3 saddles, 3 days, 3 (not blind) mice

In the last blog Si left you with us tearing down the Wilkins River on a Jet Boat. We were on such a high coming out of the walk. You look in the mirror after 4 hard days hiking and you actually look different – despite the lack of sleep, washing and vegetables we looked healthy and alive.

Despite the need for some fresh veg we treated ourselves to schnitzel and chips at the Makarora Tourist Camp we were staying at that evening and I got the laundry done – stinking socks no more. After a very refreshing sleep that night we continued south to Wanaka; a beautiful lakeside town – really modern and chic in comparison to everywhere else we'd seen so far in New Zealand. Chatting to a local lady a couple of days later we heard how Wanaka has really developed over the last 10 years with a lot of people investing in holiday homes and people with money moving to be by the lakeshore and on the edge of the Mt Aspiring National Park. A great location both in summer & winter. We were quite taken with it and have debated whether it might be somewhere we could work over the winter. We're still not sure how the whole work situation is going to pan out so it's one to keep in mind.

(Main street through Wanaka)

We spent a couple of days just relaxing, catching up on internet, stocking up with food and eating! Wanaka was preparing itself for the Warbirds over Wanaka festival which only happens every second year over Easter weekend (involving lots of old planes from the World Wars flying over Wanaka). Locals warned us that it might be wise to be out of town before Easter weekend so on the Thursday we packed up from the cheap community campsite we'd found in Albert Town just outside Wanaka and headed along 30km of gravel road (which the van dealt with admirably despite the corrugations) towards a trail head in the Mt Aspiring National Park where we thought we'd be fine to camp over. We also tried our legs out after their 2 days rest and headed up to the Rob Roy Glacier – a simple 3 hour return walk but worth the effort for the close up view of the glacier. At Raspberry Creek car park we found it was fine to stay over, if we'd done any overnight hikes from there we'd have left the van in any case, and had a delicious dinner of steak, eggs and veg followed by caramel slice with yoghurt (NB steak in NZ is massively superior to the UK and substantially cheaper). Food really has become a bit of a focal point, to the extent that I'm making up recipes whilst walking and dreaming about breakfast each night. To be honest I was going to blame the whole food obsession on Simon but I think I'm just as bad.

I'm surprised pies didn't get a mention in the last blog but for sure they will next time as we have discovered the best pie shop in the whole of New Zealand (that we've visited..).

(View from Rocky Mountain track of Lake Wanaka)

Whilst on the Wilkins-Young tramp we'd met an older couple, she was Scottish, he was an Alan Partridge sound-a-like. Really knowledgeable on bird life and extensively travelled, they had had an interesting situation the night before setting off on the tramp - a mouse in their hire car!! They left a mouse trap in the car and were wondering whether it would have caught anything. Then, whilst in Wanaka we bumped into Nick (a fellow tramper from the same walk who had been listening to the story) and he told us that the first night back in his van after the walk he could hear scurrying and had since bought two mouse traps which he'd caught 2 mice in. Anyway, I'm telling you this because that night at the Raspberry Creek carpark we both woke up and thought we could hear rustling. We looked around, couldn't find anything, tried to go back to sleep. But we kept hearing noises, finally I pinpointed the sound to one of our drawers that I knew had a plastic bag in the back. Opened the drawer and lo and behold I could see the mouse trapped in the plastic bag. Obviously getting rid of mice is a man's job so I poked Simon awake from his dreams and told him to do something with it. We should have just emptied the whole drawer outside really but being half asleep Si grabbed hold of the bag but didn't have the end closed and next thing we saw the mouse was jumping out the bag, into the back of the cupboard and into wherever mice go to hide that make them invisible to human eyes. Rubbish. Anyway, I continued to hear it most of the night.

(Mouse - not cute. Si did suggest a photo of one of the ones we have since caught in a trap but I can't look at themso I doubt anyone reading this will want to either)

The next day we headed up the track to Rocky Mountain on the edge of Lake Wanaka and got some stunning views of the lake and the town. Rather than go back into Wanaka as it was Easter Friday now we turned south and drove through the Cardrona mountain road south towards Queenstown. Instead of going straight into the hustle and bustle of what is renowned as the party and extreme sport capital of NZ we stayed in quaint and gentile Arrowtown. A small place that still looks like the wild west with its pioneer time architecture.

(Main street in Arrowtown - busy with tourists, much more tranquil in the evening)

We both quite fancied a drink and head into the village for the evening, a much quieter place without the hordes of day trippers. What we didn't know was that in NZ nowhere can serve alcohol on Good Friday or Easter Sunday unless you are also eating (and supermarkets and shops cannot sell you alcohol). We'd already had dinner but by now the thought of a glass of Pinot Noir had taken hold so we decided that some non-essential spending on a glass of wine each plus peach cheesecake and hot chocolate brownie was ok. Mmmmmm.

