New Zealand | Day 13 | Golden Bay to Wellington | Thursday, Feb. 10th, 2011

Today was a travel day.  We had to be up bright and early to head for Picton to return the rental car and get on the ferry across Cook Strait to Wellington.  We left the beautiful beaches of Pohara behind, drove back over Takaka Hill, and headed northeast towards the port town of Picton.  During the four hour drive we crossed through more gorgeous landscapes, and finished up with the jaw-dropping Queen Charlotte Drive along the Marlborough Sounds.  We arrived in Picton around 12:30, cleaned out the car, and checked our packs into the ferry terminal.  Our ferry left at 2:20, and by 5:30 we were arriving in Wellington.  We had decided to splurge on hotels in the big cities, so we checked into the Copthorne Oriental Bay, which had really nice beds, a huge shower, and great views of the city (and 39 NZD/day internet - ouch!).

We were both quite hungry, and internetless, so we found a place to eat the old-fashioned way - in the guidebook.  Having eaten over 30 meals at that point, we had tried almost every manifestation of traditional Kiwi cuisine, so we continued our search for good pizza at Scopa, which was touted to be the best in Wellington.  We tried the quattro formaggio, and although it was quite small, it was probably the best pizza we'd had so far.  Even after trying the tiramisu, I was still hungry, so we stopped by a middle eastern restaurant and had some kebabs.  Now completely full, we strolled back to the hotel and called it a night.

New Zealand | Day 12 | Golden Bay | Wednesday, Feb. 9th, 2011

We didn't get up quite as bright or early as intended, but hey - we're on vacation!  We got into our swimming suits and had a quick granola bar breakfast before heading to the Wainui Falls trailhead at about 10:30.  It was a gorgeous day with clear skies in every direction - a very welcome sight.  On the way out, we saw the sign for Golden Bay Kayaks, and we were considering it, but also wanted to do a hike on the Abel Tasman.  We shelfed the idea and continued to the carpark.  Our guidebook indicated that it was possible to swim in the pool at the base of the falls, so we cruised up the 30 minute trail, hoping to take a dip.  Along the way, there was a cool swingbridge and at the end we found the falls, with the pool as promised.  We also found that the pool was nearly as cold as Doubtful Sound, but that certainly didn't stop us.  We took turns jumping in and taking footage, and a family that we had passed on the way up came and joined in the fun.  The father and adult son took the plunge briefly, mentioned something about shrinking testicles, and climbed back up to the trail.  The black flies were getting ferocious, so we headed back towards the car.

Wainui Falls

One sweet experience down, two to go.  We kept on driving to the western terminus of the Abel Tasman trail, just a few km down the road.  As we looked at the map and tried to decide on our destination, a European couple walked up and started chatting with us.  Unsolicited, they mentioned that they had gone kayaking the day before and it was totally amazing.  We asked if they had made a reservation - nope, they just walked right up and rented it on the spot.  We looked at each other, got into the car, and drove back towards the kayaking place.  We found the proprietor in the process of renting kayaks to several other people, so it took awhile to actually get in the water, but it was fine because Clark was busy making friends with the locals.

By the time we started, it was about 1:30.  There was a bit of wind, and the water was choppy due to an afternoon sea breeze, but the mesmerizing water color and rock formations more than made up for the extra work.  We skirted along the shoreline, paddling between giant rocks, past a mussel farm, and into a tidal basin that had been empty that morning when we drove to Wainui Falls.  We found a sheltered beach and pulled the kayak on shore.  It was like having our own temporary lagoon.  We splashed around, had a snack, and relaxed on the beach for awhile, and decided we ought to head back.  The waves and wind had calmed somewhat, so our return journey was much smoother, and we got to explore the formations a bit more.

