NZ - South Island with Jamie

Getting on the road Jamie and I headed inland towards Lake Tekapo. It was a stunning day and we were able to watch the mountains slowly growing as we made our approach. The lake itself was yet another perfect glacial display, so intense in colour, so inviting against the backdrop of snow topped mountains and in the foreground a collection of pink, purple and yellow lupin flowers, picture perfect! We drove up Mount John nearby to an observatory and cafe, a very windy cafe and enjoyed panoramic views of the valley. Further on we stayed the night at one of Jamie’s favourite old haunts, Buscot Station, a large sheep and cow farm whose owner, Tony, began taking in backpackers after the loss of his wife. Tony is a well travelled man and loves nothing more than to blether away with all his guests and he takes an interest in everybody. This time we were just transiting through as we headed to Queenstown to make our final preparations for walking the Routeburn Track over the weekend.

The Routeburn Track is one of New Zealand’s ‘Great Walks’ and ideally takes 3 fairly leisurely days to cover it’s 32kms. There are campsites and huts to stay at along the way, all run by the Dept of Conservation and the huts provide basic beds and gas cookers, so we must carry our bedding, food, cooking implements and clothing for all weathers. The track is not a loop and therefore transport is needed to complete it, we opted to have our rental car relocated for us so that we could drive to the start of the track and then have the car waiting for us at the other end.  The people who provide this service are clearly very keen on fitness and the outdoors and in order for them to fulfil their duties the couple are often seen running along the rugged mountain track in all weathers, a route they can complete in 3.5-4 hours, making the rest of us feel pretty lazy!

The Routeburn Track

Day 1 - We started the trek from Glenorchy which is beautifully placed near Paradise! Along at the North end of Lake Wakatipu, surrounded by enormous mountains which all had a fresh dusting of snow from the previous days chilly weather, it’s a stunning place to park your car and head off into the relative wilderness, with the assistance of a well laid path and some huts to sleep in along the way, I am using the term wilderness a little loosely! Up into the trees we tramped, crossing rivers and passing small waterfalls, one of the rivers had a group of canyoners wet-suited up and sliding down the rocks of a waterfall. This was an easy climb of around 1500 feet taking less than 4 hours to reach the first hut, the Falls Hut which was our home for the night. Despite being a lovely sunny day we were chilled through while sitting in the hut for a couple of hours so we decided to make the most of the sun and climbed a few hundred feet further to a lookout point above the hut. From here we had a beautiful view of the hanging valley below us and the surrounding mountains towering over us. The weather forecast for the following day indicated a *severe weather warning* for high winds and heavy rain coming in the afternoon so all residents were advised to be up and out early to avoid the worst of the weather.

Day 2 - Jamie and I were a little leisurely; we were nearly the last to leave the hut at around 8am, so far the weather was holding up and while we’d packed carefully for the impending doom of torrential rain and we set off optimistically in our nice weather clothes. Today’s trek was to involve about 2hours of climbing up 600-700ft to get to the saddle of the hill where we enter a new valley and skirt around the steep mountainside above the tree line for about 2-3 hours before dropping down around 750ft through the shelter of the trees to the next hut. This means that the best view is at the saddle as you move from Mount Aspiring National Park in to Fiordland National Park and that the following couple of hours are very exposed, so strong winds would not be enjoyable. I really don’t enjoy walking in waterproof clothes, less so when it’s uphill, so we motored to the top of the hill, overtaking most of the other people on the way and completed that section in an hour without much difficulty. Approaching the Harris saddle we passed the small Harris Lake which is nestled nicely at the top and got a glimpse into the next valley which was slowly filling with low lying clouds. We skirted our way along the mountainside, over rivers and small waterfalls, grateful to have the chilly wind behind us as the people walking towards us passed by with chilly red noses and cheeks. The views were cracking, a great valley, full of trees, glimpses of the river running along the bottom when the clouds occasionally cleared; we seemed to stay just ahead of an incoming mass of mist which was slowly creeping in along the glen. Eventually we reached the top of the valley which is home to Lake Mackenzie and our next hut. We dropped down into the shelter of the trees and as we neared the bottom the rain began to drizzle down, our timing was not far from perfect, although it meant reaching our destination before mid day. We had little to do for the rest of the day but sit indoors watching the lashing rain and feeling sorry for the people who continued to arrive at various points throughout the day, soaked through. This hut was chilly but someone soon got the fire going and with cups of tea and games of cards we happily whiled away the hours.

