New Zealand 4/21/03 - 4/26/03

Hiking Adventure Part II

Monday 4/21/03 - Lake Ohau, Camping in the Woods

We woke up at 5:45 (before the roosters) and quickly dismantled our camp. We left a Cadbury bar and a note as additional payment for the kids for last night's paua. We hit the road at about 6:20 and headed to Nugget Point. We parked the car and walked the short tramp up to the lighthouse. We watched the sunrise while hearing and seeing seals on the rocks and grass below. It was Stan's wife Shona's birthday, and we called her on the cell and sang to her. Back at the van we prepared muesli, yoghurt, and tea for the road. We reached the town of Alexandra at around 11:30. We stopped in several photo shops to see about downloading our digital pictures. In the first, they told us it would take an hour (they were short-staffed due to the holiday). We didn't have that much time and headed down the road to another camera shop. They were willing to do it, but their card reader and USB cable weren't compatible with our camera. They could print them out but not burn them to CD. We were impressed at how much they tried to help, though. Alexandra was a very quaint, friendly town. Stan bought some groceries while we were checking out the camera shops. We then met up at a coffee shop. Craig got a small steak and cheese meat pie. I got a small spicy beef and kumara meat pie. I had a chocolate milk and Craig and I had chocolate chip cookies. We ate outside on a picnic table on the sidewalk. The sun was warm and the day was fine. We left Alexandra and I wrote in the journal while we were on the road. When I said I was caught up Stan said that he’d have to drive faster - to make more things happen for me to write.

We drove to Ohau and parked the van at a ski cabin near the trailhead. We ate a lunch of leftover hangi food and paua. We did the dishes, gathered our gear, and before we knew it was 4:15 and we were heading off into the hills for our second overnight tramp. This was not my finest hour in terms of hiking. I had been suffering from van-induced narcolepsy for the majority of the 6-hour drive, and I think that the many days of constant activity and early rising was catching up with me. Because of the time, we knew we'd have to do some hiking in the dark. I was feeling a bit lightheaded and overheated. Stan and Craig were concerned about me, and were very supportive. I decided to press on, just put one foot in front of the other and see how far we got. We had tents so we could basically camp anywhere if need be. I was bringing up the rear and struggling to keep up. Stan, great motivator that he is, encouraged me to take the lead and set the pace. It is a whole different experience mentally to be setting the pace rather than bringing up the rear, and it made a tremendous difference in my performance.

We hiked across a pasture (where there were tremendous views of Mt. Cook over Lake Ohau; it was crystal clear and the waning sunlight looked fantastic!) and into a beech forest. We followed the river and eventually crossed some rockslides. Scree was visible. I started to feel much better. We tried to hike without torchlight for as long as possible, letting our eyes get used to the darkness. I let Stan take the lead here, though, as I wasn't sure where I was going. It finally got dark enough that dusk and our hiking poles weren't enough to guarantee safe passage over the rocks, so we turned on our torches. At 7:15 we reached camp. Hiking NZ has a concession with DOC whereby they were able to install a small pit toilet (out in the middle of nowhere that consisted of a toilet seat on a wooden box), create campsites, and have a fire pit. On the way to the campsites, Stan showed us how to locate the toilet. Then we headed further upstream and set up our tents.

By this time I really needed to visit the loo, but I was very much afraid that I wouldn't be able to find it (or to find my way back) using only my torch and my pathetic sense of misdirection. Stan walked me down there and taught me some tricks (such as if you step on spongy ground covered in twigs, you've lost the track, and told me how to find my way back to the campsite based on following the sound of the river, turning at a particular dip in the trail, etc). It was very bizarre to be sitting on a loo in total darkness in the middle of the forest, hearing only the roar of the river. I really worked hard to hone my orienteering skills on the way back to the campsite. I impressed myself by making it back relatively easily. Stan prepared dinner of pasta alfredo with cauliflower, broccoli, and mushrooms (we left out the bacon). We ate dinner by candlelight after Craig and I gathered some meager firewood. Dinner was delicious. Stan and Craig started a campfire. We sat by the fire, planning tomorrow's activities. Suddenly I got very tired, and almost feel asleep sitting there. We took a look at the stars but I had totally had it. Stan was laughing at my quasi-catatonic state and we decided that I should go to bed. It was around 10:30. Tonight Stan did sleep outside, in his sleeping bag under his fly (which he attached to some nearby trees).

