Freezing Winter Camping Adventure in the New Zealand Mountains

It's a bit unusual for me to be out in the sun. Those of you that watch my channel know that. I love camping in the rain and in the snow. But we've got some winter sun, and it's absolutely gorgeous. Gonna light a fire tonight. Stay warm, it's gonna get to minus two degrees. So below freezing point, I've got some beautiful food to cook up and my tent and tarp. So sit back and relax, and come and join me for a bit of outdoor time in the wild. And just like that, the sun is gone. It is cold now. There's a bit of wind, which is not helping. First things first, I need to get some warm clothes on because I am really cold now. The spot I'm thinking of is just through here. This is lovely. I still actually get a beautiful view, but we've got this, sort of like a semi-circle of trees all the way around us. It's much more still here than it was out there in the open. I'm very happy with this spot. There's not supposed to be any rain here tonight. But there's big, thick clouds up at the head of the valley. And I think I can see rain. So, good thing I've brought my rain tarp with me. Rain. It's still only drizzling, but the clouds are building and building up that way. It's a funny little tarp. I don't know, I've kind of got a bee in my bonnet about putting it up. It's just, it doesn't have a nice rigid seam through the middle where the ridge line is. So, when you pull it, it just, I don't know. I don't like putting it up. It's a fussy little tarp to put up. It's probably not even gonna rain properly. I have a game I like to play, and it's called Guess What I Forgot This Time. What do you think it is? Every time I come on a camp, I forget something. If you guessed my mug, you would be right. So, I'm gonna have to drink my cup of tea out of the kettle or pour it into the billy. I might do that. Oh, well. I do write lists and things like that. I just put my insulated mug in the car with me in case I wanted to stop and get a coffee on the way. I was meant to put it into my pack before I left the car. We've got really light, fine rain. I don't think you guys will be able to hear it because I didn't bring the rain umbrella that goes over the camera. I wasn't expecting it to rain. It's really, really fine rain, sort of that cross between a mist and a drizzle. I'm glad I've got the tarp, though, because it's the sort of rain that you'll sit out in, or I guess you can just call it mist. You'll sit out in it, and then 20 minutes later, you realize that you're all wet through. So good. I optimistically brought my book with me. How many trips have I brought a book on and not actually read it? I was thinking I'd have so much time, but everything takes ages. So worth it, though. Fruit and Guava Organic Kombucha. This is really tasty. Ooh. Wow. Yum, yum, yum. This is just like absolute comfort food to me. Delicious pasta. Lots of cheese. Nice creamy tomato sauce. So good. Yum. So good. Oh. So, what's been happening? Well, there has been so much going on, both in my camping life and private life. Life is keeping me really busy. I've been chasing the snow. I love camping in the snow. It's really, really challenging, and really hard to get to. And I've managed one or two snow camps this winter, but I'm really looking forward to a nice dump of snow in a really pretty area so that I can take you guys there and go and do a snow camp. There was some snow a week or two ago down south in the mountains. Pretty rugged area, and the roads were closed and, yeah, a bit chaotic. So I didn't get down there for that. I'm doing something a bit different next week. I'm heading up to the North Island. So New Zealand is made up of lots of islands, but it's generally thought of as having two islands, which is the North and South Island. Another major island is Stewart Island, which is at the bottom of the South Island, but generally speaking, people think of New Zealand as the North and South Island. So I live in the South Island, and my parents live in the North Island, and I'm heading up to Wellington and then beyond to go and visit my parents. There's a lovely mountain range near where my parents live, the Tararuas. I don't know that I'm gonna be able to get out for a camp, though. I'm not taking a checked-in bag, so I'm not taking any camping gear. If I do head out into the mountains, it will be with borrowed gear, which is always an option, isn't it? I wonder if you guys would be interested in that, seeing me camping up in the North Island. Oh yeah, time for a hot drink before bed. And I'm just gonna go and hop into bed and read. Good morning. I have my coffee. It is so cold. I have gloves as well, but I've been hiding them down under my clothing because the gloves themselves were cold, and that wasn't very helpful. I forgot to put them inside my sleeping bag. Usually I put all of my clothing inside my sleeping bag, and inside my sleeping bag liner, so they're warm in the morning. Ah, right. Let's go for a wander. Ha ha ha. Craziest camp mug ever, but I can hold it and it'll keep me warm. It's cold and it's crisp, and there's a heavy frost on the ground, but isn't it beautiful? It's a beautiful winter's morning. The sun is slowly creeping down the hillside. It won't be all that long before we have it. Oh, I'm just looking at this ridge up here. I've camped up the top of that before on two occasions. I'll link the video at the end of