After the goat hunt south of Blenheim we drove back to Jo's sister to pick up some of the gear. Dave and Jo drove back home, as they had some friends coming over to stay for the weekend. I drove the other direction, down to Leatham, to hunt chamois for the weekend. I was going to hunt up Barber Stream, which was located about 10 km south of Boulder Stream, further down Leatham River. I arrived the DOC hut at Caves Bluff on Fridays night, but as this hut was occupied by another hunter, I slept in the car for the night. Early next morning I drove about 5 km up the Leatham River and parked in the road side (red circle on the map). Then I walked a couple of km's along the river and got to the mouth of Barber Stream (red dotted points). I had a long distance to cover before I got to areas where I could find chamois, so it was just to start the walk! During the first km up along the stream I saw several signs of red deer, so there was definitively some wildlife in the area! After a hard days walk I camped at an appropriate location, left my gear, and went out for an afternoon hunt. The weather was perfect, which means that you have daylight until 9 o'clock in the evening at this time of the year. See the following pictures and comments for further info...

Entering DOC's area.

On my way up Barber Stream!

Barber Stream Camp!

View from one of the hills I climbed up during my afternoon hunt.

The altitude and the binoculars are two major factors for getting a view of the surroundings...unfortunately, I didn't find any signs of chamois in this creek either. I arrived camp just before darkness, made some supper and crawled into my sleeping bag.

The day after (Sunday) I walked down the stream and up one of the first branch creeks of the stream.

Barber Stream