See more pictures from 4/21/03

Tuesday 4/22/03 - Tarn, David and Jillie, Wyn Irwin Hut near Mount Cook

We had a "sleep-in" this morning. It was chilly, but we could see that the sun was on its way. Craig woke up to find Stan still asleep, with the bottom of his sleeping bag tucked into one of our bright yellow plastic pack liners. Stan and Craig ate the leftovers for breakfast, and Craig and I had porridge (rolled oats, milk, brown sugar, and water). The boys were nice enough to let me leave my pack at camp and they carried the stuff that I needed for the day. We let camp at 11:09. Soon afterwards, we were out of the forest and onto some tussocks and rocky bits. Scree slopes and waterfalls surrounded us. It was beautiful. There were small patches of snow here and there, but the sun was beaming down and it was quite warm.

We reached the tarn at around 1:00. I was really hot and I poured handfuls of its cold water onto my head. We filled our water bottles from the tarn. As we were getting lunch together, a man with a shovel arrived. His name was David. He told us that DOC maintains the track up to the bush line, but he maintains it the rest of the way past the tarn to the ridge. He was doing some trail maintenance today. He ate lunch with us. Craig and I had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Stan had a peanut butter sandwich (he maintains that peanut butter and jelly together are a U.S. phenomenon). We drank Raro. We had a great talk with David. First he and Stan talked about the tracks in the area, and he showed Stan some trails on the map that Stan wasn't aware of. As we ate, the conversation veered into some really deep territory - technology, the universe, the origin of mankind. Interesting discussion in a beautiful setting. David told us about another route back to our camp that would involve running a scree slope. Stan asked about the quality of the scree. David had never done that route himself, so he wasn't sure. He told Stan "After you guys do it, leave a note on your loo telling me how it was!" We decided to go back down the way we had come, as the day was getting on and we wanted to be sure of what we were getting ourselves into. David hiked up the ridge and was out of sight almost instantly.

It was 2:35, and we retraced our steps back to the forest. We made good time and were back at camp by around 4.We grabbed my pack, made a loo stop, and were leaving camp by 4:15. They let me lead again, and it was rather empowering. I was able to go a lot faster in the front. We were able to see a lot of features that we hadn't been able to see last night in the dark. When we emerged from the forest, the sun was setting and there was a beautiful orange glow on Mt. Cook. Everything was so gorgeous, and I was in such better shape than yesterday. We reached the van at 6:15. Under our windshield wiper was a note from David with a brief report of the scree and track (he said it was icy and would be better for summer tramping) along with directions to his bach if Stan wanted to stop in and look at some of his maps. It was only 1 km from the van, so we decided to stop in. It was a cute warm little bach and David was there with his friend Jillie. They were so friendly and kind. They gave Craig a Speight's and me a white wine. They fed us sour cream and chive chippies and had great conversation (Jillie was very interested in Peru). David showed Stan the map. The Kiwi hospitality was incredible.

We left around 7:30 and drove to Mt. Cook. We stayed at the Wyn Irwin Hut, a hut owned by the Canterbury Mountaineering Club. The hut wardens Tash and Dagmar let us in and we got settled in the bunkroom. Stan took a shower while Craig and I got organized. There is a generator for most of the power in the hut, but a few lights (including the shower light) run off battery power. It was my turn to take a shower, and when I was in the small shower cubicle trying to get undressed, the light went out. It was pitch black and I couldn't see anything. I poked my head out and said that the light had gone out. Tash hit the reset switch and it came back on. Then about a minute later it went out again. By this time I was naked, couldn't see to put on my clothes, and noone was around. I opened the door a crack and spotted Stan in the lounge. I called to him and he shut off some of the other lights and hit the reset switch. This time the light stayed on. I had a nice shower, and then Craig took his. We sat in the lounge at the table and ate a dinner of corn chips, choc chippies, and alcohol at 10 pm. Then we went to bed.