this one. And in that video, I'm looking from the top down here. That's what gave me the idea to come camping here. Such a beautiful area. Further down the valley, where I crossed the first river, there's another valley that goes sort of up and into the mountains. It's very narrow, so it's very dark and cold in winter. It basically gets no sun, so I wouldn't go there in winter. But that's where I went for my very first camp ever. Well, my very first solo camp that I filmed for YouTube anyway. Trying to drink my coffee quickly because it's cooling down so fast. This area's got lots of memories for me, lots of significance. It's pretty darn special. The sun is so welcome. Feels so nice to have the sun. Like, straight away, my hands are warmer. My feet are warmer. I'm smiling. So good. What I can't believe, I can believe it. It's crazy how low the sun is in the middle of winter. I wasn't actually expecting it to rise over there because it's set over here. But of course, it's the middle of winter, so you get this really low arc. Crazy. I'm just gonna sit here and read for a bit longer. I'm really enjoying the book that I'm reading, The Bookseller of Kabul. I'm not sure if I can pronounce the author's name. Azni Tirstad? Hope I didn't get that wrong. Really enjoying it. So I'm gonna stay for a bit longer and read and wait for the tent and tarp to dry off. It's still really, really icy, so the tarp is completely iced over. And the tent on the far side where it wasn't covered. And I don't really wanna have to pack them up. Stiff, wet, icy. So hopefully the sun will thaw those off before I pack up. Right now, I'm just soaking up the sun and enjoying myself. Oh, wet, frozen boots. Not the most pleasant. It's getting close to midday, and the tarp is still completely iced over. So I don't think there's any chance of it thawing out. So I'm gonna get packed up. Cold hands, cold feet. Need to get moving. Just trying to keep the blood pumping to my feet, keep them warm. I'd be useless in a place like Mount Everest or somewhere where you are in the cold all the time and at risk of getting frostbite, because I just get such cold extremities. Good thing I have no desire to climb Mount Everest. None whatsoever. All right. Just the camera and tripod to put away. And all my electronic gear. And I need to dismantle the fire pit because I don't like leaving fire pits there. Right, let's go. I've got feeling back into my toes, which is fantastic. But I know I'm gonna lose that feeling when I go through the river. I'll catch up with you guys again at the river because I wanna show you something. On my way in, I had to have two attempts at crossing the main river. I don't, well, I haven't been up this valley before, and the reason is because I like to camp in the rain. And when it's been raining and river levels rise, you have to be so, so careful about crossing. The first time I attempted to cross the river, the water reached the top of my thighs. Quite strong, you know. Let's go downstream. Pretty strong there. And my rule is I don't cross a river on my own if it's above mid-thigh. What I wanna show you is how you can carefully choose the spot that you cross and that that affects the flow of the river and the safety of crossing. So I'm gonna make my way through the trees down alongside that gorgeous river that I showed you yesterday. And when I get back out onto the flats in the open, I'll show you where I crossed yesterday. If you have a look on the other side there, you can see a gap between the rock wall. I came down off the track, but you can see the track behind it if you look really carefully, there's a little orange triangle. So you come down off the track through the rock wall, and then, you know, the first assumption is, oh, well, I'll just cross right here. Doesn't look too bad. But believe it or not, that got up to the top of my thighs. And what I should have done is gone down there. So the river widens here and then splits into three. And as you can imagine, when you've got the force of a river coming down here and then going in three different directions, it's gonna reduce the amount of energy in that river. So the wider the river, the better it is for crossing. And even though this is not the kind of river I'm likely to get swept away by, because it shallows out so much, the last thing that I would have needed was wet gear. Let's do it. Well, there you go. Another fantastic winter overnight has come to an end. What a wonderful, wonderful trip. I'm so glad that I came out. And I'm so glad that you guys joined me. And thank you for sticking to the end. I hope that you will subscribe if you're not and keep an eye out for future videos. If you're interested in seeing some of the North Island and want me to get out for a camp when I'm up there, I will try, I can't promise. But let me know in the comments if you're keen. And I'd also love to know if you're curious about New Zealand cities, if you want me to take some footage of the road trip through Wellington, then I can include that. Thanks so much to everyone who's joined up as a channel member. Thank you so much for following me on Instagram. If that's something that you want to do, you can check out the link in the description. And thank you so much for the YouTube Super Thanks and the Buy Me A Coffee membership and treats. I really, really appreciate it. Thank you guys. Till next time, take care. See you outdoors.