Sometimes I feel that planning a tramp is the hardest part of the whole affair. After numerous ultimatums, negotiations and concessions a plan was tentatively laid out; our route would take us over the tops between the Caples and Greenstone Valleys, down to Steele Creek, with the option of heading over Death Valley (sounds appealing right?) back to the road.
Ben mucked around on the date of our departure, so I left him behind to go pick up Hanne and Jakob. By the time I had picked Jakob up from OUSA Ben was still nowhere to be found. Upon ringing him he informed me that he had forgotten to pack his helmet so was still at the flat. Begrudgingly we drove back to pick him up and I took the opportunity to wave goodbye to our other flatmate Olly. Unfortunately on my return to Suzi she refused to turn over. Luckily this wasn’t my first rodeo and after a bit of hammering with an iceaxe under the bonnet she was purring away. The now functioning Suzi sped out of Dunedin headed for Queenstown and then Paradise, full of anticipation and badly sung 80’s classics. Tourist central was our dinner destination but before we could grab some kai Ben insisted on a visit to the candy store to buy some temporary tattoo bubble gum, perfect for a ‘tramp’ stamp he reasoned. Queenstown was also host to the genesis of another saucy story of the trip — Ben and his burger. Some love stories are matches…