A sampling of Golden Bay shoreline

 

Clark reprising her paddle guitar role

We got back to Tata Beach around 4pm, ready to start our last adventure of the day: Wharariki Beach (pronounced far-a-ricky).We drove about an hour west, out to the farthest reaches of the South Island.  There is sort of a 3-in-1 attraction there: Farewell Spit, an arm of land that stretches out into the sea and is home to tons of bird species (cool, but not really our thing), Cape Farewell, which is a gorgeous bluff region between Farewell Spit and our primary goal, Whaririki Beach.  All of these are located within about 5 miles of each other, so we popped into the visitor center, took a look at the map, and drove down to the Pillar Point lighthouse track, making a 30 minute climb for some panoramic views of the area.  It was already almost 6, so we headed over to the Whaririki carpark and started the 20 minute hike to the beach.  You wouldn't believe there was even a beach out there judging by the large sheep station we crossed through to get there.  Instead of relying on visitors to open and close gates (I wouldn't trust tourists either!) they constructed stairs to walk over the fences between paddocks.  Soon enough we could see the farmland turning into sand dunes, and we came over one last dune to see the ocean.  Jaw dropping, gorgeous, stop dead in your tracks scenery.  This wasn't just any beach.  We pretend-slalomed down the sand dune and walked toward the water.  I don't think it would have been nearly as impressive during high tide, but since it was near low tide, the beach was exposed for a few hundred meters.  We walked down towards the water to explore a cavern, and as the waves were crashing against the massive rock formations, we noticed that the sand was quite wet.

Farewell Spit as seen from Pillar Point

Cape Farewell

The trail to Wharariki Beach

We were about to find out why - the beach is so flat, that when waves build up and come on shore it comes in thin sheets that cascade on top of each other.  I've never seen anything like it (recurring theme?) and remained captivated for several minutes.  The water actually came over 100m on the beach but was only 1-2 inches deep...remarkable.  So we splashed around, and walked probably a mile down the beach to explore another rock formation.  There is a picture of it in every single guidebook, and I can't believe that they don't say more about the place.  I guess people consider it an 'off the beaten path' kind of thing, and we were definitely the only people out there for at least half an hour, but it is unbelievably beautiful.   Both of us agreed after the fact that it was our favorite place thus far. 

Unbelievably awesome rock formation at Wharariki Beach

I've used a professional photo editor (windows paint) to indicate the scale of the rock formation.

Olsen, very crispy after an entire day in the sun

Clark, a more photogenic beach explorer

Even though we loved hanging out in that super awesome amazingness, it was almost sunset, and we were starving.  We made it back to the car, and headed back towards Pohara.  We saw a sign pointing to the Mussel Inn on the road, and I had recalled reading about it, so we made a U-turn and decided to check it out.  It was as if the universe had conspired to give us a perfect day.  The Mussel Inn turned out to be a cozy restaurant with a fire ring outside and just a few great menu choices.  I had the steak with mushroom sauce, Clark had the scallops.  Simply amazing.  We drove back to Sans Souci, got into our PJs and drifted into blissful sleep after a fantastic day.

New Zealand | Day 11 | Hokitika to Golden Bay | Tuesday, Feb. 8th, 2011

We got up around 9, refreshed and ready to continue our road trip up the west coast.  Our first stop was at Punakaiki, to check out the 'pancake rocks' and blowholes.  Every single guidebook lists it as a top attraction, and as a result, there were quite a few tourists there.  We had a quick brunch and set out to see what the hype was about.  The formations were cool, but it wasn't going to be high tide for a couple of hours, and that's when the 'action' would start, with water surging through the rocks and out of the blowholes.  As we were making our way to a large viewing area, we spotted the Coloradans we met on the Kepler Track coming towards us.  We exchanged pleasantries and talked about the bad weather over the last couple of days and found out that they had also had a trip cancelled.  They were also heading north, and rolled out right after our conversation.  We decided to wait another hour and see if things got more exciting.

Olsen in a pancake rock chair



Assorted pancake rock formations





Clark: cave explorer



To pass the time, we hiked down the road with our headlamps to explore a cavern listed in the DOC brochure.  It was a short adventure, but we reached the back of the cavern and found a neat waterfall while also managing to get covered in yellow residue from the rocks.  By the time we made our way back to the pancake rocks, the tide had definitely risen, but no action yet.  We waited a half hour, and I saw one sweet surge in one of the formations, but not much else.   We decided to press on and chalked it up to the swells not coming from the right direction, and besides, we still had a 4 hour drive ahead of us.

As we drove north, the weather graciously stayed clear and beautiful.   We drove along the coast until Westport, then began driving inland toward Buller Gorge.  Once again we were amazed by the non-stop scenery, we transitioned from beautiful beaches to forested river valleys and increasingly tall mountains.  At the top of the gorge, we made a pitstop in the town of Murchison, about halfway to our destination.   The scenery shifted again to evergreens and steep slopes, and we remained in awe.  We haven't driven down a single road that isn't gorgeous on the entire South Island.  Sure, you get some farmland here and there, but the colors and the landscape are completely captivating, no matter where you are.  Unbelievable.