See more pictures from 4/22/03

Wednesday 4/23/03 - Hooker Valley Track, Tasman Galcier, Dinner with Gabi

We slept until 7:40 and then got up. We got our first daylight glimpse of where we actually were, a gorgeous view of the mountains. Stan made pancakes for breakfast. We ate with Tash and Dagmar (who were just back from their early morning kea bird research). Craig tried his pancakes the Kiwi way, with lemon and brown sugar. We cleaned up and headed out of the hut at around 10:30. We hiked the Hooker Valley Track. It was a well-maintained gravelly track that spanned several swing bridges and boardwalks. On the tramp, we got a great view of the valley, tarns, and Mountains. Mt. Cook wasn't completely visible because of the gorgeous clouds, which were shifting patterns rapidly in the wind. Only occasionally could we see the summit. The weather was warm with occasional wind. There wasn't too much altitude change on this hike, so it was a nice relaxing one.

We reached the lake fed by Hooker Glacier at 12:30. The lake had a bunch of mini icebergs floating in it, and the wind was whipping along its surface causing whitecaps. The lake and the river it feeds were a very interesting pale aqua blue (it bordered on gray). There were a lot of people on the lakeshore, and we climbed up a little ways to get some privacy and a better view. We sat on some rocks and made flavored tuna sandwiches (Thai chilli tuna and lemon pepper tuna) with tomatoes, cucumbers, and cheddar. During lunch the wind picked up and we needed to add two more layers of clothing. I needed to put a rock on my sandwich while I got dressed so that the sandwich wouldn't blow away! Craig took his wind pants out of his pack and they immediately filled with wind and stood straight out like a windsock. It was so funny! The three of us hunkered down behind a boulder to cut down on the wind and ate some chocolate. Rain looked imminent, so at 2:00 we started heading back. By the time we got to the second footbridge, it was swinging wildly in the wind. A poor young woman was in tears as she crossed it. We stopped at the memorial for climbers who had died on Mt. Cook (Aoraki) and returned to the hut at around 3:30.

We had a cup of tea and met a young couple who would be staying the night in the other bunkroom: Aton from California and Lauren from New York. They are both students in Wellington who were taking a trip around the South Island. We chatted with them and drove them into Cook Village. We stopped at the visitors' centre to buy some postcards and books. While there, Stan ran into Gabi, a Swiss woman who went on the West Coast trip with him a year and a half ago, What timing! We invited her to the hut for dinner, and she accepted. We picked up some Speight's and Bacardi (they do take-aways at the pub) and then drove up to the Tasman Glacier. There was a small but steep hike up to a gorgeous lookout point, and we caught sunset there. Mt. Cook was still somewhat obscured by the wild cloud formations, but in both directions the views were great in the orange light. We could hear the glacier calving. We saw Blue Lakes, which were actually green. We then hiked back down to the van. When we returned to he hut we found that a family (mom, dad, and two kids) had arrived. They weren't especially friendly, and when we went into our bunkroom we saw that they had taken the other bunks, and had piled some of their stuff on top of our own.

Steph, Craig, Stan, and Gabi: Chicken satay at Wyn Irwin Hut

We settled in, and soon afterwards Gabi arrived. The family was cooking their dinner in the kitchen, so we sat at the table and made our dessert: cheesecake. We couldn't use Stan's traditional cheesecake plate (the frisbee) because t had sustained a crack while being used as bellows for the hangi fire. When the family was done cooking, we headed to the kitchen and prepared chicken satay and rice. We had some drinks and a lot of laughs. Gabi was a lot of fun. We ate dinner (delicious and very spicy) and then showed Gabi some of our digital pictures. The family offered us some of the daughter's 12th birthday cake, and we offered them some cheesecake. They polished off the cheesecake and Stan wasn't even finished! Lauren and Aton returned from town and played NZ Monopoly.

