Alone at the Top of a Mountain - Camping Under the Stars with a Huge Campfire and Incredible Views

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]I've got a hankering for one of those sort of camps.

[00:00:04]You know those ones where you climb to the top of a mountain and find an absolutely beautiful unique spot.

[00:00:12]Somewhere with exquisite views.

[00:00:15]One of those trips where you don't take a tent and you don't take a tar. It's just you with a big campfire and your sleeping bag under the stars.

[00:00:27]This is one of my favorite areas and I'm so looking forward to sharing it with you. First of all, I need to get to the top of this mountain. I've got about 700 meters of elevation gain and about 2 hours of uphill slog. So, I'm going to get cracking and I'll catch up with you up the mountain.

[00:01:23]over halfway.

[00:01:26]This is the fifth time I've done this walk and every single time I do it, I get to this point where you break out of the bush and I am just blown away by how beautiful it is.

[00:01:44]Being down in the valleys down by the rivers is wonderful. I love camping alongside a river. But there is really just something about getting up above the bush line.

[00:02:50]This little town is a great water source up here, but you do have to boil it. So I have brought with me about 2 lers of fresh water from home.

[00:03:22]Don't you just love how dramatic it is?

[00:03:27]I haven't actually been up this high.

[00:03:30]The other times I've been here, I've camped down by those tongs.

[00:03:35]I'm breaking into new territory. There's a lot of good vegetation for starting a fire up there by the ts. But if I want to keep a fire going, I'm going to need to be close to the bush to get some wood. So, we're on the lookout now for a nice spot to camp.

[00:04:04]Stunning.

[00:04:06]This is absolutely perfect.

[00:04:10]If I'm going to come out in such beautiful weather, I want to be able to see the stars tonight. I've got nothing over my head. I want to be able to see the sun setting and the sun rising.

[00:04:26]I've got trees behind me to collect wood for my fire and a water source 5 minutes away. The ground here, it's lovely and soft. It's not wet.

[00:04:39]There's a little bit of snow still left over from one of our first snowfalls of the upcoming winter season.

[00:04:50]But it's not actually soggy underfoot.

[00:05:51]There's a little bird in the trees here.

[00:05:57]It's a South Island robin.

[00:06:06]I've joked before and said that it seems like it's the same one that follows me everywhere.

[00:06:13]It's like my little guardian angel.

[00:06:16]There always seems to be a South Island robin hanging around my camp or following me when I'm walking, which is pretty special. They're a beautiful little native bird.

[00:08:06]If you're wondering about this box, These are predator traps for stos, psums, rats, anything that can kill our native birds and damage our native trees.

[00:08:46]Dry firewood. What a treat.

[00:09:08]So, for a while now, I've been wanting to try and make my own fire starters.

[00:09:15]And I know that you can um spread Vaseline on cotton balls. So, what I've done is I've spread Vaseline on cotton balls and then squashed them into a pine cone. And I want to see how long this might burn for because just getting that initial flame is not really what I'm after. What I'm really after is keeping it going for long enough that I can get the fire established. And that's especially the case in winter. It is not going to be hard today at all.

[00:09:54]But if you know my channel, you know that I'm usually camping out in the rain or the snow. And going into winter, it's going to be very wet, very cold. And having a way to get a fire started in wet conditions is really, really valuable. So, as well as that one, I've also made this catastrophe of a fire starter.

[00:10:26]Some of you might have seen this before.

[00:10:31]So, it is going to be the battle of the fire starters to see which one goes for the longest, which one lights the quickest and then goes for the longest. To start us off, we have Vaseline cotton balls. I have a feeling this one is going to take a lot quicker than the wax one cuz I think the wax is going to possibly help it stay a light but I don't think it's going to um like ignite quickly.

[00:11:09]Woo!

[00:12:26]Well, so Far the Vaseline cotton balls are doing really well.

[00:12:32]Although the wax one, although it's taking a long time to light, it might last longer.

[00:13:15]out.

[00:13:45]I'm going to cook my food.

[00:13:48]I'm going to cook my dinner over the fire.