Anyway, we finally made our way into the Golden Bay region by driving up (and down) Takaka Hill (which is really more of a small mountain) with ridiculous hairpin turns and a maximum speed of about 40 mph.  It's no wonder most tourists don't make it out that far into Abel Tasman National Park, but that was exactly what we wanted - a nice relaxing day or two on the beach without hoardes of tourists.  We pulled into Pohara at about 7:30, and used the GPS to find our way to our motel, Sans Souci, which is French for 'without worries'.  I had chosen it for its reasonable price compared to other places in the area, and it seemed like it would be a unique place to stay.  It is also an eco-friendly resort, with a centralized bathroom/shower facility that has composting potties, where you scoop sawdust in instead of flushing.  Unique indeed ;) All kidding aside, the grounds were beautiful and the beds had memory foam mattresses, it is a great little place.

We had a pizza at the corner pub, then strolled down the road to get the lay of the land.  Pohara has a vast beach right in town, and the water is quite shallow, so at low tide, the beach extends a couple hundred meters out.  We found some shells and assorted sea creatures, including a huge manta ray that didn't make it out with tide.  It was almost dark, so we headed back to the motel and attempted to make plans for the next day.  We didn't know exactly what we were going to do, but we knew it would be awesome.

New Zealand | Day 10 | Fox Glacier to Hokitika | Monday, Feb. 7th, 2011

We woke in the morning to pouring rain, and I trudged down to the Fox Glacier Guides shop to see if we could reschedule for the afternoon.  They said the last trip of the day was at 2 and we'd have to go on the waitlist.  Undeterred, I went back to the room, found Franz Josef Guides (the next town over, it has another glacier) and booked us the last two open seats on the 2:15 flight.  We had to be out of the hostel by 10, so we headed over to Matheson Cafe, which was just outside of town.  We passed a couple of hours by having breakfast, several cups of tea, and checking out the giftshop, and by 12:30, the skies were blue over the Cafe.  We changed into hiking gear, and with crossed fingers, drove up towards Franz Josef.  It was still cloudy over the mountains as we pulled into town, but the sun was shining at the Glacier Guides office.  We reported to the desk, and the attendant told us she was about to call down to the flight line.  There were about a dozen of us waiting on bated breath, all hoping desperately to get on the glacier and see the famed blue ice.  She got off the phone and told us it would be another 10 minutes.  The suspense was killing us.  Finally, she came back and informed us that there was just too much cloud cover over the glacier, and we wouldn't be able to fly.  It was the first huge disappointment of our journey.  I'm not going to lie, the heli-hiking was probably the thing that both of us were looking forward to the most, so it hit us pretty hard.  We considered staying the night and trying the next day, but the forecast was actually worse for the following day.

As much as it pained us, we took our refund, got back in the car and headed down the road.  Thankfully, it at least stayed sunny along the coast, and we enjoyed the scenery on the 1 1/2 hour drive to Hokitika, where we were staying for the night.  When we got to the resort, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the 'beachfront chalet' we had reserved was even nicer than expected.  It was already 5pm, but in order to prevent the day from being a complete waste, we did our laundry and ventured out into town to find some dinner.  We managed to salvage the evening with some awesome stargazing and a trip to the 'glow worm dell' conveniently located across the street. It was our first intro to the phosphorescent larvae that can be found in caves all over NZ under the right conditions; we actually have a pretty sweet tour of glow worm caves coming up when we visit the north island.  Definitely not our best day, but we were ready to move on to our next location: Golden Bay.

New Zealand | Day 9 | Manapouri to Fox Glacier | Sunday, Feb. 6th, 2011

As the engines roared to life at 6:15 on the dot, we made the painful transition from sound sleep to consciousness.  Our journey that morning would take us back up the main body of the sound and down the length of Hall Arm, the most picturesque of the sound's arms.  There was quite a breakfast spread in the dining room, so we helped ourselves and looked out at the rainy landscape.  The water flow had increased substantially overnight, and falls we had seen the previous day were now raging at 3 to 4 times their normal volume.  Cascades, 300m vertical falls, even curtains of water flowed in torrents, surrounding the ship.  At one point, the captain pulled the bow right underneath one of the 'small' falls (over 50m tall) and one of the crew filled up a pitcher of 100% pure NZ water so we could all have a drink.  We drove all the way to the end of the arm, and looking into the neighboring valley, there were no less than 8 huge waterfalls rushing towards the sound.  By that time, I think we were both suffering from complete waterfall overload. 