While we were saying goodbye to Gabi, the family went to bed without so much as saying goodnight. We didn't quite know what to do, as we had planned to get our stuff together before they turned in so that we wouldn't wake them in the morning. We decided it would be better to disturb them now than later, so we quietly grabbed our stuff and brought it into the lounge. Stan drove Gabi back to her hostel, and we started to get our stuff organized as best we could. We turned off the generator and went to bed. Stan bailed on us at the last minute and brought his mattress into the lounge to sleep there. We needn't have worried about disturbing the family. All night the little girl talked in her sleep, the dad had night terrors (made so much noise I thought he had fallen out of the top bunk at one point!), and the dad's watch beeped every half hour. Luckily I was so tired that I slept through most of it. Craig, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. He barely slept.

See more pictures from 4/23/03

Thursday 4/24/03 - Lake Tekapo, Mt. Somers Hut

We got up at 6, ate muesli, yoghurt, and tea, and washed the dishes. We packed up, leaving the hut at 7:30. Stan called Mt. Cook Salmon to order two fresh salmon for dinner at his and Shona's house tomorrow night. It was misting when we got into the van, but it soon cleared and Mt. Cook was visible. We sorted our gear for tonight's overnight hike in the van. We stopped at the salmon farm and Stan collected the fish. After that we stopped at Lake Tekapo (site of the Mount John Observatory) for gas. While Stan was filling the tank, Craig and I got hot chocolate and oven-fresh apricot chocolate chip muffins at the quaint, alien-themed Observatory Cafe. We chatted with the really nice guy manning the counter who would be moving to Finland soon. Then we stopped at the Church of the Good Shepherd. It's a gorgeous little stone church, and the altar faces a picture window that overlooks the lake.

We drove to the Mt. Somers trailhead and ate leftover chicken satay for lunch. As we started the tramp, there were a bunch of older Kiwis just finishing it. We have to hand it to the Kiwis; they stay fit to a very old age. They put us to shame. Stan's backpack popped a buckle early on in the tramp, but he was able to repair it sufficiently. Stan and one of the older Kiwis pointed out the sap-like substance on the beech trees that we had noticed at Pelorus Bridge. Stan said that it was honeydew, and urged us to taste it. We licked the bark of the tree, and then he and the older Kiwi laughed, saying that it was bug excrement. Hey, it tasted good! We continued hiking through the forest (where we heard bell birds galore) and up the miner's trail which led to the old Blackburn Mine - a coalmine from the 1920's and '30's. The ground was black and volcanic-looking...all coal. It was lightly raining and the southerly winds were blowing. Because of this, we couldn't really appreciate the views, so we took the quickest way to the hut (a 4 wheel drive road). As we noticed that the hike wasn't as deadly as we had anticipated, Craig regretted not packing a couple beers in his pack (and not for the last time!)

We arrived at the Mt. Somers Hut on Woolshed Creek. The hut was divided into two halves. In the half with the fire were a mother, father, and 6-year-old son. On the other side were two Kiwi women drinking wine (Tara was a teacher from NZ, and Anita was a teacher originally from England). We chose the latter, and thought again about the beer and Bacardi's back in the van. Craig and I staked out the top bunks, and Stan laid claim to the bench. The hut had no electricity, so as the afternoon grew darker we lit some candles. A Scottish woman (Kate) and her husband Jonathan (from Northern Ireland) came in and settled into some of the lower bunks. It was a bit awkward at first. It was chilly and rainy, so everyone just stayed in the hut. But soon we felt more comfortable. The Scottish woman offered us Toffee Pop cookies, which we had heard so much about from Stan. They were yummy.