[00:13:52]Well, in the coals anyway, so I want to put quite a bit of wood on and then I can sit and have my wine and just wait for the coals to die down.

[00:14:08]This is the really delicious part of a trip when all the work is done.

[00:14:17]This might be your first time watching one of my videos, and this might not make a lot of sense to you, but if you've watched my channel for a while now, you'll understand.

[00:14:26]This is the easiest camp ever.

[00:14:35]I think I have taken for granted, like not realized quite how difficult camping in adverse conditions is because I mostly camp in heavy rain or snow.

[00:14:50]Everything is harder. Like, I'm not joking. Everything, the filming, the walking, keeping your stuff dry, gathering firewood, chopping firewood, it's everything takes longer and everything's harder. This is so easy.

[00:15:04]I've just turned up, made a cup of tea, laid my bed out, collected some firewood, and lit a fire.

[00:15:14]There is something to be said for this fair weather camping.

[00:15:19]But don't you fear, I will be back out in the rain very soon. The truth is, there just hasn't been rain. So, people say, "Is it always raining in New Zealand?" And I know I've addressed this before, but it's not always raining in New Zealand. In fact, I have not been able to get out on a rainy camp because there hasn't been any rain. There has been rain on the West Coast and up at the top of the South Island, but both of those locations require me to drive for 3 to 5 hours. And with the cost of um fuel at the moment, it's just not really doable. It also takes a lot of time. If you have to drive 5 hours and then do a camp and then drive five five hours home, it's it's a lot of time.

[00:16:06]So around here around Canterbury in that sort of middle part of the South Island of New Zealand, we just haven't had a lot of rain recently. And there isn't all that much on the forecast either. I don't think we're going to get rain for another week at least.

[00:16:53]Woo! Woo!

[00:16:55]The best seat ever.

[00:17:08]I've just gone and put my stuff in my backpack because the downside with not having a tar or a tent is that everything gets quite dewy.

[00:17:23]So, I think it's going to be quite a wet night. I can already feel the dew on all of my things. That's okay. It's fine if my pack gets dewy on the outside.

[00:17:36]As long as everything inside it stays dry, it'll dry off quickly in the morning.

[00:17:53]Right, wine o'lock, I think. Let me go and get my wine.

[00:18:04]Isn't that just the cutest?

[00:18:09]So cute.

[00:18:24]Just realized got this lovely kombucha with me and I think I'm going to drink that first cuz I'm quite thirsty.

[00:18:35]A lot of wine to go to my head.

[00:18:57]I tapped it.

[00:19:02]That always happens to me.

[00:19:27]You can see lights down in the valley, State Highway 73 that runs between Christ Church and Greymouth comes through the valley where I parked and you can see the cars making their way along the highway along the state highway. Okay. Yeah, the highway.

[00:19:51]I always wonder whether they look up here at me the way I look down there at them and then out over that way where the sun set.

[00:20:03]You can just see the first stars coming out.

[00:20:15]Dinner tonight is fresh salmon.

[00:20:22]And onto the salmon I've got I've put salt and pepper, lemon, coriander, parsley, and capers.

[00:20:40]That is going to be amazing.

[00:20:43]And then I've got potatoes.

[00:20:49]I've chopped those up. There's olive oil, salt, pepper, and I think Yeah, I think there's green beans in there as well. It's a little parcel of potatoes and green beans. And I've cut the potatoes up nice and small so that they cook quickly.

[00:21:33]And here I've got olive oil.

[00:21:36]And then in my little packet is some lovely fragrant duka.

[00:22:43]It's quite exciting cooking like this because you don't really know what's going on. It's also a bit risky because you don't really know what's going on.

[00:23:16]It's getting cold.

[00:23:24]I want to eat dinner so I can get some wood back on the fire.

[00:23:32]I could probably have a look and see what the potatoes are doing.

[00:23:57]Yum.

[00:24:00]Beans are cooked.

[00:24:07]Beans are cooked. Potatoes are cooked. I think the salmon will be cooked. Oh my gosh, that's amazing.

[00:24:16]The salmon is cooked to perfection. I don't want that to cool off, but I really want to get this fire going.

