There's Something in the Air...
Trip Start
Feb 13, 2008
1
6
15
Trip End
Jun 17, 2008
Wanaka,
New Zealand
Thursday, March 20, 2008
There's something in the air down in the South Island that makes people a bit crazy, and I admit that I've been swept into the frenzy. It's a pretty common topic of conversation among travelers and locals alike, and I'm engrossing myself in it. Since my last post, I did a tramp for hours, then woke up the next day and continued doing that tramp until my legs were really tired. The following day I found another tramp and did that for a few hours, and did it again the next day. After a few days rest, I started doing other tramps. Oh, that's right - I forgot to say that tramping is NZ-speak for hiking, you sick jerks. So since my last post, I've been on a national parks frenzy. I've never considered myself a true outdoorsman, but I'm gaining the experience to be a future mountain man. I've even gotten pretty good at blowing snot rockets on the trail. Here's a breakdown of what I've been doing:
Abel Tasman National Park: 2 days, 1 night. Hiking, kayaking, camping
When I wrote my last post, I had gone to the information center with the intention of renting a kayak to tour the park myself (it's a coastal national park). But to my dismay, I found out that no one allows single kayakers to rent kayaks unless they're going on a kayak tour (boo). I thought, 'Where on earth am I going to find another person to go kayaking with?' After thinking for a while, I decided to hike through the park for two days instead. As I was talking to the guy at the information site, I saw someone approach the counter out of the corner of my eye and was curious as to why someone would try to crowd me in like that. She, an Israeli girl, asked me why I was hiking and not kayaking, and I told her I couldn't find anyone to kayak with. It turned out, she also was looking to find someone to kayak with, so we ended up talking and working out a plan to rent kayaks on our own. Eventually we did, and we spent the next 48 hours as if we were a married couple. We went grocery shopping for food, cooked dinner, engaged a French couple in conversation during dinner, and spent the next 48 hours together. The park had some incredible beaches, and they were uncrowded and free of development. The sand was really golden, apparently because the granite cliffs surrounding the beaches become rusted and eventually color the sand into a golden hue. We kayaked for about 3.5 hours, then hiked for another 4 hours to the campsite. During the hike, we found a small waterfall area called Cleopatra's Pool. The waterfall feeding the pool was formed in such a way that it looks like a waterslide, and I rode it several times. Although the water was freezing, it was pretty cool. And while we were there, I was feeling a bit crazy so I asked the poor girl, who I hadn't even known for more than a day, to take a picture of me naked standing on the waterfall with my back to the camera. She did it, and a European couple eating lunch was there to watch as well. Like I said, there's something in the air that makes people crazy.
Nelson Lakes National Park - 2 days, 1 night. Hiking.
I spent two days at Abel Tasman, and the very next morning I decided to make my way to another park, Nelson Lakes National Park. I thought it'd be a rest and recovery day, since I hiked the past two days. Unfortunately, the bus route doesn't go to the park, so I decided to get off at the closest bus stop and figure it out from there. The bus dropped me off at the bus stop called Kawatiri Junction, and before I got there I thought, 'This will be nice. It'll probably be a big transportation hub and I'll be able to find a way to the park. Sort of like Princeton Junction or Secaucus Junction in New Jersey.' Anyway, the bus announces the stop and lets me off in the middle of the mountains. Apparently, in New Zealand a "junction" is really just an intersection of two highways. Since I had to pre-book the ticket, the bus driver wouldn't let me back on the bus either. So I started walking in the direction of the park, and the road sign said it was 25km away (or 15 miles). Luckily, after about ten minutes of walking with my thumb out, a kayak instructor picked me up and was going to the same town to teach a Search and Rescue course. I arrived and went to a hostel, but they were pretty much booked for the night. Since I didn't want to pay for an expensive room, I decided to start hiking in the park that day and sleep in a backcountry hut. It only took me about 3 hours to walk up most of the first mountain to the hut, so I was by myself at the hut from about 4pm until the next morning. Also, I didn't bring a sleeping bag partly because I like to pack ultralight and mostly because I'm an idiot. I could hardly sleep in the freezing mountaintop hut until I figured out how to stay warm. The hut supplies 4-inch thick mattresses for comfort, so I decided to sleep on one and put one on top of myself. It worked pretty well. The next morning I started trekking along the top of a mountain ridge. I was exposed to strong sun and bitter-cold, unrelenting winds that sometimes made me feel like I'd be blown off the top of the mountain. I made it to the next hut around lunchtime, rested and ate for an hour, then made my way to the following hut, where I had originally planned to stay the night. I got there around 3:00pm and decided that I didn't want to make another sloppy Joe sandwich, so I decided to walk another 2-3 hours back to the parking lot. In total, I was on the trail for 9.5 hours, with a one-hour lunch break.
