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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