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