Sometimes I wonder why I do the guiding work, ... but days like this remind me. I had two clients to take up the Gertrude Valley. It's only sold as an alpine valley walk, so no implication that everyone will get to the saddle. The two people I had were lovely Yorkshire folk, and quite fit, but not so sure about scrambling. They did really well though, and were keen to get to the saddle. They were really pleased that they did too. Great place for a picnic! Coming down the rocky bits a little coaching was required, but no problems. Great day out.

I was going to go for a run today, but my foot is still a little swollen from something I did to it on the orienteering on Sunday, so I decided another day's rest would be good for it. Kanche's not able to run much anymore due to arthritis in her left arm, so swimming is good for her, so I decided to go for a little paddle on the lake, which was very calm today. Kanche swam well, and after a few hundred metres, I helped her into the canoe. I got a bit carried away after that, and paddled right across the lake to a beach near "Hidden Lakes" at the base of Mount Luxmore.

Tweeted this pic on Saturday after my day's work. It induced mild abuse from Jacqueline and Doug, so I thought I should share it wider, and add a couple of extra pics. All eleven customer's in my van decided to walk up Key Summit. This doesn't often happen, usually some decide they would rather do shorter guided walks. So I was able to pack up the thermos flasks and biscuits and run up to Key Summit, and wait at the top to serve tea and cookies to my clients. Also attached is a kml file which is the gps track - it's not a long way, but it's 400m of climbing.

Parts of my work definitely has a plus side Yesterday, I collected a client at his high class lodge, where we boarded the helicopter and flew the ten minutes over the lake to Luxmore Hut on the Kepler Track. The original plan was to simply walk down the hill from the hut to Brod Bay, where we wolud get the water taxi across the lake to where the vehicle was, and then drive to Queenstown. However, the client wss fit and able, and very keen to got up to the top of Mt Luxmore, so the hike got extended by a couple of hours! The weather played nicely (though the wind was chilly on the summit)

Today was a beautiful winter's day in Fiordland. Milford Sound was a great place to be. The visitor pictured was spotted on the fisherman's wharf - had been there for several hours. Leopard seals are second only to Orca's as predators in Antarctic oceans. They are known to be pretty vicious & have been known to attack humans. This one appears to be at the smaller end of the size scale, possible a young male (females are larger), but I was very wary; talking to him all the time so as not to surprise him.

I am in Milford Sound. The rain has been reasonably heavy - we haven't had proper rain like this for a few months. Since 0900yesterday, its been raining at around 10mm/hr - thats for the last 30 hours. It certainly makes the rivers and waterfalls impressive. This one is the only permenant fall visible from the the road on the way in.

Some times I quite enjoy my work. This guided trip was a heli-hike, with a longer heli part than usual. The attached map shows roughly the route we took - though the GPS lost signal a little in the Milford area due to the steep valley walls. The blue route is the "commute" from Te Anau to Queenstown. The purple is the route we took with the clients. We flew from Manapouri airport to Queenstown. Met the clients, and flew to Mt Tutoko - the highest mountain in Fiordland at 2750m.

Today was probably the best day (weather-wise) of summer so far. Nicky had planned a picnic by Lake Te Anau for the people she works with and partners. A good representation of the nursing staff made it, as did Michelle. However, Nicky was late! We were pretty late to bed last night (about 0200) and had just turned the light out when Nicky's phone rang! She was up and showered and out the door to a delivery.

Nicky Harrison and I took a trip up Gertrude Saddle today. We had fantastic weather - something that's been a bit of a rarity this summer. Gertrude is in the Alps, overlooking Milford (nearly) and it's a great little day walk, up a valley, then up the side of a river to an alpine lake; Black Lake. As you approach the lake, the loose scree/rocks gives way to fantastic easy angled granite slabs. Above Black Lake, you walk up some more slabs, then traverse across to the col.