[00:26:08]Heat. Heat.

[00:26:53]Come on.

[00:27:31]Bye.

[00:27:50]I put lots of garlic in with the beans and potatoes.

[00:27:58]So good.

[00:28:08]So so so good.

[00:28:19]This is the easiest camp meal.

[00:28:22]You just have to be prepared beforehand.

[00:28:28]I think because it cooks really quickly.

[00:28:30]What I did with the potatoes is I microwaved them so they were just slightly cooked and then I chopped them up and put them in the tin foil. So, it actually didn't take a long time to cook them on the fire. I was thinking about doing baked potatoes, like whole baked potatoes.

[00:28:48]They take ages.

[00:29:11]I was watching the fire. I'm just thinking about some of the comments that I read on my videos.

[00:29:24]Thank you so much to those of you that leave comments. I really appreciate it.

[00:29:28]What I really love about the comments is it gives me an opportunity to get to know the people that are watching the videos.

[00:29:38]It feels like when I'm sitting here and I'm talking to you, I have a feel of who I'm talking to.

[00:29:53]In the back of my mind, I'm thinking about all the people that I'm getting to know.

[00:30:12]And I get a lot of comments on my videos where people say, "Oh, I would love to do what you do, but and sometimes people tell me what it is that's standing in their way from being able to get out and enjoy the outdoors in the that they want to. Not everybody wants to do things the way I do it. This is the way I like to do it, but doesn't mean it's the right way. The right way is your way. There's no one way or correct way to go camping.

[00:30:54]But if there's something that's getting in the way of you being able to do what you want to do and that's a shame. It really is.

[00:31:08]So, I would love to know, like even if you've never commented before, I would love to know what is it that stands in the way of you being able to go out into the outdoors and do what you want to do. So, I'm not saying that you've got to go out camping solo, that you've got to go high into the mountains, that you've got to go camping in adverse conditions like I usually do.

[00:31:39]But if you are somebody who wants to be doing more in the outdoors, but you're just not, maybe it's because you have anxiety around being out in the outdoors. Maybe it's an experience.

[00:31:56]Maybe you're worried about getting lost.

[00:31:57]Maybe you're worried about wild animals.

[00:32:00]Maybe it's the fact that you don't want to go on your own and you don't have anyone else in your life that's into hiking or camping. I would really, really love to know what it is that's that barrier, the barrier to you being able to get out and do what you want to do.

[00:32:33]One of the big things that I want to share with people like when you when you're a creator, you want to make things that you value that you feel like like what is your personal voice? What is it the thing?

[00:32:52]What is the thing that you want to share with people? And what I want to share with people is that going out into the outdoors and having adventurous experiences, as hard as they are, is so beneficial for you. So beneficial. One of my big passions is adventure therapy.

[00:33:13]And in some of the countries that you guys come from, you might call it wilderness therapy. Or maybe you've never heard of it before. But it's um it's a practice of taking people on adventurous outdoor experiences and allowing them to learn from the challenges that they face to learn about their inner strength, their resilience, their bravery, their mental and physical capacity.

[00:33:53]And there's a whole lot of experience that I've had from growing up and being in the outdoors that I would love to be able to share with people along with my therapeutic skills.

[00:34:12]And so I've been thinking about putting together a series of educational videos, thing, conversations around some of the topics that I think get in the way of people getting outdoors and leading the life that they want to live. But that's why I want to know from you.

[00:34:36]What are those things? Are they the things that I think they are?

[00:34:42]or not.

[00:34:59]I've got to get this fire cranking, people, cuz it is cold.

[00:35:08]When there's no cloud cover, it gets really cold up in the mountains.

[00:35:40]Oh, heat.

[00:36:03]I honestly don't think I could go camping without one of these now.

[00:36:08]I use it to inflate my mat.

[00:36:11]I use it as a light. I use it to stoke the fire. I love things that have multiple uses.

[00:36:22]If you're going to carry a gadget into the outdoors, at least let it be a gadget that has multiple uses.

[00:36:31]The last thing you want to do is carry a whole bunch of useless.

