After a couple of weekends with limited chances to get into the wilderness we (mainly me) couldn’t stand the cabin fever any longer and we finally committed to a bush walk with another family. We decided to head up to Helicopter Hill in the Craigieburn Forest Park. The Craigieburn Forest Park is an awesome place to explore and so accessible. There are plenty of tracks to suit pretty much all levels of wanderers from Sunday strollers to hard-core multi-day trekkers. We love the place and we have yet to explore most of it.
The weather on the day played its part pretty well, not too cold, not too hot, and enough clouds to make the Mountain peaks look as spectacular as ever. The view from on top of Helicopter Hill was fantastic, the photos just don’t do it justice. We had a great view of the Craigieburn Range, down to State Highway 73 (the road through to Arthurs Pass), and we could even look across to Leith Hill, a hill we had climbed with the same family a few weeks earlier.
All of the kids did well, spurred on by a fair few bribes of Jet Plane lollies and other like snacks. Also a few games of ‘hide in the bush and last one found by the dog wins’. Major our Viszla is not yet a professional tracker (could be some time….) but still managed to find them all with some assistance.
Where we parked one of the vehicles is the Mistletoe Flat Campground area. Isaac and I have camped here before and it is a very cool place to explore with a stream running through the area and lots of out of the way places to pitch the tent. Just beware of the sandflies, they are ever present here.
Wilderness Kiwis 