With our body clocks set still on tramping time – I.e. Wake up with the light, we got up early and made full use of the campsite facilities before we had to leave at 10am. Instead of heading straight into Queenstown we went to the original AJHackett Bungy just outside town and watched a few brave souls jump off. Not for me, and just watching makes me feel a bit queasy but this particular bungy at around about the 50m mark (or a bit less) wouldn't be so bad that if Si had decided on his 'time / cost' budget analysis (haha) that it was worthwhile I'd have been able to watch him jump all right. Fortunately 2 seconds of freefall for $175 doesn't really pass the test so on we went to Queenstown. Where, with the array of shopping and eating facilities we made the split second decision to get out as soon as possible. Not before however we had a lovely walk along the lake edge, a proper feed of restaurant fish, wedges and salad at the casino ($10 lunch time special) and booked our transport for the next walk.

(Lake Wakatipu which Queenstown sits on the edge of - which at the time of posting this blog is on the verge of flodding the town centre....)

We wanted to do the Rees-Dart loop. A 4 night, 5 day tramp starting a little north of Glenorchy and heading through the Mt Aspiring National Park. We knew that there was rain due that afternoon (Saturday) but the front was supposed to clear Sunday and then it was supposed to be fine. We got a bit concerned chatting to the lady at DOC because ideally we were going to wait a couple more days but we knew that the track transport was getting full and there were apparently plenty of people who had been holding off starting the walk for the fine weather. And it was Easter weekend. A terrible combination that we could foresee but we decided to just go for it in the hope that the rain over Saturday night might at least make people wait until Monday and we would be a day ahead in the huts. That was assuming that we could ford 25 Mile Creek - a notorious crossing after heavy rain.

So, with transport to the trail head booked – we would be finishing at a different place to where we started and were leaving the van in Glenorchy – we set off along the stunningly beautiful road to Glenorchy all the time willing the rain to start on the basis that the sooner it began the sooner we'd get fine weather for walking.

That night we had at least 3 power cuts at the campsite and the rain left the grass like a quagmire. The clocks were changing that night so we had an extra hour of daylight to sort ourselves out in the morning before we got the bus at 9.15 along with 18 other random trampers (it was full) to the start of the walk.

Unlike the previous walk, right from the beginning there was a sense of urgency to the walking. Everyone knows the first hut has 20 bunks. We're 20 on the bus but we don't know if other people have driven to the start of the walk or who else might be setting off later in the day. Si and I got a fairly quick pace on and after a couple of hours everyone was well and truly spaced out. There were two other couples ahead of us and a German and Kazakstani guy also . Unlike our previous tramping we felt obliged to keep walking rather than have our usual photo & rest stops. So when we stopped for lunch after 3 hours, it felt well deserved. We'd covered 10km of bog & forded the river so we were wet and stinky already but the sun was out and we enjoyed our rest.

The 2nd half of the day entered into the National Park proper and we carried on through beech forest and grassy flats slowly following the Rees river valley. We arrived at Shelter Rock Hut at about 3.30 pm well within the suggested 6-7 hours it should take to walk the track and got ourselves a bunk for the night. We also got chatting to the other trampers who were going to become our fellow 'dorm' mates for the next couple of nights. As the afternoon rolled on the rest of the 20 trampers rolled in along with various faces who had obviously come in by some other means and before too long Simon & I had offered to share our bunk so a lady could have the top bunk, and by the following ,morning when we got into the kitchen there were sleeping bags on benches and the floor. There had probably been 30+ in the hut .

(A busy night at Dart Hut)

We got an early start the next day to head up the Rees river valley – once again alpine tussocky grass and clear sparkling springs - and over Rees Saddle (1447m). Once over the saddle we sidled along Snowy Creek, a deep river valley, before a final steep descent to Dart hut where Snowy Creek met the Dart River. We'd pounded through the 9km in only 4 hours and easily got ourselves bunks in the hut and had an afternoon to kill. Unfortunately the weather closed in a bit so we settled for a little stroll with the camera, a chilly splash in the river to clean off and then an early dinner. By the time it got to evening the hut was rammed. And when Nick, who we'd met on the previous tramp, turned up having crossed over Cascade Saddle – a notoriously difficult crossing – we gave up one of our bunks so he'd get to sleep for the night.

The next day started off cloudy but we were just doing a side trip from the hut so we were able to leave a lot of stuff, reserve a bunk for the evening and set off up to Cascade Saddle and the Dart Glacier. We set off with another couple but the girl twisted her ankle rock hopping across one of the first rivers. They were ok to be left – her boyfriend was an experienced mountain guide. But it goes to show how careful you have to be. (The following day she wasn't ok to walk out and an 8 hour trek followed by a 6 hours trek on a swollen ankle was not going to be fun).

Anyway, the day walk was astounding and made the whole tramp – any attachment to getting a bunk or competitiveness in walking – which is not the point of being out there was forgotten. The weather helped but the mountain landscape and views were truly phenomenel. We literally touched the snout of the glacier, kind of scary when you think about the power they hold and with the afternoon sun a bit of melt could easily cause some precarious boulders of ice to fall down.

(Me with the Dart Glacier - yes the grey dirty thing is the huge snout of the glacier)

The walk up to Cascade Saddle was steep, up scree slopes and snow grass but the view from the top was awesome & magical & truly enlivening. The cloud cleared so we had views of Mt Aspiring & the whole of the Dart Glacier. Well worth the effort and despite there being a few others up there with us – also having done the side trip from the hut - everyone was blown away by the place. One Israeli got to the top and literally whooped with joy!