Waterfalltastic

Swollen river on the way out from Doubtful Sound

As we pulled into Deep Cove, we concurred that while it was sad that the trip was over, we had certainly gotten our money's worth, and didn't need to see any more waterfalls for quite some time.  Of course 'quite some time' turned out to be about 5 minutes, as the shuttle bus took us back over the pass and we saw the results of the massive rainfall.  As the ferry arrived back in Manapouri, the rain had slowed a bit, and it looked like things might be dry to the north.  We had about a 6 hour drive ahead of us to reach our destination for the night: Fox Glacier.   By the time we fueled up and got on the road, it was about 12:30.  We headed back through Queenstown, where it was sunny and at least 85 degrees, stopped and had lunch at a BBQ place in Wanaka, and kept on pushing north.  The sheer length of the glacial lakes are unbelieveable; we passed through Wanaka, came around the side of a small mountain, drove along another massive lake (Hawea) for 10-15 minutes, and came back around to find we were less than halfway along Lake Wanaka.  The gorgeous blue-green colors were unlike anything either of us had seen in the U.S. or elsewhere, and it was a challenge to keep my eyes on the road and off of the views.



Looking out across Lake Hawea

The fun was soon over as we saw storm clouds gathering over the Haast Pass, our next obstacle in reaching the west coast.  The rain started as sprinkles, but as we pushed west, it turned into a full-on downpour.  It was the middle of the afternoon, but the sky turned quite dark as we hurtled down the other side of the pass.  The waterfalls (of course!) were literally spilling onto the roadway at times, and the swollen Haast River looked to be at capacity.  After 2 hours of white-knuckle driving, we arrived on the west coast, and the Tasman Sea was looking quite dismal.  After another 90 minutes, we had arrived in Fox Glacier and checked into our accomodation.  I immediately got online and checked the weather for the following day - we had a lot riding on it.  The forecast was for showers in the morning, with the weather clearing in the afternoon.  Our heli-hiking trip was scheduled for the next morning, but I knew there would be more trips in the afternoon, so we just hoped for the best.  It was already getting late, so we headed down the street for dinner.  We made it back to the hostel by 10, flipped through our two channels, and called it a night.

New Zealand | Day 8 | Kepler Track to Doubtful Sound | Saturday, Feb. 5th, 2011

We were up bright and early on the last day of our hike, as we wanted to make sure we caught our 10am shuttle back to town. We said goodbye to the Aussie couple and the Coloradans, and took off down the trail.  It was a nice short hike through flat marshland and up to the southern shore of the Waiau River, which we followed until the Rainbow Reach swingbridge which was pretty much the off ramp for the trek.  You could continue along the Waiau another two hours all the way back to the Control Gates to complete the loop, but we had a boat to catch.  We triumphantly crossed the bridge shortly after 9, and took a post-tramp photo next to the Kepler Track sign.  Our shuttle showed up promptly at 10, and returned us to the Silver Bullet back at the Visitor Center carpark.  After changing into flip-flops (kiwi translation: jandals) we shuffled over to the DOC shop to pick up some Kepler Track t-shirts in celebration of our completion of the hike.

Exiting the Kepler Track at the Rainbow Reach swingbridge



We had some errands to run before we headed down to Manapouri for the cruise, so it was off to the pharmacy to buy more ibuprofen, motion sickness pills, and anti-itch creme for the sandfly/blackfly bites.  Then we cruised over to the supermarket for some bread, cheese, and salami for a picnic on the way out to the sound.  Lastly, it was time to eat.  For the first time in days, I became full as I annihilated a footlong chicken breast sandwich at Subway (truth be told, I was hungry again by the time we got on the boat).  Clark had a 6" chicken, lime and coriander taste sensation (for a limited time only) and we hopped in the car for the 20 minute drive down to Manapouri.  We checked in, quickly reconfigured our luggage so we had clean clothes, swimsuits and all the electronics, and it was time to board the ferry across Lake Manapouri.  It had been sunny that morning, but the forecast called for rain by the afternoon.  By 12:30, it was raining, and continued to do so for the next 24 hours in various degrees of severity.  It didn't matter though, because we were safe and dry in the boat.  After crossing the lake (it is massive, and also the 2^nd deepest in NZ) we disembarked and got on the 1/2 hour bus shuttle across the Wilmot Pass to get down to the pier where our ship, the Fiordland Navigator, awaited. 

