Two weeks ago marked a wee anniversary and hence justified a long weekend kind of adventure. We looked into tramping options but the weather forecast changed our plans and instead we opted for a historic pub tour of Otago. We departed Friday morning in heavy downpour, oblivious to how this could evolve into a state of emergency for a number of Canterbury and Otago towns.

Late October last year, Christchurch crawled out of its prolonged winter and the weather warmed enough to take us out of hibernation. We eagerly took our chance at the first long weekend that came around and drove to the West Coast for the Inland Pack Track. The Inland Pack Track is one of many walks in the beautiful Paparoa National Park. It promised multiple river