[00:36:42]I think what I might need to do is go and find a nice big rock to sit on.

[00:36:49]Got to be a little bit careful cuz it's quite um dodgy. As you saw earlier, it's quite a steep drop off, but um take my light with me. Go and get a seat.

[00:37:09]Am I being too optimistic?

[00:37:13]My butt is bigger than that. Right, back we go. So, we don't have wild animals in New Zealand to worry about. I don't have to worry about a bear, cougar, some kind of baboon or something, an oddvark. I don't have to worry about animals sneaking up on me. But we do have psums.

[00:37:45]So hopefully this spot is psome free.

[00:37:58]Not sure about that. Let's turn it over.

[00:38:04]It's going to be a rocking seat.

[00:38:09]It's going to be rocking.

[00:38:11]Whoa. Rocked me right off. Okay. Might have to turn it over.

[00:38:19]Oh, I lost you.

[00:38:22]I lost you.

[00:38:26]Oh, dear. You know when you pick up your glass or your pot to have a sip of your wine and you discover it's finished?

[00:38:38]It's all right. I'm just going to sit here and enjoy the fire.

[00:38:55]My bed is rather icy.

[00:39:11]I'm trying to decide if I just stay where I am or whether I come up here and tuck in underneath this tree.

[00:39:24]It's a little bit spiky.

[00:39:28]I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that.

[00:40:16]Right, got my long johns to put on.

[00:40:22]A nice clean, dry top to put against my skin, which will help keep me warm.

[00:40:30]When you've got a top that you've been sweating in, it's going to make you cold at night. And some nice woolen socks. I'm going to get those on.

[00:40:43]I'm going to hop into bed.

[00:41:02]I'm all wrapped up. I'll try and show you.

[00:41:08]I'm in my sleeping bag liner.

[00:41:11]my beautiful puppy sleeping bag and the waterproof bevy bag over the top which is excuse me just as well because I think we're going to have a very very frosty night.

[00:41:25]Kind of got some cover over the top of me.

[00:41:29]Just a few branches but I think it's going to help just so that the frost doesn't settle on me.

[00:41:38]Night everybody.

[00:41:42]Good night.

[00:42:52]Go. Good morning.

[00:42:56]Isn't this spot just incredible?

[00:43:01]It's so lovely to wake up on a still sunny morning. Well, it's not sunny yet, but the sun is just just about at the little tarns down there, so it won't be long.

[00:43:18]Ah, we had a bit of a frost last night as you can see from the ground, but I was so cozy and warm in my setup there. I actually had to take my puffer jacket off. I sleep very cold, so I usually have a lot of extras on. I usually just leave my down jacket on so that my shoulders and and neck don't get too cold. But I had to take it off. I was super cozy.

[00:43:58]What did you guys think of my little coffee system?

[00:44:02]That is the fire maple petrol.

[00:44:06]Petrol.

[00:44:11]I think it's called the petrol.

[00:44:14]If I'm wrong, I'll put it up on the screen.

[00:44:18]It's actually super cute. That little um I don't know if it's got a special name, but like the water pourer.

[00:44:28]But yeah, I really enjoyed making my coffee this morning that the nice thing about having a fancy system for your coffee is that it just the whole ceremony of it feels a lot more special.

[00:44:44]And then somehow the coffee itself tastes bitter.

[00:45:00]I'll um put a link in the description of my video for those um for that porer and the little coffee dripper.

[00:45:16]I don't think I've got the terms right, but anyway, I really enjoyed using that.

[00:45:24]So, it is chilly in this spot and I'm super keen to get down into the sun. So, it's going to be a quick bit of breakfast.

[00:45:34]I've got some porridge, oats porridge with a whole lot of things added.

[00:45:42]Almonds, walnuts, cinnamon, raisins, cranberries, brown sugar, milk powder. I put it all together, heat the water up, and then rather than actually boiling it, which often runs the risk that you're going to get the porridge stuck to the bottom of your pot, is that I boil the water, add the oats, and then just let them sit there and soak up the water for a while.

[00:46:12]I use some whole grain rolled oats, but I put them quickly through my Neutra Bullet, just like a little food processor thing, and just grind them up quite small.