Although it was somewhat frustrating that we couldn't see much of the mountain scenery, we had just spent 3 days experiencing it, so it wasn't too heartbreaking.  We knew that rainfall = waterfalls, and that was the highlight of any Sound cruise.  As we boarded the ship with the 68 other passengers, it was clear that we were going to be experiencing a much higher standard of living than we had the past few days.  Our room was actually quite spacious for being on a boat, and the beds were comfy, and we had a shower right in the room.  We went back up on the main deck and hung out in the observation lounge, sipping tea and enjoying the scenery.  The waterfalls weren't quite in full flow yet, but we could tell it was going to get pretty spectacular.  The plan was that we would cruise out to the very end of Doubtful Sound, where it meets the Tasman Sea, check out the seal colony and come back into one of the more sheltered arms for the night.  As we approached the open ocean, we were definitely feeling the swells and the wind, but I mean, we had to go outside and take pictures of the seals...there were even cute little baby seals.

After returning to the comfort of the sound we decided to have our cheese-fest and enjoyed all four varieties we had purchased, along with some chutney and italian salami.  Just as we were breaking into the brie, the boat slowed down and an announcement was made that kayakers should report to the rear of the ship to get a kayak.  We didn't have to be asked twice.  After changing into our swimsuits, we collected our lifejackets and paddles and hopped into ocean kayaks to cruise around the cove we were anchored in.  It was still raining, but that proved to be a great help in convincing us to jump into the Sound since we were already soaking wet.  The water was reportedly 11 degrees celsius, which is about 52 degrees fahrenheit.   When everybody had returned their kayaks they set up a stepladder and told us to go for it and jump off the back of the boat.  Before I could even turn on the camera, Clark was climbing up the ladder.  I managed to get footage of her jumping off, and then I just took it in with me.  The water was...frigid.  After getting my wits about me, I swam right back to the ship and wrapped myself in one of the towels the crew had waiting for us.  We showered up and put on some clean clothes, and it was time for dinner.

One of the unintended side effects of jumping into the Sound was becoming somewhat of a rockstar.  Only half a dozen of us had taken the leap, and crew and passengers alike were awed by our daring feat.  Neither of us thought it was that big of a deal, but everyone else kept coming up and congratulating us.  Who knew? We randomly found ourselves seated next to an American couple that had lived in L.A. for 4 years, quit their jobs, sold their home, and taken off on an adventure to Australia and New Zealand.  He was from Boston, she was from Chicago, so we had plenty of things to talk about since we had both been to those cities.   We had a huge buffet dinner with traditional Kiwi food - sweet potatoes, roasted lamb with mint jelly, and some other excellent dishes, followed by 4 delicious desserts (I tried all of them). The next thing we knew, it was 10pm, and the hostess announced that the engines would be starting up at 6:15 the next morning...yikes.  We took that as our cue to head to bed.

No worries, we are alive and well

Sorry for the lack of posts folks, I know we're about 10 days behind, but good internet has been hard to come by.  We are rolling into Auckland tomorrow, so hopefully we can get a fast connection and start uploading more photos and videos.  Rest assured, we are doing well and having an amazing time. 

New Zealand | Day 7 | Kepler Track (Day 3) | Friday, Feb. 4, 2011

Well, the 'ol legs were pretty tired when we woke up.  After hobbling down the stairs to the cooking/eating area, we had a delightful breakfast of muesli with apples and yogurt.  We only had about 11-ish miles on flat ground to go until we reached Moturau Hut, so we didn't get on the trail until about 9, but we were still the 2nd group out the door. The sign outside Iris Burn Hut read 'Moturau Hut - 6 hours', so we didn't expect to get there until late afternoon as we were both fairly sore, and the weather was nice so we didn't have to rush.  Lo and behold, we arrived at the halfway mark (called Rocky Point) by 11:15, had a quick snack of biltong (awesome beef jerky) and granola bars and kept on cruising.