(At the top of Cascade Saddle - 1524m -with Dart Glacier in the background)

Back down the valley and after an 8 hour day out we got back to a crowded hut. With a few folks camping outside we reckon the 32 bed hut had at least 60 people staying over for the evening. At least 2 school (Duke of Edinburgh) groups had turned up and but we were lucky to have an 8 bunk room shared with the guys we'd met from day 1 so it felt like home and we got a pretty good night's sleep. The evening had been spent plotting our next move though. To continue with the planned route meant certain carnage at the next hut. Just 20 bunks. The school groups were moving straight on and the Israeli's (who numbered at least 12) were also all heading that way.

When at 7 the next morning there were already people leaving we decided to cut our losses and head back the way we'd come in. It turned out well with me, Simon, Nick and Neil – a Kiwi who we'd met on this walk – taking the route back. Doing the track backwards really does give you a different walk, the downs become ups the views are reversed and we had even better weather than when we first came over. So the last two days walking out were really enjoyable after the high of Cascade Saddle. The last night was the coldest we'd had. We both were sleeping in long thermals and woolly hats in sleeping bags supposed to be good to -5c but were still cold. Don't think these huts have heating! The main rooms will have a wood burning stove but the sleeping rooms – at least in these huts - were separate buildings. By the last hour of the 5th day we were ready to stop but we got through and back to Glenorchy where the van had been left.

With glorious weather we got our laundry done and started to dry our boots and bags (we'd forded the Rees River about 10 times on the last day getting back) before heading for burger & chips for dinner.

(Numerous crossings of the Rees River - this one not too deep)

Friday saw us heading back down the 50km of road to Queenstown and having to resist the urge to spend any money. Without really meaning to we found ourselves in the MacPac sale (a NZ owned outdoor clothing brand) and leaving with two down jackets which we'd been admiring on other trampers who looked incredibly warm and cosy in the huts. The UK credit card is there for something.... After another $10 special lunch at the casino we thought we ought to get out of town swiftly and spent the evening in possibly the most stunning stop over we've had on the lakeshore of Lake Wakatipu.

It was also the evening that the mouse reappeared. After much annoyance and irritation I eventually caught him in a 'plastic bag with bread inside trap' and at about 6 in the morning took him for a walk a long way for the van before dumping him in a bush. Much to our irritation though it seemed like there was a whole mouse party going on that morning which reached it's most surreal moment with both of us lying in bed, head torches in hand ready to 'spotlight' the mice which sounded liked they were in the van. Si got the silhouette of one about to run into the front cab of the the van and we both lay there staring at him wondering what we were meant to do next. Of course the mouse made the first move and dived into the front cab somewhere. We rolled over and tried to get a bit more sleep. By the time it was light and I realised I wasn't going back to sleep I took the chance to do some morning yoga by the lake. Not something I'm getting to do very much – with no space inside and more often than not now a wet outside it's not so great. Still, the yoga postures are just a small bit of yoga, taking each moment of this trip and being in it and experiencing it completely is just as much what yoga is about.

(Beautiful free camping on the edge of Lake Wakatipu)

Back to the mice - we think they leave the van in the day – although we now have a mouse trap (ed. 2 at the time of posting this), baited with bread and sultanas, and we are also deliberating whether to create a water trap with the sink and a ruler. I'm not sure which of drowning mice, or squishing their heads in a trap is the more yogic. Neither probably, but now that they have found our underseat food stash – neatly nibbled plastic packets of noodles and ginger nut biscuits – we have to get a bit nasty with them.

We're now in Fiordland – home to rain and wind and rain. Also Miles Better Pies – but I will leave the joys of Fiordland for Simon to muse over next time.

With love from the unwashed and slightly undernourished (therefore it's okay to have 6 meals a day) Charl & Simon xx

SEE MORE PHOTOS OF WANAKA, REES DART TRAMP AT:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=214947&id=681815399&l=0ebeba4d1b

Glaciers & Hiking Boots

Hello to All,

Visiting Sam & El in their crazy old cabin in the woods (nicked your phrase there Sam) gave us a good lift, because unlike when we arrived in Australia we don't have a ready made social group to fall into, and really don't know that many folks out here. It's good to know if we want to see some friendly faces we can drive over to Punakaiki for some jungle cabin chillout and breakfast pizza. Charl also passed an important watershed by teaching her first full group yoga session, something she'll remember for a long long time I'd imagine.

This chapter really is about our experience of the West Coast, a region in the south island that stretches from Karamea in the North to Haas in the South. The West Coast is known as NZ's frontier country, spectacular temperate rainforest dropping down steep slopes to meet a driftwood strewn coastline where the Tasman Sea rages in. It's considered a remote area, but everything's relative, and when you've travelled through dusty little aboriginal settlements that are 350k's from their nearest neighbour in the Australian desert ,you have a different perspective on what's really remote.

