Christmas day adventures with the Christmas Giraffe - 25th December

Merry Christmas! It was yet another beautiful day here (I’m beginning to think that the forecast we get on the mainland of “Rain in the Chatham Islands” is all a big plot to keep mainlanders away from these beautiful islands). We had a bit of nest checking to get done in the morning and then made an executive decision that we were going to the North Summit. As we’re a bit out of the way here, Santa Clause didn’t find us on Rangatira, but we were visited by a very rare Christmas Giraffe, and decided to take him with us on our Christmas adventures. The summit isn’t a bad place for Christmas lunch. Pitt Island stretches out to the west, Star Keys is visible in the distance to the north and the Pyramid in the South. The Skuas were a bit weary and kept a close eye on us, either perching on South Summit in the distance or doing a swoop by to see what we were up to.

As sunscreen can only do so much to protect against sun-burn, we eventually had to abandon the summit and went back to the hut. After we drank a few gallons of water each, there was yet another trip to the rock pools at Whalers Bay for a refreshing dip, again with our visitor.

Then it was roast lamb for supper with a special quiche for the vegetarian and roast potatoes and an apple pie for pudding. Despite never having cooked a roast before, I am glad to say that I have inherited my fathers roast potato gene and we ate really well. I managed to mystify my fellow islanders by insisting on daft hats throughout the meal, with one for the giraffe too of course. Not a German tradition I guess.

And our last adventure for the day was a trip up to the Rangatira Trig, a relatively flat area of rock with some good views, for a Christmas night sleep out. The four of us and our Christmas Giraffe set off just after 8 pm to make sure we got through the bush before dusk, with our mattresses and sleeping bags, all set for our big adventure.