Ferntastic

Switchbacks (zig-zags)

Moturau Hut

Despite having a couple of detours which required us to climb up and down some switchbacks, we still cruised up to Moturau Hut by 2pm.  We briefly considered hiking on to Rainbow Reach to try and catch the evening shuttle, but we didn't have reservations in town, and besides, there was a gorgeous beachfront hut on Lake Manapouri for us to hang out at.  We devoured some Chicken a la King (quite tasty I thought) and chatted with a Danish girl who was travelling all over NZ for 3 months on her own before returning home to start graduate school.  We were both quite jealous, as she planned to just keep on doing tramps all over the country.  The beach was calling, so we pulled out our sweet backpacking chairs (which we had carried the whole way and not used yet) and hung out on the beach for a few hours, slathered in 100% DEET and sunscreen.  Ahhh, nature.


Me on the beach having no idea Clark was taking a picture

 

Clark hanging out on the beach in her sweet backpacker chair

 By 6, I was starving again so I convinced Clark that it was time to polish off the rest of our cheese and crackers.  We sat on the lawn and savored a small block of cheddar with some water crackers, and both of us remarked that the only possible way it could be better was with a bottle of wine, but neither of us had any desire to haul an extra couple of pounds 30 miles for just such an occasion, so we settled for some orange electrolytes instead.  The blackflies were somehow managing to penetrate the 100% DEET, so we took that as our cue to head inside.  I managed to find a 1000 piece puzzle of some quilts, flowers and other nonsense in the corner, so I pulled it out and we started working on it.  An hour after we started, we realized why nobody does puzzles - because they're frustrating.  I worked on it for another hour, and it started getting dark, so I called it quits.  At least we got the outline done.  Meanwhile, Clark had starting chatting with an older Australian couple who were tramping their way all over NZ for a few months in preparation for a trans-European cycling trip they would undertake this summer.  Clearly there were going to be many highlights in their respective twilights.  By the time we were done talking it was almost 10, and we had to be up by 7 to make sure we got to our shuttle the next morning, so we tenderly climbed upstairs and went to sleep.

New Zealand | Day 6 | Kepler Track (Day 2) | Thursday, Feb. 3rd, 2011

We had been warned the night before about the weather, but when we woke up around 7 on Wednesday morning, the sun was shining and the sky was clear.  I actually felt pretty good that morning on getting up, moving a bit slow, but still functional.  After a 'full cooked breakfast' (instant potatoes, powdered eggs and meat cubes) we looked out the window and saw clouds approaching from the south.  We knew that the weather report would come in around 8:30, but it was pretty clear how things were about to go down.  We packed up and headed out by 8, starting the new day with yet another climb.    We knew that we had a couple of ups and downs followed by about a 2000' descent down to the next hut.  Between Luxmore Hut and that descent, we would be completely exposed along ridges for about 10 km (6 miles).   The clouds looked increasingly gray as we came around the first bend, and the wind began to pick up.  It was raining in the distance, and a rainbow materialized.  As we neared Mt. Luxmore, we witnessed the rarest of things - a double rainbow...all the way.  After taking a minute to make a video parody, we pressed on. 

A beautful morning

View of Lake Te Anau



Clark on the trail.




Rainbow (double rainbow video too big to upload)



As we crossed below Luxmore's peak, we could see the descent to the first emergency shelter begin.  Rounding another bend, we could see storm clouds about to converge over our position.  We quickly moved down the switchbacks that led to the shelter as the rain began to pelt us.  The winds were gusting to perhaps 40 mph as we reached the door, and we gladly clambered inside to escape the weather for a few minutes.   Thankfully, the rain subsided a few minutes later, and we were off again, hoping to avoid being drenched for as long as possible.  Meanwhile, the gorgeous scenery was more than enough to keep us moving.  I don't think either of us have ever seen anything like the Fiordland mountains, with their steep green-brown slopes and rugged peaks, not to mention the beautiful glacier-carved lakes that surround them.  We had to remind ourselves to stop and enjoy the views instead of looking as we walked to make sure we focused on our footing, since the wind and the narrow path put us in some precarious spots. 