It is however an extremely charming, and very relaxed part of the world. As one retired lady in Karamea took great pleasure in telling me, “nothing happens quickly around here love”. After seeing Sam & El our first stop was the small town of Hokitika, or “Hokey” as the locals call it. Home to about four thousand. We just missed out on one of the West Coast's biggest parties, the Hokitika “Wild Food Festival”. An all weekend event of bizarre and tasty organic foods, fancy dress and lots of alcoholic beverages, attended by about twenty thousand revellers. Shame we missed it but it's on the list for next year if we're here.



"Hokey"

It was also our first wedding anniversary and we treated ourselves to a rare visit to a wine bar and meal out. This was a rare treat indeed. When you're travelling on a limited budget you have to divide your expenses to essential and non-essential categories. Essential items include fuel, supermarket food shopping and vehicle maintenance. The other categories in our budget spreadsheet include Camping Fee's, Alcohol, Activities (inc. eating out) and the all encompassing “Miscellaneous” (normally clothing / camping kit or Internet expenses. Camping fees we try an avoid by free camping (increasingly difficult unfortunately) or at least avoiding expensive holiday parks (never stay in a “Top Ten” park, they are a 100%, bona fide, rip off). Alcohol we've pretty much given up, not a bad thing I guess. Activities is a difficult one because every time you turn a corner you see a sign advertising bungy jumping, rafting, skydiving, jetboating etc.. however New Zealand's national pastime is tramping (hiking) and aside from being the best way to see the backcountry it's also generally free (once you have a hut pass that is – explain later).

With the aim being to squeeze as long as possible out of our cash reserves, you tend to view your expenses in terms of time cost, so fifty bucks on a couple of pizzas and nice glasses of wine tends to be weighed against two or three nights at a campsite or half a tank of fuel. That said if we don't treat ourselves to the occasional bit of food or drink out we do go a bit crazy so to to an extent it's worth it for our sanity if nothing else, and if you can't have a treat on your wedding anniversary then when can you?

After Hokitika we followed State Highway 6 down the coastline to the small cove of Okarito. At this stage we ran into our first bad spell of weather. To be fair we'd been in New Zealand a month, and barely had to put up with more than the very occasional twenty minute sprinkling, so we were expecting it at some point soon anyway. In Okarito it poured, really poured, and the next day we decided we wouldn't be renting kayaks to explore to hidden coves of the Okarito lagoon, searching for the elusive White Heron, nor we we be partaking in the guided nature walk which often spotted the equally reclusive Brown Kiwi. We did however have just about enough time to practice our photography, taking some great moody pic's on the driftwood covered beach and searching for washed up Jade stones.



Moody scenes at Okarito beach

We then followed the road inland, towards the glacial tourism towns of Franz Josef and Fox Glacier. Here are two small towns that make a living out of the two large glaciers that rest in the their glacial valleys just minutes outside the township borders. Carparks at the glacier bases are a merry go round of tour buses that pause for ten minutes to disgorge their loads of Japanese tourists, keen to snap their photo of the glaciers (complete with neon raincoat clad fellow tourers making the “V” signs with their fingers in the foreground, of course)



Franz Josef Glacier

For the more adventurous various 'Glacier Guides' will take you up onto the glaciers for exploring and ice climbing. This is definitely something that falls into the “Activities we'd love to do but can't afford to” category, maybe we'll come back once we're earning to get the full experience here. Franz Josef has a very exclusive feel to it with lots of premium accommodation on offer. Fox is slightly more down to earth but still not a cheap place to stay for a long time. We stopped for a couple of days but the bad weather continued and we ducked out of the overnight thermal springs walk we were intending to do, the Copland Track, after the river levels became too high for us to ford the first crossing safely.



Tour buses galore at fox

The road returns to the coast to pass through the small town of Haast before curving inland again on its way to the Great Lakes and activity towns of Wanaka and Queenstown. On the way we stopped at Makarora and embarked on our first multi-day tramp, the Gillespie Pass/ Wilkin-Young Valley loop. A four day, three night trek, that takes you from a steep wooded valley up over an alpine pass of 1700m and back down a neighbouring valley before meeting a jetboat to take you back down the river to Makarora. The trek also involved a full days side trip to an alpine lake, set in a glacial moraine, and decorated with car-size icebergs and turquoise frosted waters.

At this stage it's maybe best to give you an idea of how most people go about tramping over here. Most people tramp on land owned and managed by DOC, the Department of Conservation. Most towns will have a DOC office that is often manned and provides information and supplies for walkers. DOC manage the infrastructure on these walks that includes the trails, bridges and huts. The backcountry huts vary from tiny little deer-stalker huts with four bunks and little else, to forty bunk cabins with sinks, food preparation areas and flushing toilets. The larger huts on popular routes may have a hut warden in residence who will be in radio contact with DOC and will have information on weather forecasts, potential flight outs etc. The huts are ticketed and are normally $5 per night per person for basic huts to $15 per person per night for “serviced” huts. If you tramp a lot you'll probably have a backcountry hut pass, we bought ours for $60 for six months.