We started making food (Stan's African Beans which consisted of black-eyed beans, rice, veges, red peppers, chilli, etc.). Just as we were about to eat, Stan asked Craig what kind of beer he'd prefer. Stan had carried a bottle for each of us in his pack, and hadn't let on at all. It was such a nice surprise!! A very touching moment. We had chocolate mousse from a communal bowl for dessert. We offered to share, and only Anita took us up on our offer. We told her she had to take turns eating from the communal bowl as well. She thought we were crazy, and her friend took photos of us eating together, but she was a good sport. I wrote in the journal and we all chatted. It seemed that the other half of the hut was now full; we could hear a bunch of kids. We wanted to stay up a while, but the rest of our hut was ready for bed, so we turned in as well (didn't want to keep them awake the way the family had kept us awake the night before) at 9 p.m.

Craig, Steph, and Stan: dinner at Mount Somers Hut

See more pictures from 4/24/03

Friday 4/25/03 ANZAC Day - Mt. Somers Track, Dinner at Stan and Shona's, Return to Alpaca House

We woke up just before 7 and set off on a tramp immediately. The weather was much better this morning - a bit frosty but the sun was out and we had a great view of the mountains. We crossed the river several times, but didn't get our feet wet, as we were able to step from stone to stone. We climbed down into the gorge. It was beautiful. There were ladders in several places, and we needed to climb across wet rocks. As Stan so politely put it, this hike "pushed my comfort zone". We climbed a waterfall and stood on the top. It really was a great tramp, and turned out to be one of my favorites, perhaps because it did push my comfort zone so much. We then saw another waterfall, and needed to climb through a rather tight spot to get there. I was hesitant, but the guys helped me and convinced me to do it.

When we got back to the hut, everyone else from our side had gone. We brought the table and bench outside for breakfast. Stan and Craig had leftover beans (slightly burnt) and I had porridge. We got our gear together. In the other side of the hut were 4 kids who live nearby in Ashburton and had done this hike by themselves. The oldest looked to be about 14. There were two boys and two girls. They were quite polite and nice to talk to. It was nice to see kids taking the initiative to hike, cook their meals, etc. We headed off via the "goat track" which afforded great views of the mountains and the rolling hills (this section of countryside looked very much like Rohan in "The Two Towers"). We heard bellbirds and actually saw some. We reached the car park at 2 p.m. The kids were there waiting for their ride. We loaded up the van, washed our boots in the river, and hit the road.

We stopped at a little store to pay our hut fees ($5 each). I got a hokey pokey ice cream and Craig and Stan got cookies and cream. The kids from the hut were at the ice cream place as well, and we waved to them. Then we drove to Stan and Shona's farm compound in Springston. We arrived there at 4 p.m. on the button. Their property is gorgeous. They grow lots of organic fruits and vegetables. We sorted our gear and Stan and Shone were kind enough to let us use their showers and change into some clean clothes. Stan put on a Paul Ubana Jones CD. He and Shona cooked the two whole salmon along with potatoes and kumara. We had chips and dip for starters. Shona had made a gorgeous salad topped with nasturtiums and other flowers. The nasturtiums tasted peppery. The salad was almost too pretty to eat. Dinner was fantastic. Shona looked at some of our pictures. Before we knew it was 8 p.m. We called Linda and Bill to tell them that we would be on our way. They very kindly offered to pick us up, but we told them Stan would drop us off after dessert. We had ice cream, kahlua, and peaches for dessert. At 9 Stan drove us back to Linda and Bill's. We arrived there around 9:30. We introduced Stan to Linda and Bill, and then we said goodbye to Stan. We would miss him. It was sad.But we soon felt better as a result of the nice "homecoming" we received at Linda and Bill's. Linda's daughter Debbie and her husband Kahn were in from Brisbane after a vacation to Rarotonga, and they were all interested to hear about our adventures. Time flew and it was 11:30 before we knew it. Big day of traveling tomorrow, so we went to bed.

Come to find out, that hadn't been the end of Stan's adventure. The trailer blew a tire on his way home that night!