The track along the ridgeline

Olsen just before the weather set in

We made it to the second shelter just before noon, and decided to stop and have a snack before making our descent down to Iris Burn Hut (burn = river/stream).  As we picked our way along the final ridge section, the sky began to make the mountains look like the LOTR scenery from the films.  Just as we crossed into the bush, the rain started coming down.  The dense foliage kept us from getting completely soaked, and we hurried down the switchbacks partially due to a sense of urgency to get out of the rain, and also because our legs and knees were on fire from walking down the steep path.  We knew this from previous treks; the down is usually more painful than the up, the up is just more tiring.

Iris Burn

Clark waterlogged after the long hike down

We made it to the hut around 2pm, and were grateful for the warm fire and shelter from the rain. After picking our bunks, we sat down for some lamb fettucine...it was pretty good.  As we wondered where the rest of the trampers were, the rain continued to pour down. Most folks made it in by 6, and we passed the rest of the evening by chatting with some Coloradans (Clark was thrilled).

Iris Burn Hut...at last

Iris Burn bunkroom

New Zealand | Day 5 | Kepler Track (Day 1) | Wednesday, Feb. 2nd, 2011

Olsen has been doing all the blog stories thus far and tells me that its my turn to write a little about our backpacking trip on the Kepler track. Well as you heard when we got to the hotel the night before in Te Anau, everyone kept telling us bad weather was coming and maybe we should reconsider heading up the mountain. Looking at weather reports online, the forecast looked fine so we weren't going to back down. We headed to the local grocery store and picked up our food and other last minute items. Olsen talked me into getting some cheese and crackers. which normally I wouldn't bother lugging around in my pack , but since we didn't have the tent it opened up some room and sounded like a good idea. The cheese would end up being a major highlight of the trip. That night we loaded up our packs, preparing for whatever kind of bad weather was awaiting us and went to sleep. It was raining all night and howling wind up until 5am. At this point I was laying in the hotel room thinking this isn't looking so good. Sure enough around 8am the sun was shining and the clouds peaced out. We woke up and ready to rock! We parked the car in the overnight parking lot right next to the vistor center. Very safe parking along the lake, where there have been no reports of vandalism or break-ins for a decade. Which gave me peace of mind as I was tramping through the wilderness. There is an option to take a bus over to the Control Gates (the official starting point) to start the trek but we decided to take the 2 mile walk around Lake Te Anau since we were getting off the track at Rainbow Reach (about 5 miles short of the entire loop).  We got to the control gates where we took our start shot of the famous Kepler Track sign and headed into the bush.

Rainforesty track along Lake Te Anau

The trail starts out flat, hiking around the rest of the lake leading you up to the base of the mountains. It's very damp, thick forest -almost rainforest like. Big green leaves, moss and thick trees line the trail. The trail itself is very well maintained, almost looks like a park walk. Very friendly day hikers passed us by, wishing us luck on our journey up the mountain. After a 1.5 hour walk along the lake we came to a beach where we had some lunch. (This was the start of the sandflies - explain later) Then, we started the 4.5 hour ascent up to Luxmore Hut, our lodging for the first night.  We hiked up very steep switchbacks (Kiwis call them 'zig-zags') that seem to go on forever. My legs were on fire, and sweat was pouring down my face. All I kept thinking is I have to do this for 4 more hours?  There is no flipping way!!!!!  The mountain was relentless...you would come around one switchback to turn onto an even steeper one! The worst part is you can't see the top because of the thick brush so it looks like you aren't making any progress. Olsen kept telling me just "one foot in front of the other."

We took short rests along the way, allowing our legs to catch a break. Looking at the map we knew that once we got to the Bluffs it would be a short climb and we were home free and on the top. We came to a point which looked like a bluff - excitement filled my body; only a few more minutes and we would be at the top!  More like 30 more mins of grueling switchbacks, but we did finally make it to the top, and out of the bush. I was so tired, and my legs were in so much pain but when I looked over my right shoulder, I couldn't believe the view.  Mountains, lakes as far as the eye could see. I looked at Olsen and said "well that sucked!" But I guess the pain was totally worth it! We snapped a few pictures and finished the short hike to the hut.

