Time: 4 hours and 42 minutes (Car park to Summit via Summit Track: 1.5 hours; Summit Track to Bob's Bivvy Track Junction 1 hour; Bob's Bivvy Track Junction to car park via Ridge Track 2 hours)
Distance: 12.8 km
Start: Wooded Gully Tramping and Picnic Area, Hayland Road, Okuku
I typed "Mt. Thomas" into Google Maps and we ended up driving erroneously down Glen Tui Road which looked familiar but felt wrong (it leads to the start of the Mt. Richardson Track) . We backed up and did a "U"ey while I scrambled around trying to get my bearings. Thankfully we had an internet connection to the outside world and were soon back on target, whizzing down Hayland Road and parking at the car park.
The loos were miles from where we parked the car so it was well gone 10am before we were finally setting off, uphill on the Summit Track. Despite the late start, the sun was still low behind the mountain and we were mostly in shade. It was a bit chilly to start with but the track goes straight up through the pines and gets relentlessly steeper and steeper so we were soon huffing and puffing and shedding jackets.
Halfway up we stopped to chat to a sprightly septuagenarian. He had climbed Mt. Thomas about 150 times and had also (probably as a direct result) had a double knee replacement. You could see that his knees weren't exactly natural because they had a weirdish square shape. While he chatted, he tapped one of them with his walking pole. Sharyn reckoned it sounded like metal on metal. Bionic.
After about 1.5 hours, we were standing at the summit, rewarded with the most fabulous panorama: crystal clear blue skies, the slightest of breezes, 180 degrees of snowy ranges spanning one side, and on the other: 180 degrees of the patch-worked Canterbury Plains, rolling out to the distant Pacific ocean/Te Moana nui-a-Kiwa. We dilly dallied, eating frooballs and persimmons and shooting a goofy video of us, circling for the panoramic background and singing Happy Birthday to Fletcher.
The path continued down a slightly icey ridge to the saddle where the Woodend Gully Track turns off. We continued on the Ridge Track up to a junction with DOC signage. From here a tracks goes onwards to Bob's Biv and Pinchgut Hut. That will have to wait for another day - our route was to continue down the Ridge Track and back to the car.
We descended slowly over two hours, at first in beautiful beech forest and then through the pines. The descent seemed to take longer than planned, we were hankering for coffees and victuals. We chatted to a friendly family of hunters, two cute kids 7 and 5 plus Mum and Dad. They were kitted out in khaki camoufaged gear and the dad carried a rifle and the mum excitedly told us about a recent sighting of a jewelled gecko on Banks Pensinsular. I would love to see one of those.
Back at the car we discarded our muddy boots to the boot and drove without further ado to Coffee Workx Roastery Cafe in Rangiora for rice cakes and flat whites. A fab day it was.
