Pakety Pastures..!

“Pakety Pastures”…! Canterbury, NZ

I had a day up my sleeve so to speak, so decided to have a rest day while on this trek..

Now this hut is not often visited, and when I first walked in the door, the residences all scattered…. mice…. and lots of them… the smell was enough to put most off, but after spending a hour cleaning things up a tad, decided to take an afternoon nap on one of the huts bunks..

I had dozed off on this hot afternoon, when I felt something tickling my arm…. I have been in and around the high country most of my adult life but have never ever had this before…. yes a mouse, walking up my arm….. it took off as soon as I stirred, and with just laying there still watched as these little creatures climbed almost on impossible things….

When trekking one of the first things we learn is to secure any food items and containers up where mice cannot get to it… its was funny.. before my nap I had tied both my horse pack panniers up off the ground to a steel wire hanging off the roof rafter, and as I lay there I watched mice trying to jump over onto them from any vantage they thought.. the panniers were a metre off the hut floor and with one of its straps dangling down to around a foot off the ground, mice were trying to jump up and hang onto that strap… incredible to watch..!