Above the bushline

Luxmore Hut is situated pretty much on the side of a mountain in a sheltered area just before the ascent to Mt. Luxmore.  Besides the fact that it was a hardened shelter in a place where you couldn't even hope to camp, it had a lot of unexpected extras (flushing toilets and running water!) that are quite foreign to Olsen and me.  Add to that the awesome view, not having to carry a tent, and having a mattress to sleep on - sweet.  After drinking some electrolytes and having a bread and cheese snack, we took the short hike over to Luxmore Cave, which we found out later you can go in over 800m (half a mile!).  We only did the first 100m or so, because it was getting pretty tight and there was a stream flowing through so we would have had to get wet to continue.  It was still pretty cool though.

Luxmore Hut

At 8pm, the ranger (the huts are staffed all summer long) gave the Hut Talk, which gave us the basic rules,  some history on the hut and the local wildlife.  He mentioned that the weather was supposed to get cloudier in the morning with heavy rains in the afternoon.  Not exactly what we wanted to hear, but at least there was a chance it would be alright in the morning.  He also mentioned that we were at only about 1/3 capacity for the hut.  We had 18 people with us, and the hut usually is packed with 55 hikers.  Both the day before us and the next day were fully booked.  What are the chances? It seemed like luck was on our side.  We tried our second backpacker meal - Spicy Thai Chicken...yikes.  It certainly was spicy, and also tasted gross.  I managed to get most of mine down but Olsen called it quits about halfway through. By then it was almost 9, we were both exhausted, and we retired to our bunks with fingers crossed hoping for good weather during the alpine section.

New Zealand | Day 4 | Queenstown to Te Anau | Tuesday, Feb 1st 2011

Alright, so it's time to catch up on the IOUs.  On Monday night we drove from Mt. Cook down to Queenstown, and it was just about sunset when we pulled into town.  WOW.  I immediately regretted that we had only planned a short day in that gorgeous city.  Situated along Lake Wakatipu, it has steep slopes lined with evergreens and has an amazing mountainous backdrop that includes The Remarkables, a craggy looking group of spires that is also home to a ski resort in the winter. Now, the bad news.  It was too late to take photos that night, and after we got back from our rafting trip the clouds had moved in. So, you're going to have to search Queenstown on google images to see what it looks like. Sorry. I don't know if photos would do it justice anyway.

We got to our hotel to find an envelope taped to the front door with my name written on it and the room key enclosed (it's fairly common for front desks to only be open until 8pm) which answered any questions we may have had regarding the safety of the area.  Once we got up to the room, I was once again sad that we were only staying one night.  The beds were comfy,  the room was modern and clean, AND Coronation Lodge also has 5 different channels as opposed to the customary 2. Sweet. Definitely the best place we've stayed thus far.

Anywho, we passed out for about 7 hours, and were up bright and early for our jetboat ride / rafting trip.  The weather was gorgeous and we headed downtown to find our departure point.  The Shotover Jet and Queenstown Rafting are separate businesses, but have bases right next to each other on the river, which I'm sure isn't a coincidence, but boy does it work nicely for the consumer. The shuttle took us right down to the dock and we suited up for our 25 minute ride.  It doesn't sound very long, but when you're whipping down a river gorge and spinning 360 degrees in a few inches of water every couple of minutes, that's all the time you need.  The driver maneuvers the boat within inches of the canyon walls, and makes it all seem effortless. AWESOME! So awesome, that we totally bought the photo and video package to show off (the 'e-story' is all we can show for now b/c we don't have a disc drive to upload the video).  Please note my fantastic raccoon eyes courtesy of Mt. Cook and also the fact that there are 5 people in our boat but like 15 in all the other photos (our DVD has footage of our actual trip).

After that, we strolled across the lawn and picked up our rafting gear.  I had really great intentions of using the waterproof camera to capture our rafting action, but all I got was this sweet picture of Clark doing paddle guitar before we got on the river. You can get the gist of the trip by watching this video. 

The rafting trip wrapped up by noon, and we took the shuttle back into town.  We were both pretty hungry from our action-packed morning, so we walked over to Fergburger, which is a local favorite, and understandably so.  I had a little photo-op with the burger awesomeness.  As you can see, the burger was roughly the size of my face. Key word: was.

As we were eating, the clouds rolled in, and we took that as a signal we should get going towards Te Anau (pronounced tay AH-new), about a 2 hour drive south.  Upon arrival, we checked in to our hotel, only to receive grimaces after announcing our trekking plans for the following day.  "There are supposed to be a terrible storms coming in over the next few days.  Are you sure you want to go?". Yes, we were sure.