Siberia Hut,a twenty bunk hut on the Wilkin-Young Track

The exceptions to this are New Zealand's “Great Walks”. The Great Walk huts are the only ones that can be booked, they're $45 per person per night, but although pricey you at least are assured you'll be in a bed not on the floor. They also will normally have gas cookers available and even in some cases have the luxury of power & lighting. This commercialisation of New Zealand's most accessible natural beauty is, I guess, inevitable whilst at the same time a little bit sad. The culture of enjoying the countryside by getting out and tramping with friends and family is longstanding in New Zealand and prevalent across all the income groups, at $45 per night the tracks are already out of the reach of a lot of people (including us!). Some of the Great Walks, post-end of April, no longer need booking and our hut passes will suffice, however snow is more than likely in May so anything with Alpine crossings would be a bit of a risk.

As the huts can get pretty crowded you can also take a tent and camp outside them for a bit more personal space. Camping passes are normally about half the price of of hut passes. Before heading off you leave a notice of intentions with the DOC office, so if you're not back by the stated date someone will come looking for you. It's a great infrastructure and when combined with the natural environment of the South Island it's easy to see why New Zealand is one of the world's premier destinations for people who like to do their exploring by foot.

As for this particular tramp that Charl and I set out on, well, it was probably one of the best experiences that we've had together. It was tough – Day 1 was about 27km over nine hours (Probably carrying close to 20 kilo's each in our packs), Day 2 was 12km, 900m vertical climb, 8 hours. The scenery at the base of the valley was very “Lord of the Rings”, the views from Gillespie Pass stunning and the the iceberg strewn Lake Crucible up there as one of the top natural sights we've seen. The first hut we stayed at, Young Hut, was deserted when we got there which meant the first thing I had to do after a nine hour hike was go out to the woodshed to chop some wood and get a fire going (hut etiquette). As it turned out we were the only people there until at nine thirty a Ukranian guy called Pavel turned up out of the dark and rain. This guy was covering serious distances and had caned through what took us nine hours in five.



Tough work slogging up 900m to Gillespies Pass, the Wilkin Valley spreadout below


On the fourth day we met a jetboat to take us out. It was $75 but by that fourth day I'd have paid twice that not to have to walk the remaining 26km out, having twisted my ankle going up to Lake Crucible the day before. Jetboats work on sucking up and expelling water through a jet at the back, allowing them to opertate in New Zeleands shallow rivers. It's a good, old fashioned “scream if you want to go faster “, “watch out for that cow wading across the river” type experience. When we have some good internet I'll stick some video up.

It's probably difficult for a lot of people out there to comprehend what we get from multi-day tramping like this. It's hard work, your legs and shoulders ache, your feet inevitably blister or rub. You can't wash properly and food rations consist of noodles, porridge and cheese on crackers. You get wet and it's not always easy to dry out. During the night the temperature often drops severely in the mountains leaving you shivering in your sleeping bag.



Icy Waters of Lake Crucible

The hardship is part of the challenge though, you're so hungry that noodles and porridge taste like gourmet food. You won't hear the sound of a car for four days, you get to see scenery you just can't access from the road unless you've got the bucks for scenic flights etc. The stars (and Milky Way) are amazing (provided you can see them), you get in some great photography practice and you get to meet a whole variety of weird and wonderful people out in the mountain huts.

In many ways it's not too different to our 4x4 exploits, and whereas in Oz the great 4x4 tracks were key factors in deciding our direction from now on in New Zealand we'll be lead by the many tramps that we're keen to embark upon whilst our money lasts.

Full Pic's: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=210903&id=681815399&l=4358571baa

Road Trip through the Mountains to a Crazy Cabin in the Woods

Heading West through Arthur's Pass

We set off for the adventure 'for real' on Tuesday 9th March leaving Christchurch and heading west on SH73 (State Highway). We hadn't realised but Christchurch extends quite far west with more industrial areas and outer lying suburbs, but pretty soon we were out onto the flats of Canterbury Plains – it is a level expanse of agricultural land with the southern Alps looming ahead on the Horizon. We hadn't gotten too far before we stopped for the obligatory pie.

I don't think Si has mentioned the pies yet, surprisingly. The pies here are brilliant. Cheap, tasty, home made and really yummy! If this blog turns quite food related I apologise now but we have time to cook properly and food helps to structure our days.

We were heading for Arthurs Pass – a small 'village' in the National Park and the centre of some good walks - where the highway crosses through the southern alps before commencing its descent towards the west coast. It can't be any more than 200km coast to coast but the drive is a good 3 or 4 hours (in a normal car) because of the winding roads.

The drive was spectacular. As we started to climb the scenery started to get a certain “Lord of the Rings” feel about it and we both loved the rugged mountain views. MJ, the van, did ok considering her age. She doesn't like hills but it's a good way for all the drivers behind us to practice mindfulness and patience. All very yogic :) Unfortunately the road is also used by the truck drivers – it is the main highway going west – and we had one hairy moment where we were slowing to turn into a lake and the guy behind really didn't seem to be slowing up at all. Apart from that though it was a beautiful drive. There is also a Tranz-Alpine railway which does the journey – some people do it as a day trip to the west coast and back. It practically follows the line of the road and is a good way for no-one to have to drive and all can enjoy the scenery. It's staggering really how the early pioneers built the roads and cut the tracks trough the mountains and indeed all over the country. More on that later – a lot of the tramping follows old pack tracks and tracks that the original Maori settlers used for hunting and moving around the country.