[00:46:24]Not into a powder obviously, but just um small like you can buy them in the shops. They're called quick oats, but there's no point in paying the upcharge for quick oats when you can just put them in your blender.

[00:46:39]And that way you don't really have to boil them. So they soak up the water and then you can just turn it back on on low heat just to warm the porridge up before you eat it. Then you don't get burnt porridge on the bottom of your pot.

[00:46:56]Kathy's tip.

[00:46:59]I think it might need a lid.

[00:47:06]So, while this boils, I'm actually going to start packing up. I'm going to add a bit more water because even if the porridge is a bit runny, it's going to be good to get all that liquid in me.

[00:47:22]I'll leave just enough for a drink on the way down.

[00:47:32]Yeah, I'm going to get my stuff packed up while I'm waiting because as lovely as it is up here, it is very cold and sitting around waiting for water to boil is not very smart when it's cold. So, I'm going to keep myself busy, get everything packed up except for this, have some breakfast, and then get on the track.

[00:48:24]Everybody has their different way of packing their pack. For me personally, when I'm going into camp, so when I'm packing at home, everything is in its little designated bag because when I get to the other end, I want to be able to pull things out as neatly as possible, and I'm not the neatest person in general. So, it's nice not to have stuff like spewing everywhere. But on the way home, I often do what I've just done there, which is just to pack things like the soft stuff like my clothing and my sleeping bag. I just push them straight back down into the pack. And the reason for that is a I'm going home. So, it doesn't matter if everything spews out at the other end cuz I'm doing it in a nice clean, dry, contained area. Um, but it means that I can push those soft things into all the tiny little crevices, which often you lose uh volume in your pack with all of those um sort of dead spaces between your items. Um, so it's it's a nice way to get everything back in easily, quickly, and efficiently.

[00:49:38]And I can just squash it all down.

[00:49:42]Go.

[00:51:23]If you like the look of the petrol, just bear in mind that you have to have a specific stove head to fit into the slots underneath it. It's one of the standard fire maple um stove heads, but yep, they sent me this one with it to make sure that it would fit because it won't fit on my conventional uh Kovia Moon Walker, which is the cooker that I usually use.

[00:51:55]Great to have though, a nice little lightweight stove head. And you can just put an ordinary pot or pan on top of it as well. So yeah, brilliant.

[00:52:12]Well, apart from the camera, I'm all packed up, so I'm going to enjoy a bit of breakfast and then get on the track.

[00:52:29]This has been a wonderful trip. I've really, really enjoyed it.

[00:52:35]I told you in the beginning of the video that I had a hankering for one of these kind of trips.

[00:52:41]And this was everything that I wanted it to be.

[00:52:46]So beautiful.

[00:52:49]So nice to come out on a still night.

[00:52:53]The lovely thing with this spot is that you can still get it to yourself even though the weather is lovely.

[00:53:03]Wonderful to have you guys along for this trip. Hope you enjoyed it. If you did, make sure you click that like button or leave me a comment to let me know. It really helps. It helps to encourage me to keep on going with these sort of trips and it also tells YouTube that this content is worth showing to other people.

[00:53:24]If you missed the rain in this video, make sure you check out my dedicated rain sounds video. It's a compilation of 20 different camps I've been on in the rain, and it's just scenes of camping in the rain for an hour and a half. It's a wonderful way to relax or go to sleep. So, if that's what you're after, make sure that you check that out.

[00:53:54]And this beautiful spot by the tans with ice on them is a lovely place for me to say goodbye. Thank you so much to all of my supporters, my buy me a coffee donors and members, my YouTube superthanks donors, and my YouTube members. Thank you for following me on Instagram if you're interested. Uh there's a link in um the description and there's also a link there for buy me a coffee as well. Buy me a coffee is a wonderful way to uh say thanks by giving me or Indie a little treat. And um the best thing about it is that almost all of that money comes to us. So, thank you so so much to those people who have generously um given a little bit as a thank you. I really appreciate it. Okay, I will see you guys on the next trip and hopefully Indie will be there too. Bye everyone.