That night the resident ranger gave us a talk about various aspects of his job, a legend in this area, Clive has been working this part for around 26 years and returns every summer to take up his post. He entertained us no end, a very funny man he told many stories and had the whole hut (capacity of 50 people) in hysterics. He also added pieces of natural interest, for example, the only flowers growing up that high are white, something that I had noted along the walk. The reason for this is apparently that not butterflies or bees live up there only moths and they pollinate white flowers!

Day 3 - After a short lie-in we got moving and headed out of the Routeburn Track. The day started with a short uphill out of the lake area and then skirted along the mountainside for a couple of hours. The weather was calm and nice so it was an easy trek, the biggest excitement coming in the form of the Earlman waterfall, the biggest waterfall on the track which can be rather large if there has been any rain, in which case there is an alternative route to avoid walking through the downpour of the falls. Having carried our wet-weather gear with us for all this time, Jamie and I decided maybe it was time to use it, so we opted to continue the trek via the waterfall. It was a proper soaking!! We got wet to the skin in seconds, but it was a thrill at the same time, it seems to be perfectly fine to get sodden wet if you choose to do so. We still had plenty walking time to dry off, during which time we were romanced by some Kia’s that were swooping around us and playing in the trees. Towards the end we could hear the sounds of the nearby road with traffic flow and soon enough we popped out of the forest and in to the car park where our car was waiting for us. We’ve reached the end of a fantastic 3-day adventure, what a wonderful walk through some incredible scenery in an amazing country!

We were so close to Milford Sound it seemed silly not to take the drive out there, experience that fantastic drive once more. At the end of it Jamie took a cruise around the sound while I relaxed my feet and read some more of my book. We drove back through the valley and the Homer Tunnel and stayed the night in Te Anau. Jamie got a fishing licence and I chilled out for the next day and we ended up staying there a second night too.

After Te Anau we headed back inland to Mount Cook Village, 55km from the highway this place is tucked away nicely in the mountains. From our accommodation we had stunning mountains views which included the Huddleton Glacier clinging to the side of a steep mountain. We walked up fairly close to the glacier and watched it for a while. Being accompanied by my science boffin brother we had to watch it quite a lot but it paid off as we got to see some activity in the form of either icefall or avalanche, it’s hard to tell which from afar.

We took a walk up the valley towards Mount Cook or Aoraki as it’s known in Maori, there’s a lovely valley walk which takes us past the glaciers and over some suspension bridges and pops out at the end of the Hooker glacier. From here we have a great view of Mt Cook’s lower peak which towers high above all the other mountains and is completely white on top. It looks as though there are several overhanging sections of snow high up on the mountain which would look incredible falling down at some point. At the bottom of the glacier is a small lake with some icebergs floating around, there is a lot of glacial moraine and some of it stacks high in the form of gravel/rock hills and cliffs which is quite dangerous as rock falls may occur at any point. Despite the signs warning of this one tourist thought it a good idea to climb the rock hill, sending pebbles hurtling down over the path that people were taking at their own peril. Not content with just climbing the rock hill he then thought it was a great idea to pick up a large rock and send it over the side, bouncing down the hill, loosening other rocks to follow and creating a new rockfall which then had to cross the path that people were walking along below, no need to point out the stupidity of some people on this planet!

Our next walk took us to the glacial lake at the end of the Tasman glacier, here there are boat tours available to visit the icebergs floating around and get to the edge of the glacier. We sat at the viewing point for well over an hour taking in the sights and enjoying the serenity of the place, the mountains we are surrounded by encapsulate your mind and draw you in to another place where your imagination can take liberties. We left Aoraki Village in order for Jamie to take in some more fishing, during which time we stayed with a familiar face at Buscot Station. Once the fishing was completed we headed back up the road to the East Coast. It was sad to say goodbye to the mountains of the West side but I am sure that the East coast has new adventures in store.

Having driven past Christchurch we wound our way up through the hills to reach the peninsula beyond the city and spend a couple of nights in the small French village of Akaroa. A cute wee seaside town Akaroa has a very calm atmosphere, it’s very pleasant to stroll around the colonial buildings and the aurrounding scenery involves water and hills, two of my favourites! Here we celebrated my 34^th birthday with a couple of beers and a few games of cards; don’t even try to tell me that age is boring me! But Akaroa was the end of the line for our adventures together, Jamie dropped me in Christchurch for a bus while he headed out to the airport, and once again I find a farewell bringing me closer still to the end of my journey... I can hold off the home-coming for a further 12 days yet though!