Parked up at Lake Pearson

We stopped for lunch at Lake Pearson - a stunning Alpine Lake where, since the weather was so lovely, we couldn't resist a quick dip. It was very chilly, not surprisingly. We carried on with our journey to Arthurs Pass and realised that whereas in our heads we thought we would be arriving in some quaint alpine village maybe like Meribel, just a bit less commercial, there was actually a train station (for the Tranz-Alpine), a large cafe / pub / shop, a smaller cafe / pub and a motel, 2 or 3 B&Bs and a back packers and the local DOC (Department of Conservation) office, all strung along the main road. We are still having to remember that if we see a place name on the map it doesn't mean that there is anything there, it's most likely just a farm off the side of the road. Lesson #1 always top up with fuel, don't expect to find somewhere else 100km down the road.

We popped into the DOC and checked on the weather forecast for the next day. The plan was to climb Avalanche Peak, a walk starting in Arthur's Pass and was supposed to be 7km, 6-8 hours return, straight up and straight down. It looked fine and there was nothing else we needed to do, we could park up at DOC for the day with no problem and so we decided to head back down the road to a DOC campsite we had passed ten minutes down the road to camp up for the evening.



Kea on Car, not good as they like to pull your wiper blades off, just for the heck of it apparantly


Klondyke Corner had free camping – with just a long drop toilet. DOC have a a lot of free / cheap camp sites around the country and our aim was to use them where possible rather than the holiday parks which charge mega bucks for their facilities and more often than not you're squished in with various other motorhome and Winnebago drivers.

On the corner between two dry river beds, just off the side of the road it looked like a perfect spot to camp up. When a few little black midgey things started flying around we waved them off not really sure what they were. They were persistent though and next thing I knew Si was saying that they were biting him. How can something that little bite you and make a grown man complain I thought? He was right though and we soon realised that these small black harmless looking creatures were actually cannibalistic, devil spawn aliens making their way from the depths of hell to feed on any exposed skin they could find AKA sandflies.

We knew to expect them on the West Coast – but we weren't on the coast – we were in the mountains! And we'd thought we would stock up on repellent when we got to the west coast. The worst thing was that by the time we had clocked what was happening we'd had the door open to the van to let some air in and the evil things had found their way indoors. That evening we had a pleasant game of scrabble whilst squishing the sandflies that had stowed away earlier in the day and were now heading out from their hiding places to fly around the light. The only blessing is that they are incredibly slow moving and so it's easy and satisfying to squash them with a finger, exacting swift retribution to those who manage to get a bite in. Of course at this stage we didn't know that with sandflies the worst bit comes after the bite, maybe 24 hours after....

We packed up our back packs, remembering all our Raleigh training, taking heed of the warnings about the NZ weather, taking warm layers, waterproofs, extra food, compass, string, whistle etc and set our alarm for seven.



Taking a break for lunch on the peak

The climb up Avalanche Peak was unrelenting, After the first five minutes the track started to steeply ascend – as in needing hands to help to climb – and continued like that for about an hour and a quarter until we reached the bush line about 400m above the village. We stopped and snacked for a bit and enjoyed the magnificent views of the valley below and mountains around us. The terrain from this point on changed into a tussock covered ridge as we continued our steep ascent.

After a final vertical push we reached a narrow rocky ridge, with sheer drops to each side. Apparently people have died up there after miscalculating either in winter or high winds. Fortunately we had fine weather and despite the slight vertigo we both edged our way to the summit. At 1873m it's pretty high up. From the top we had glacial views and gazed on as the clouds did weird twirling and disappearing things in the valley below us.

We also had our second encounter with a Kea or Alpine Parrot. We'd first seen a Kea the night before at Klondyke. Ahhh, cute green parrot thing walking around, we'd thought. When it proceeded to jump onto the bonnet of the van and start scratching around he became less cute. At five in the morning after Simon had got up for the third time to chase it off the car it definitely was no longer in the “cute” category. They are endangered but renowned for their curiosity and cleverness. Unfortunately people feeding them makes them both sick and more of a pest to other visitors. Best just to watch and enjoy. This one obviously enjoyed trying to get pickings from people's lunches at the top of Avalanche Peak. There's maybe room for six people at the top and we had it to ourselves for most of our lunch of cheese & crackers.

The descent took a different route, apparently 'easier' but it didn't seem much easier to us. The whole trip took us just over five hours including a prolonged lunch break and morning and post lunch snacks. Surely we didn't need that many meals, particularly as we were easily back down by two, but exercising does justify our appetites.

We saw the Tranz-Alpine come through in the afternoon and then decided to press on to Lake Brunner for the evening. We were tired from the climb and our quadricep muscles were aching from the long descent but it was a fantastic walk and a great introduction to tramping in New Zealand.

