Home > Field Trips

CPS Field Trips

Each month there is a field trip (usually on a Sunday) to somewhere reasonably close to Christchurch. These are well attended and are an opportunity to get to know members and learn more from each other in the field

John Miller is the newly appointed organiser and leader of these field trips.

For more information including start times and meeting places contact John Miller on 351 1515 or email housepix@xtra.co.nz

Upcoming Lake Coleridge Field Trip

Sunday 22nd August

Yes, another field trip is looming over the horizon August 22 to be exact. With adventure to be had in the Lake Coleridge area, the day will include a visit to one or two stations in the area and opportunies will abound for photos to be taken.

We will meet at the public relief buildings in the township which are opposite and old NZED goods shed.

Please note departure is at 8 am SHARP

Any questions to John Miller Ph 351 1515

“Freezie-Frosties”, Lake Heron 11th July 2010

How John T (Who Shall Be Nameless) Took His Camera For Its Maiden Swim

The official trip is, of course, held on Sunday, but some of us are known to sneak up to the area on the Friday evening before. This report will cover both the Saturday and the Sunday.

The New Zealand Met service – long known for getting the weather forecast wrong for 52% of the time, was right this weekend! Yes, you heard me! Met Service got it right. From the Friday evening, cloud clearing, they said. Correct!

On Saturday we awoke to a sparkling, starlit, dark – oh, so black – morning with a temperature of -7 °C. Not the coldest we’ve had in the area, but quite respectably cool. We piled layer after layer of clothing on until we looked like the Michelin figure, and then we started to get really dressed. We drove the short distance to the Upper Maori Lake where the temperature dropped a further degree as just the thinnest sliver of sickle moon rose from the eastern horizon to bathe us in next-to-no light whatsoever! Thirty minutes later the rising sun touched the high peaks in the distance – magnificent!

We returned to our accommodation, cooled as we were by the temperature, warmed by the thought of a warm house, and ravened by the gnawing pangs of hunger!

Breakfast was prolonged, and interspersed with comments such as: “One plate or two?”, “Two slices of toast or four?”, “If I eat that much now, will I need lunch?” Er – yes! After breakfast we sallied forth into the mostly known of the Great Unknown and spent the rest of the day exploring the area, during which John T’s camera “swamk”. [Not a typo. Ed.] Back for tea – and what a tea! A mid-winter pot-luck dinner which turned into a birthday tea for me. My friends decorated our house with streamers and balloons, and served a three-course meal of soup, main of chicken or beef casserole or both, jacket potatoes, peas, carrots, salad and etceteras, and a sweet! A cake with candles appeared before me, to accompany our after-dinner coffee.

Here I must pause in my narrative to thank Alec M for the idea, Nancy G for planning the menu, Lesley T - as ever the quiet organiser, Diana A, Fran S, Dave G, Brian M, Geoff E, Ray B and John T - quiet but loyal supporters, and John M, who by no stretch of anybody’s imagination can be called quiet, and who has agreed to take over the mantle of Field Trip Organiser from me. I thank him for his expletives such as “stunning”, “awesome”, etc. A worthy successor and high-country lover!

Now to Sunday, the proper Freezie-Frostie day.

John M and Diana - Madame-Esteemed-President - rose from their respective bunks early and drove off into the stygian darkness and a respectably cool temperature to meet and greet those hardy souls who had left Christchurch at some awful hour, those who had camped (yes, camped in a tent, no less), those who over-nighted in the backs of their vehicles, or stayed at a fisherman’s bach in the Lake Clearwater settlement. I stayed in bed until the rest of the Castle Ridge Dozen had departed for Maori Lakes in the pre-dawn darkness. I breakfasted at leisure then caught up with the rest of the party at Lake Heron, where the views across the lake were almost perfect. We then moved further around the lake to the big haybarn where we had morning tea and more image-taking. From there we drove off to Lake Clearwater with a stop or two on the way. At Clearwater Village we drove along a road, or what is classed as a road - a tad muddy and rutty. Our lunch spot looked right up the lake to the Alps, the Two Thumb Range, the Cloudy Range and Mt Potts, all seen through a clear, blue, cloudless sky. The temperature had, by this time, risen to a sub-tropical +7 °C from the pre-dawn low of -8 °C.

We had lunch, with John M having what has become his usual lunchtime nourishment, subsistence, comestibles, or even fleshpots, of bacon and sausages cooked over a small gas stove. Oh! The odorousness of frying bacon!!!

Then followed The Quiz, which was won in the single-pen/single-brain section by Frantastic Fran, with John M as runner-up. The single-pen/multi-brain section was won by Vicki, Nigel and Heidi, with Fergus and Carol, Dave and Brian, as runners-up. Congratulations one and all for taking part. As, once again, I had forgotten the chocolate fish, Lesley produced her pièce-de-résistance - a life-sized chocolate-fish cake about the size of a good schnapper. Thanks again, Lesley! [A replay of the miracle of the loaves and fishes, but without the loaves. Ed.]

Those attending the Sunday Section of the Freezie-Frosties were: Chris N, Sarah H (Chris’s sister from England), Michael and Callum N (Chris’s son and grandson), Terry C, Mike M, Vicki S, Nigel K, Dave S, Sebastien K, Tony H, Fergus and Carol C with Jess and Baxter the dogs, Trent B, Heidi A, Jou Khiang K, Xiaoxing Z, Louise D, Stuart C, Greg T and Nelson B, with cameo appearances from Sally B and Carolyn and Frank G.

Once again, my thanks to you all for coming and making the whole weekend so memorable.

Ulysses
(aka Chris Newman)