Birthday Binser Bushwack

For my birthday, I headed to NZ.  What better way to spend it, than with good beer, good friends, and good mountains.  I headed up Mt Binser with, my friend, Michael.  Mt Binser is near Aurthur's Pass and has some amazing views.  We headed up a nicely cut trail on a beautiful Sunday.  Like a typical Kiwi hike, it began with, almost, a vertical climb.  The NZ mountains don't believe in warming up. 

As we climbed to the saddle, Michael mentioned that it was time to turn.  Therefore, I looked around for a nice path.  We kept on going, while I looked for a path.  Then, my friend points out that there won't be a path, we were to smash our way through the bush.  Therefore, we headed through the shrubbery that you can see above.  This was not the thickest part.  Michael soon disappeared and I could only catch glimpses of a red jacket through the thick old man's beard (moss from the trees).  

 Well, we finally made it through to a better clearing.  Then, Michael told me that this seemed like the path.  As it turns out, it was the path because it was heading up.  Finally, we worked our way out of the beach tree forest.  The next section was a steep climb through brush, which contained a lot of Spaniards (a thick hard plant that is very poky).  My hand received a couple presents from the Spaniards.  Anyhow, we made our way to the ridge, which resulted in a absolutely beautiful view.  Snow could be found on the south side of the mountains, while the north sides were rocky. 

We made our way to our summit and then scurried on down the scree (which is oodles of fun because you can essentially ski down the mountain on shoes).  We made it to the car right at sunset, which was good because it was 5pm and time for beer and racks of lamb.  We headed over to Michael and Deborah's house for dinner, which was absolutely lovely.  They live in Lyttelton, up in the hills, in a 100 year old house. It was a nice cap to a great day.