At Lake Brunner we spent the evening at a peaceful country motor camp which we had to ourselves apart from one elderly American man. We cooked up curry in the camp kitchen and met our next NZ bird – the Weka. Common in certain areas but by no means widespread, these flightless birds are as inquisitive as all the birds we've met over here seem to be. The particular family wanted nothing more than to get into the kitchen where we were cooking. They are large chicken sized but have to walk everywhere.

By this time we also were starting to get the full effect of sand fly bites – incessant itching. And scratching just makes it worse but it's impossible not to scratch. Itching to the extent that you end up having semi-sleepless nights. I'm not the first person to say that – apparently James Cook in his diaries wrote about the sandflys causing bites “irresistible to itch”. Nearly three weeks later we still have marks from the first bites – tiny little red dots on our feet – and we thought we were good with these foreign things!

The following day the plan was to head down to the west coast and then continue up to visit Sam, a good friend from our Raleigh expedition who's been living on the West Coast for coming up to eighteen months. It was his lovely fiancee's birthday the day we were arriving so we were looking forward to a fun evening with friends.



Sam's Cabin

I love the variety of people you meet on the road if you look for them. It would be easy to keep our heads down, and see New Zealand in our own little bubble without really engaging with the outside world. Apart from that being dull & insular, if we didn't make the effort to find out about other people's worlds whilst we were travelling it would be a complete waste of opportunities & chances to find out more about the world. More about people we meet in a later blog but suffice to say we've just come off a 4 day hike having met a crazy Ukrainian hiker, 3 Israeli's just of national service and off to celebrate the start of Passover, a world expert on birds, an actuary, a nomadic Kiwi who must be 55 but had the energy and spirit of someone much younger and a lovely little girl called Charlotte about to start primary school in Wanaka. It's by talking to these people about the world, conservation, politics, religion, the economy – all the things we're taught it's not polite to discuss on first meeting people - that you start to get a more global view of world and realise that we are not all that different. We bemoan the lack of vision in certain parts of the world..Texans for example... travelling gives people vision and eyes and if people haven't been given the chances to have their eyes opened we can't criticise. Each of our own world views is only as valid as the next persons.

There's a phrase in the film Avatar - 'I see you' – which the big blue people use as greeting to each other. In yoga we say Namaste at the end of class. Often translated as 'I bow to you / to the world' but in meaning is much like the Avatar ' I see you'. When we see ourselves in others we can have compassion for each other.

Message for the day over!

We got to Punakaiki and popped in to see Sam's project site. They've planted over 20000 tress in the last year or so to repopulate an area of land that had been owned by Rio Tinto but has been gifted back to the people of New Zealand and is now in the hands of DOC to look after. The surroundings had changed again on the west coast. Primeval rainforest tumbling down practically to the water's edge with roads clinging to the coast line.

Sam's cabin is incredible. 125 steps up through the rainforest you reach a clearing where this quaint witches cottage has been built. The whole place had a beautiful ambience to it, the sun shone as we looked out from the decking across the sea and enjoyed the late afternoon sun, Sam's been there for coming up to a year and it's a real challenge just living there. Apart from the shopping trolley winch lift to get the shopping up the hill and the long drop toilet at the bottom of the garden, there's a rusty old bath ready to be installed with a sea view and a fire pit underneath for their own outdoor hot tub, an outdoor shower, when the water pump is working, and two big rain water tanks to supply all the water.

It's delightful and we loved spending a couple of nights there both on our way north and then a week later on our way back down.

Sam's fiancée has a smiling heart and we loved meeting and getting to know her. From Melbourne, being at the cottage over the winter is going to be a bit of a challenge but she's got an adventurous spirit and in the same way Si & I would give it go she's going to be just fine in the cottage.

Sam & El were off to Nelson for the weekend but kindly let us stay on the next night so we could watch a film and enjoy the space the cabin has – unlike the van. I also got chatting to Sam and El about yoga and found out the local guy who had been teaching yoga to the locals had moved on. I knew Sam & El quite wanted to do some yoga – we hadn't had a chance the night before – too much wine – how un-yoga like – but knowing that we wanted to spend a bit more time with them and that we'd be heading back through the next week I suggested El ask around and see if anyone would want to partake in a class the next week if we could find a suitable venue.



The driftwood covered Tasman Coast seen at dusk

Around Punakaiki we walked, saw the pancake rocks – the thing most tourists stop for and then carry on swiftly to the next stop. It's a shame because there is so much amazing walking in the area.

We hadn't really planned to head north but knew that the area around Karamea (as far north as you can get on the west coast by road) was supposed to be pretty special and it fitted in nicely with us getting back to Punakaiki the following week. So we headed north, past the fur seals at Westport, , staying at a great community campsite at Mokhinui, doing a lovely long walk through an old mining area (Charming Creek) and following the track the mining train would have taken to a spectacular waterfall tumbling into a gorge below. It was a great day walk and we'd recommend it.

We carried on north to Karamea over the bluff, yet another steep and winding road that our van loves so much, and stayed at another community site in the 'slightly hippy yet not' community of Karamea. They have their own radio station playing out from the backpackers playing reggae most of the day. Bear in mind that there's no other radio reception and I don't know whether they get TV or not.