The following day I wanted to get to the west coast and relax. I started walking back to the "junction" and stuck my thumb out at every passing car, but I ended up walking for 2.5 hours (about 12.5km or 7.5 miles). I stopped after that time because I knew I was about halfway and thought I needed a snack and drink break. Not even a minute after stopping, the next car to pass stopped and picked me up. He took me about 20km, past the Kawatiri Junction, then dropped me off. I decided I was too tired to continue walking and just sat with my thumb out. After 40 minutes, three guys in a campervan picked me up and took me about another 50km. And after waiting another 40 minutes, a guy took me to my final destination, Westport. Who knew hitching was such hard work? After that experience, my new hitchhiking rule of thumb (Get it? That's probably not funny and I'd keep my day job, but I don't have one) is to just sit and stick my thumb out, no more walking. So all in all, I walked and trekked about 22 hours in those five days.
The West Coast - 5 days.
After that, I made my way down the west coast of the South Island and saw some interesting stuff. I would've done more hiking there but I didn't have enough time. I visited a natural formation called the Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki, went to the Monteith's Brewery in Greymouth (best NZ beer), and did a full-day glacier walk on the Fox Glacier.
Mt. Aspiring National Park - 3 days. Hiking, camping.
Next I went to the town of Wanaka and hitched a ride into Mt. Aspiring National Park. I saw some incredible sights, including really great mountains and glaciers. I think this is the site where they shot the Lighting of the Beacons scene in Lord of the Rings, and it's my favorite park so far. I hiked about 4 hours the first day, 6.5 the second day, and 2.5 the third day. This time I rented a sleeping bag, which made the experience infinitely more comfortable. I met some pretty cool campers at the park, a couple Czechs the first day and a couple Israelis the second.
I'm back in Wanaka today, after doing that last 2.5 hour trek and catching a ride with the Israelis I met, and I'm getting ready to move again. It's very difficult to be in this area right now because everyone wants to vacation in this area for Easter weekend and all the hostels have already been booked. So after doing some extensive contingency planning, I will be going to the remote town of Omarama next to stay at a hostel that's also a merino sheep farm. That should be pretty interesting, I haven't seen any merino sheep yet. Now I know I've told some of you that I was going to do some farmstays, but at this point I'm too busy visiting national parks and taking on multi-day treks. I only have 1.5 weeks left and after three days at the sheep farm, I still need to visit Fiordland National Park, Mt. Cook National Park, and Lake Tekapo. I don't even know if I'll have time to stop in the city of Christchurch before my next flight.
Also, I've been traveling for about five weeks now and when I look at pictures of myself that were taken recently, I think I look about two years younger. I feel younger as well, and that's a great thing. Another thing I've noticed about myself is a change in my personality. I've always known in the back of my head that every adult is responsible for managing his/her own life and being proactive, but now I'm living that principle. If I want something, I do something about it and ask for it without worrying about negative what-ifs because literally no one will do anything for me if I don't speak up. If I need a ride somewhere, I ask people at the hostel for a ride if I'm at a hostel or at a campsite. In Punakaiki, I was sitting on the rocks at a beach in front of my hostel and saw a girl from the hostel sitting by herself. She seemed pretty cool and I wanted to talk to her, so I did. I walked straight up to her and we ended up talking for about three hours. In Greymouth, I ordered my lunch from a girl at a pizzeria who was the best-looking local girl I've seen thus far in New Zealand. I wanted to talk to her so after finishing my lunch I asked her out to dinner. This philosophy is permeating into thoughts about my life goals as well. I'm starting to learn to look more at the goal and not at any of the obstacles. I'm not sure if it's conquering multi-day treks or living a more proactive life that make me feel this way - maybe both. But I must say: Keeping my life simple, actively pursuing everything I want, and not worrying about negative what-ifs - now that's what I call freedom.