See more pictures from 4/25/03

Saturday 4/26/03 - Alpaca House and Return Home

We woke up and went downstairs for 9 a.m. Linda, Debbie, and Kahn made us scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, sausage, oj, and tea for breakfast. We had a nice chat with the whole family. Around 10:30 we donned Bill's gumboots and headed out into the paddock to say goodbye to the animals. The weather was warm and sunny (quite a nice change from our last visit to Christchurch) and four alpacas ran over to greet us. I think they were disappointed when they found out we didn't have food, but they kept following us around anyway, just in case. As we continued our rounds, more and more alpacas noticed us and came over to us. One was bleating. The sheep got all riled up as we approached, and were quite noisy. We took a walk through the garden and pond and went inside at 11:11 to finish packing. At 11:50 we brought our luggage downstairs and sent Steve a quick email reminder to please pick us up at the airport. Craig settled up money with Linda (including paying for a nice sheepskin she picked up for us from one of her friends). Linda gave us a small plush kiwi as a goodbye present. Bill drove us to the airport. We arrived at around 12:30. Bill parked the car, got us a baggage trolley, and escorted us in. We checked in and said goodbye to him. Our flight for Auckland left at 1:35.

We bought some CD's in the Aukland airport. Craig bought some Speight's Dark beer to bring home, and we bought some mini meat pies (Craig got steak and I got mince). We ate them in the terminal. We boarded the plane, and although we don't usually prefer to be at the back of the plane, we were lucky in that we had two seats rather than three, which gave us a lot more room and meant (most importantly) that I wouldn't need to climb over someone to go to the lavatory. The downside was that we were surrounded by really ignorant American teenage surfers who were on their way back to the States after the "US/NZ Junior Surfing Cultural Exchange". Their "chaperone", leathery-skinned fake blonde beach trash, was sitting behind us and at one point threw her salt and pepper packet at the back of Craig's head. When confronted her only defense was that she was trying to hit the kid in front of us. Real mature. One of the kids got up and took his bag out of the overhead bin, hitting me in the face with it. He then denied it when Craig told him to pay more attention to what he was doing. We watched the movie "Whale Rider", a wonderful new NZ movie about a Maori girl trying to prove her worth to her grandfather. We recognized a lot of the Maori customs in the movie from our discussions with the Manawatus. Of course, the "cultural exchange" surfer dudes just laughed the entire way through the movie, and made comments about knowing it was a Maori boy who stole their CD player. These kids did not deserve to go n a cultural exchange in New Zealand. They obviously gained nothing in terms of knowledge about NZ culture! We had lamb and parsnip casserole Egmont cheese, and crackers for dinner. Craig had beer. The second movie was "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." We watched it and then fell asleep. We woke up hours later during "Star Trek Nemesis". They gave us French toast, yoghurt, muesli, buns, juice, and coffee for breakfast.

We landed in LA at 8:45 am PDT. We had to go through customs which was a bit of an ordeal because so many people were combined to such a small space. Add to that the surfers hitting people with their boards as they lugged them around, and the ignorant surfer dad who complained about "that stupid whale watch movie", and we weren't thrilled to be back in the States. We took the shuttle to a domestic terminal. We ate pizza at Wolfgang Puck's and were immediately confronted with CNN on 7 TV's. We got fries at McDonald's and headed to the gate. Craig noticed that our seats weren't together and he tried to get it fixed. After several rude run-ins with nasty United Airlines staff, he finally found someone willing to help. Our flight departed at 12:45 PDT. It was very overbooked, and everyone's seats were screwed up. We ended up having to switch seats with the kids in the row behind us, as kids are not allowed in the exit row. We had lots of legroom but had to sit across the aisle from one another. I was a bit shocked that they let a man who was partially paralyzed on half of his body and could barely walk sit in the seat closest to the emergency exit, especially in this day and age. The flight attendants were rude and provided a minimum of service. Welcome home! We arrived in Boston at around 9:30, and Steve picked us up at the airport.

See more pictures from 4/26/03

See the first half of Craig and Steph's hiking adventures

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