Apparently there is an ongoing debate about whether to build a road connecting Karamea to Nelson over and through the National Park. A travesty for the environment, possibly an economic bonus to a community that is literally at the end of the road. The reason it continues to exist as a destination for visitors is that it sits at the end of the Heaphy Track – on the the Great Walks in NZ – and is also close to the Oparito Basin, home to large and ancient limestone caverns and spectacular rainforest. We didn't have a chance to get in but we did walk half of the last day of the Heaphy Track as a return trip of about 5.5 hours and about 18 km.

The track was once again spectacular – we are going to run out of suitable adjectives and superlatives very soon on this trip. Following the coastline and sidling along the edge of various type of forest we loved the walk although it was a tiring day and we were exhausted at the end of it. Simon doesn't like walking slowly, which is fine by me, but the terrain was reasonably full of ups and downs and we could both feel it later that evening.

Our campsite for the evening looked out over the Tasman sea with a great Maori totem on the beach in front of us. Once again the sandflys were bad so we stayed indoors but had a game of open book scrabble (we now have an official scrabble dictionary) to see if we could improve our playing scores. Don't laugh people, we only know two 2 player card games and they get a bit tiresome after a while. Our joint top score to date is 653, rock and roll!

We stopped over at Westport on the way back down. Si was looking for surfable coastline – they hold a major surfing competition on one of the beaches around there each October – and ended up staying at an over-priced 'Holiday Park' on the basis that we could do our laundry and get power for the van. We HATE the places. They rack you up next to each other on numbered pitches rather than letting everyone spread out, don't have soap in the toilets and no cooking equipment in the kitchen. For $38 it's a rip off – given that for $16 on the community campsite we get all of the above.

We headed back south and stayed over just north of Punakaiki in Charleston where Si eventually got in the sea to surf and I planned my yoga class for that night.

El had organised for a few of the locals to come along to the village hall in Barrytown – the next community down from Punakaiki and for me to teach a class from 7.30 to 9. So exciting!! My first real class with strangers.

Simon & Sam came too and so I had a class of 6.

I loved it. I was a bit nervous at the beginning but then got into my stride and was buzzing afterwards. I couldn't sleep I was so pleased with it. There was wonderful energy in the hall and I would have loved to have been staying on to do some more classes. The next day El had great feedback from the 3 local ladies who'd been to the class – they couldn't believe I hadn't been teaching for years.

The next day Si & I headed out on a long day walk up the Poporari River – yet more gushing river ways, spectacular rainforest, towering limestone cliffs, and a brilliant lunchtime stop where we caught some great pictures of a South Island Robin who Sam told us afterwards is quite rare. He seemed to want to join in our lunch and was quite happy to pose for some pictures. We found a good moss covered fallen tree to use as our picnic bench and had a good rest before carrying on with the walk. This was again about 16km & we had about our first little river crossing. We also had a good introduction to the paradise shelducks, noisy crazy things that went mental when we dared walk through their river valley and kept swooping over head checking us out. One of the main features of the forest in the area are the ferns and the variety is staggering. We've made up our own names for them as we've no idea their real names but it's a real testament to how New Zealand is in some ways the world preserved before mammals came along. With the split from Gondwana land, birds ruled in New Zealand and in the same way that ferns were the precursors to trees, there has been completely different evolutionary development of tree and plant life in New Zealand to the rest of the world. One of the things you can't miss when walking are the traps that DOC set to catch possums & stoats. There is also poison baiting and the controversial drop of the poison 1080 – banned in many other places. All of the controversy around that aside, DOC are trying to conserve the unique environment NZ has and fight back against the introduced species that eat the bird's eggs and catch the baby birds who have no innate fear of mammals. It's strange coming from the UK when the closest a bird will get to you is a pigeon on the sea side; here these rare and special creatures come to look as if they are as intrigued in you as you are in them.



Rainforest lined roads along the Bueller Gorge

So we had our walk and headed back to the cabin to cook up banoffee pie and fajitas for dinner. Before dinner Sam and El though they'd take us to have a look at the gorge by the cabin. After crawling through some mud and bush we appeared in a towering rock crevice with a stream flowing down and made our way upstream. So few people would ever have been up there and it was a cool adventure – slightly more civilised than Simon's choice of adventure the previous day which had us in our wetsuits on the beach swimming up a freezing cold gorge, climbing up slime covered rocks and trying to edge our way through some rooks with space for my head and not much else. In the end we called it a day – not before Si had done a suitable impression of Gollum, it being the kind of place you'd expect him to live and me catching it on video. Unfortunately by some unknown coincidence the camcorder card corrupted as we came out of the gorge. Whether divine intervention to prevent some later emergence of the footage on YouTube when Simon is running for president of the world I don't know, but it's a shame that it won't see the light of day.

El loved the bannoffee pie, Sam too, and I left them caramel and cream so they could attempt their own version. I'll leave the rest of the west coast to Simon. I can't believe we are only just three weeks into the trip for real – it seems like longer but already we feel really comfortable & content here, I don't want to speak too early but it could well be somewhere that we feel at home for a little while to come.

Love to all.

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