking out over the ridge to Mystery Lake and then back along front of range out to buicks bridge.

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I had a chat with Ryan and we looked over the map to see what he thought of that idea. He was so keen that mustard would have run away in embarrassment. After the trampers left camp Ryan was keen to do a bit of target practice so we found a safe spot and he fired off 15 rounds.
We then started off up the ridge, a 400 metre verticle climb to the top which was just a wee bit strenuous for me carrying 15 kilos and I was continually getting left behind by Ryan.

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Once over the top we had lunch beside Mystery Lake and then continued out toward Lake Clearwater then turned left onto the Te Araroa trail out to the truck.

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All I can say is what a great weekend. Walked 9.7km in on Saturday and 15.5 back out on Sunday. Ryan was absolutely buzzing all the way home and couldn't wait to tell Mum of our great adventure.

You just can't beat being out and about like this with the kids. Even better when they enjoy it much as young Ryan appears to have.

PDC Rumpy -Pretty Damn Cool
Nice pictures too, loved the falcon and the reflecting lake.:thumbsup:

It's so gratifying getting the kids out. Wicked.

great to hear that rifle is doing the bizo for you and Ryan..... next step.223 and then the wallabies will be in trouble.

Awesome, cant wait to do the same with my little ones.

Well done getting the young fallow out Rumpy,good effort Ryan.You will be planning the next trip soon.

Excellent trip report Rumpy, great to see Ryan out and keen, job well done.

Just goes to show shooting something on your outings is only secondary, what a great trip with your boy, loved the pictures especially the falcon. Those memories are priceless.

That's a superb photo of Ryan at the lake. Well worth getting your local photo print shop to enlarge to A4 size and stick it in a frame.

Photo's like that don't come along very often.