“On a Mish” #346 Windy-Force Valley – Part One. Lake Coleridge Area / Wilberforce Valley. West Canterbury. 30.8.2022. Sometimes running away from reality can work like hitting the default switch. A complete system reset can be achieved by going into the wild, away from the constant pressure that is life. Of course you will have to return to the real world eventually, however after a taste of nature you will have a reinforced stomach ready for the next meal of pressure and stress…
Answers have been few and far between lately as Christchurch’s health system has been overrun and under staffed. This has meant something that would usually take only a couple of weeks, now takes at least a couple of months. It took three months to tell me I didn’t have a hernia but do have a couple of other ‘issues’. And literally that is all I have found out in that amount of time. The discomfort hasn’t changed very much, so it is back to the drawing board and now I have to wait for another appointment to then get yet another scan. As time has drifted on my life hasn’t, so every now and then I have needed an out for a small amount of time to help me cope with what’s going on. I am super lucky that simply heading into the wilderness can help soothe my sorrows, and due to my injury I have had to modify how I get my fix these days. Injured or fixed, nothing will stop me going ‘On a Mish’.
Now with that being said I still have to obey the rules Mother Nature enforces in the outdoors, and the weather has to be kind to me if I want to achieve my mission goals these days. A series of circumstances led to me having a free afternoon / evening, and after a frustrating week I needed a night out in the wild. My weather window was very small and it looked like I might have a little bit of wind to deal with. To make things complicated my body was in a state where I couldn’t carry a bag to a campsite and would have to camp near my car. With all this in mind I decided to head to the remote Wilberforce Valley, near Lake Coleridge. I had recently camped in the area on a mission up the Lake Lyndon Road and the grandeur of the location had me wanting more. Location sorted, so now it is time to pack and get outta town. As I drove across the plains I was blown away by how little snow was left on the mountains. My mission a few weeks ago was a snowy affair, and now there was only a little bit of stubborn snow left on the tops. As I drove further into the mountains I passed Lake Coleridge with its turquoise waters glistening in the bright afternoon sun. After slowly negotiating the gravel road to the Wilberforce Canals I now found myself looking up the Wilberforce Valley, and immediately I was pushed back by the strong wind that was rumbling down the valley towards me. The conditions would probably turn most back and many would probably rather not spend a night in a tent getting blasted by strong wind. I am not most people, so with the wind doing its thing I started to search for a campsite… – (PART TWO)
